Satire In Canterbury Tales

What is satire and what effect does it have on literature. Satire is the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity and vices. There are two different kinds of satire, horatian and juvenalian. Horatian, named after Roman satirist Horace, is a more gentle and playful use of satire. Juvenalian, named after Roman satirist Juvenal, is a harsher and more hurtful form of satire. In the Canterbury Tales, many texts use satire, including The Pardoner’s Prologue, The Pardoner’s Tale, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue, and The Wife of Bath’s Tale. Chaucer will use satire to address three different sacred institutions. Chaucer first uses satire to address hypocrisy of the Church. In this tale, Chaucer’s audience is other religious people and yokels (unsophisticated people who will believe

The patriarchy is a chain of value. Aristotle describes the patriarchy as a pyramid. God or gods are at the top, men are in the middle, and women/ slaves/ donkeys are at the bottom. Ideally, as you go down the pyramid, power decreases. The patriarchy is organic just as a tree in nature. Asking nature to change is insane and seen as atheism. People who go against the patriarchy are seen as dangerous to civilization. Chaucer doesn’t agree with the patriarchy and thinks that women should be treated equal to a man. This is seen in, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue when Chaucer talks about love being mutual respect. He says the ideal marriage is when the patriarchy is flattened. A woman will never really truly love a man until he gives her the freedom to do what she wants to do. Chaucer also shows a woman being equal to her man in, The Wife of Bath, when the wife asks her husband if he would rather have her ugly and loyal or pretty and him always questioning what she was up to. To this, the Knight says, “I leave the matter to your wise decision…Whatever pleases you suffices me.” (lines 377 and