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Use of satire in the canterbury tales
Use of satire in the canterbury tales
Use of satire in the canterbury tales
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Geoffrey Chaucer, considered one of the greatest English poets in the Middle Ages, composed The Canterbury Tales in the late fourteenth century. In the novel twenty-nine men and women representing all aspects of Medieval society embark on a religious pilgrimage to the cathedral at Canterbury in southeast England. On their journey their host engages them in a storytelling contest with a free meal as the prize upon their return. Chaucer wrote the tales in Middle English, the vernacular of the Medieval period, making his work accessible to all classes of people.
In “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” the knight’s punishment for raping a girl is to set out on a year long journey to find out what women desire most. This story is sexist portraying women in a negative light. The tale portrays women as tricksters and seducers.
Keeping in mind that they were pilgrims, abiding to what their religion preaches, Chaucer wants us to think about the significance of being a man or a woman in society and to what extent masculinity and femininity is subjective. We wonder whether the question of masculinity and femininity stops only at the physical aspects, more precisely, sex or whether during Chaucer’s time, one’s behaviour and courage or strength gives a clear portrayal of their gender. By representing the pardoner as an ambiguous person, Chaucer wisely decides to play with the audience. He does not really care, and neither
Humans often build expectations for a person with a certain position, so when someone does not fit within the boundaries of the expectations of the position, it seems wrong. However, it is just that we are forgetting the true complexity of human beings. No human is perfect, which means no human will fit into one set category. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses satire to show the irony in how a person’s label does not necessarily say anything about his or her actions. A typical woman of Chaucer’s time was the complete opposite of the Lady of Bath.
After reviewing the two tales “ The Pardoner's Tale” and “ The Wife of Bath's Tale” told by Chaucer, one tale effects me the most. Out of the two tales, I believe “The Pardoner's Tale” has better moral values and is more entertaining than, “The Wife of Bath”. The first reason that makes”The Pardoner's Tale” effective is the
The Summoner’s Analysis Everyone is not as they seem. People say they will they’ll do one thing, and then they do another or decide to trick others to better themselves in a way. Geoffrey Chaucer uses a man, the Summoner, a vulgar drunk who is almost disgusting and accepts bribes to better gain himself, to make fun at all friars who as well do things to better themselves. In the “Summoner’s Tale” from The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer uses the Summoner to satirize the hypocritical Friar in order to reveal disloyalty amongst people of religion.
The Problem with the Institution of Marriage According to the Bible, marriage began with God. As creator of marriage, God said, “Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4). This quote explains that husband and wife should be faithful to one another as well as to honor each other in marriage. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses the horatian satire to depict the institution of marriage.
Chaucer also utilizes the literary device of a parody, by parodying the rooster and chickens of the barnyard to a king and other members of the royal court. While life outside the barnyard is described as monochromatic, the rooster Chauntecleer is described much like a king “His comb was redder than fine coral…and his color like the burnished gold.” (Lines 39-44). The choice to use chickens to represent nobility in itself says a lot about how Chaucer views the court, considering that chickens are not very bright animals. By using chickens to parody members of the court, Chaucer is easily able to mock medieval education and the learned traditions of the medieval court by likening them to facts that simple chickens could comprehend.
A discussion of Chaucer's Use Of Satire Chaucer uses Canterbury Tales to express his thoughts about the way that the church and people acted. Chaucer attacks the Church because of the way that some of the religious leaders act. There is also a patritracl attack that the Wife of Bath makes with the night and the old woman. The wife of Bath also makes an attack on the class nobility in society. This is Chaucer's use of satire in Canterbury tales is both Juvenile and Horatian when he talks about these key subjects.
In Geoffrey Chaucer’s, The Canterbury Tales, I chose the Friar as the most immoral human being among the group of pilgrims Chaucer describes along his journey to Canterbury, the Friar exhibits several good things proving his detrimental humanity, but, as far as the religious guidelines go, the Friar breaks them all, he is not alone in this struggle however, as the Summoner and Pardoner also break 3 of the 4. But the Friar alone breaks all 4, which doesn’t necessarily discount him as a bad person in general, it just declares him unfit to be apart of the clergy class in ancient society, which was something you couldn’t just merely opt out of, you had to be excommunicated from the church in order to never be apart of the clergy, or apart
In the Canterbury Tales written by Geoffrey Chaucer, satire is shown in many characters throughout the poem. The Friar, Monk, and Pardoner may seem like normal, and worthy people, but their true colors will show. Satire brings out the true characteristics of each character. The Frair, Monk, and Pardoner all have something in common. They are all suppose to be holy religious figures.
The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, explores the personalities of an eccentric group of characters who are making a religious pilgrimage to Saint Becket’s resting place. Although Chaucer’s sharp observances and literary techniques are essential to the literature, it is the central theme of humor bordering on satire that is most crucial to pay attention to. Chaucer develops this theme by The Nun, Monk, and Guildsmen are three pilgrims who develop the major theme through their outward appearance. When mocking the Nun, Chaucer observes the quality of clothing. “Her cloak, I noticed, had a graceful charm./She wore a coral trinket on her arm./A set of beads, the guadies tricked in green” (161-163).
Geoffrey Chaucer’s satirical collection of stories called The Canterbury Tales, develops an insight of his criticism for the Catholic Church members during the medieval period. During the time period, the Catholic Church could be considered as the head of the society. The church held power over education, politics, economy, as well as the everyday lives of the citizens. Fear of excommunication kept the people from arguing with the ideas of the church. Some members of the church used this power to influence others to follow the rules of Catholicism; however there was a growing number of church members who were corrupt.
Reality in the Sarcasm (A Discussion on Chaucer 's usage of Satire to Meet His Agenda.) Geoffrey Chaucer was known as the father of the English Language. During Chaucer 's time in the late 1300’s, he had many issues with the state of how people lived. He used his writing to criticize the societal issues he noticed during his time.
In the story, “The Wife of Bath,” Chaucer handles satire to critique class and nobility. Alike today, class and nobility still haunt us. Being that, we still see it in high school, it obviously hasn 't gone away. Chaucer brings forth the issue by sending the Knight on a journey of a lifetime. When he arrives back, he still doesn 't have the answer that he was sent to find.
