“It is double the pleasure to deceive the deceiver” according to Niccolo Machiavelli. The following analysis gives one a look at the dialect of Middle English prominent during the literature development of the Canterbury Tale, specifically the Reeve’s Tale. Oswald, the Reeve tells a comical French fabliau with cynical observations of women and taunting remarks toward those in the working-class. The story told displays a realistic depiction of the usual squabbles between social classes and characteristic attributed to peasants during this time. First, let us look at the types of people within society during Chaucer’s era. The miller in Oswald’s tale, “Simpkin the Swagger” is a boastful fellow shows a haughty behavior commonly shown of those who are well off compared to common folk. The millers character is displayed as self-important believing he has the right to marry a well-bread woman nobly born even if he himself is not of noble blood. His wife and daughter are portrayed based on looks and snooty dispositions due to upbringing. More specifically, the wife’s father and priest allows this family to have certain liberties only bestowed on those of well-connected families. The two bible clerks or students John and Alan are represented as stubborn and eager to seek revenge on behalf of their Warden. At each turn whether when the horse is loose and they must chase it down or end up spend the night, the miller ridicules them for their education as “learned men”. A specific
Caution against pride seems to be a frequent theme of British Literature through all ages. The likelihood of characters to think they are not destined by the boundaries of average humans. Today I will focus on four different literary works who portray this caution against pride. The literary works can be found in the books, The Longman Anthology of British Literature the Middle Ages and The Longman Anthology of British Literature the Early Modern Period. I will discuss characters from different periods including , Old English with the story of “Beowulf”, Middle English with the story of “Sir Gawain”, and from the Early Modern Period, “Paradise Lost” and “Twelfth Night”.
Meaning through Juxtaposition in “The Miller’s Tale” “I can a noble tale for the nones/With which I wol now quite the Knightes tale … if I misspeke or saye/Wite it the ale of Southwerk, I you praye” (Chaucer 18-19, 31-32); so the Miller prefaces his tale. Told immediately after the Knight’s elevated narrative, this bawdy and amoral farce is presented as a challenging “quite” (response) to its predecessor. It incorporates and consequently lampoons the romantic ideals presented by the knight, and shows the stark contrast between the two storytellers’ social classes. “The Miller’s Tale” is, in essence, the antithesis of contemporary noble and romantic ideals. “The Miller’s Tale” takes much of its meaning from its juxtaposition with “The Knight’s
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer gives the reader a wide spectrum of life in the Middle Ages. In these tales, Chaucer describes many different types of people, usually showcasing the characters good but also corrupted side. The most corrupt character of all, the Summoner, is the most morally, physically, and spiritually disgusting character described by Chaucer. Physically, the Summoner is definitely not a stunner.
So there is really no one else to hurt you and he will do no more than take your virtue.” (53-56) Which means that those with high class or friars would rape women that were alone. In both stories, Chaucer shows how corrupt the political leaders were in his
However, while reading “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, the audience can see a knight who did not live up to the Code of Chivalry. A knight is supposed to be loyal, generous, brave, modest, caring, and strong. This knight in particular commits a vile crime where he rapes a young woman. In the Middle Ages, a woman’s virginity was extremely sacred.
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales have provoked controversy for nearly 500 years. Canterbury Tales used everyday characters to point out the faults in 1500’s society. Chaucer used characters from religious figures, peasants, and even royalty. To this day, Chaucer’s smart, and witty department of people and what they do remains true to real life. When asked the question of who Chaucer would use in a modern setting, the choice is very clear.
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
Geoffrey Chaucer, an English poet during the middle ages, wrote The Canterbury Tale’s Wife of Bath; he was born from a humble middle-class family and climbed his way up through the aristocracy. The Wife of Bath main protagonist is molded by a sexist culture of her times. My goal with this paper is to shed light on The Wife of Bath’s main character. A story of a smart, strong-willed woman who manipulates her way to financial and personal independence, is she a feminist or a smart and scheming woman?
That is an idea on what a hypocrite is, in the story most of them are religious leaders, people from the church. Chaucer starts of with the knight, which is an example on how someone should act as person, he is pretty much the example that everyone needs to follow because he is truthful, generous,courteous to everyone and honorable. That was an example on how someone should have
Each tale reveals moral lessons that attempt to prevent the reader from performing the same mistakes as the character. “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Reeve’s Tale” possess similar themes, distinct differences arise in the topics presented in each passage. “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Reeve’s Tale” illustrates how greed corrupts men, how sin leads to more sin, and how revenge drives men to undertake foolish feats. The differences between Chaucer’s tales allows for a humorous yet insightful
In The Wife of Bath’s Tale, Geoffrey Chaucer uses the tale as a fable to reveal the human nature of shallowness by its plot and characters. The story begins from the ancient days of King Arthur, when the “hero” of the story condemned sexual assault, but then was saved by an ugly woman. Chaucer created characters that are lusty, greedy, materially desires, and amazingly shallow in order to compare and comment on the lifestyle of the higher classes at the time. From the start of the story, Geoffrey Chaucer illustrated how foolishly shallows the young Knight is in comparison to the upper classman.
He also utilized fabliaux to fill his stories with multiple sexual accounts that poke fun at the rules of courtly love. Chaucer’s humor had three main components – mockery, irony, and sadism. John, an older carpenter, with a young wife, is at the center of “The Miller’s Tale.” Chaucer mocks John for marrying a younger woman and the fact that their relationship does not follow the rules of courtly love. Courtly love suggests that jealousy strengthens relationships and equates to love.
Throughout The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer illustrates to the reader the true characteristics of the Miller and the Reeve by using the aspect of morality to show their related views on love and women. Love, to both the Miller and the Reeve, is frequently associated with beauty, lust, and sexual intercourse. Their vision of love is consistent in both stories; indicating that they care mostly about the women’s physical appearances. This can be easily seen in the stories by the way that the women are described and portrayed. Neither of Chaucer’s story tellers offer much insight into the women’s intelligence or mental characteristics.
With this quote Chaucer is using satirical satire to make fun of women by saying that women are hypocritical and manipulative. At the beginning of the prologue the Wife
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.