Social Mobility In The Canterbury Tales

Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales follows a group of pilgrims as they make their way to pay tribute to Thomas á Becket. They pass the time by telling stories for the chance of winning a free meal. All of these tales, allow Chaucer to convey his thoughts on the estate system of Medieval England. Social mobility was extremely limited during this era and many earned their place in society through birth. This method originally worked, but as people began to accumulate wealth and success, the inadequacies of this system began to show. Chaucer uses his characters to criticize the lack of social mobility and abuses in the estate system. Even though some characters may be ideal, they still are not recognized as members of the upper class. The

The Franklin, a member of the second estate “[lives] for pleasure and [has] always done”, even though he does not contribute anything of value to society (Chaucer, General Prologue 345). Instead of being an honorable person, he focuses his attention on throwing parties and consuming expensive foods and ale. The Prioress is a member of the praying estate, but instead of devoting her attention to God, she focuses on material goods: “hung a golden brooch of brightest sheen/ On which there...was graven...Amor vincit omnia”(Chaucer, General Prologue 164-166). The brooch is very valuable and is engraved with a Latin phrase meaning “love conquers all.” Instead of focusing on the Church and carrying out God’s work, she acts like a member of the noble class, who is mainly concerned with courtly love. This is not even the worst hypocrisy of the Church. The friar “ heard his penitents at shrift / With pleasant absolution, for a gift” (Chaucer, General Prologue 225-226). He would absolve anyone of their sins, provided that they paid him. This despicable behavior demonstrates how undeserving members of society can stay in power without any

There is a separate estate system solely based a woman’s relationship with men, with the only exception being women of the Church. Women have even less social mobility than men, and this can especially be displayed by the Woman of Bath, who has been married multiple times and is worldly. She recounts her tale as well as the story of her life, which explains how she came to dominate her last husband by burning his misogynist book. Rachel Thanassoulis, a professor of English at Marlborough School in Woodstock, analyzes this as “[a] radical [action] rather than monstrous” (Thanassoulis 5). This action shows her disregard for the set social order and reflects Chaucer’s idea to change it. She believes that one must earn their place in society by obeying God: “gentility must come from God alone...And by no means is it bequeathed with place” (Chaucer, Wife of Bath’s Tale 1816-19). The upper estates must earn their place instead of basing their social status on birth. She goes to explain this further with clever figurative language: “Take fire and carry it to the darkest house...And shut the doors on it and leave it there, / it will burn on, and it will burn as fair / As if ten thousand men were there to see / For fire will keep its nature and degree” (Chaucer, Wife of Bath’s Tale 1794-99). The fire is meant to represent gentility. It does not lose value, even if no one is around to