Say One Thing, Mean Another
(The Use of Satire in Canterbury Tales)
“Filth and old age, I’m sure you will agree are powerful wardens upon chastity”(Chaucer). Chaucer, the father of English literature wrote a tale called Canterbury Tales where he told a story about a religious journey. This tale is made up of many different stories by characters that Chaucer made up to prove a point. Chaucer doesn 't agree with a lot of things that are going on in his society so Chaucer uses satire. Which is the use of humor, or irony to expose people 's stupidity. Chaucer uses satire in the Canterbury Tales to attack three institutions, the church, patriarchy, and class nobility.
In the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer addresses the church hypocrisy with many different characters, one that includes the Pardoner. Chaucer isn 't anti church, he just believes its a hypocrisy. He uses the Friar, the Summoner, and the Pardoner to express his views of the church. Chaucer wrote a prologue for the Pardoner and in the prologue the Pardoner states the following about the church, “Then priestlike in my pulpit, with a frown, I stand and when the yokels have sat down, I preach,a s you have heard me say before, and tell a hundred lying mockeries more”(9-12). The Pardoner is calling the people that believe him yokels with is calling them all dumb for believing what he preaches. He is also saying the church isn 't true, and the people that preach aren 't all what they seem to be. Its the use of satire in those
The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, reveals that religion does not make moral individuals. Chaucer goes on about telling how several of the characters on the pilgrimage had questionable lifestyles yet the characters were taking part in a religious journey. Religion can only influence a moral character but does not make its followers untouchable to the imperfections found on earth. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer’s character, The Pardoner, is a church official who altered the peoples mind by cheating the people into believing any nonsense.
The Pardoner is saying that he does offer a good service, on the church may frown upon, but a good service with morals nevertheless. This is the pure greed the Pardoner is driven by, and furthermore his fear of it become malicious is revealed in his own tale, given the example of: “Trust me, no ghastlier section to transcend what these two wretches suffered at their end. Thus these two murders received their due, So did the treacherous you poisoner too…” (Chaucer 287-290). As the Pardoner finished his tale he describes the scene of the three men who killed themselves over the money and how each one got what they deserved.
The presence of greed utilized by Chaucer in the Pardoner’s tale presents satire as his character is meant to be honorable, yet, behind the scenes is actually the most unethical one. The first example the audience is shown of this fraud is as the pardoner explains his motives, when he states, “Of avarice and of swich cursednesse/ Is al my prechyng, for to make hem free/ To yeven hir pens; and namely, unto me!/ For myn entente is nat but for to wynne,/ And no thyng for correccioun of synne” (114 – 118).
The character of the Pardoner in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales is a complex one, full of contradictions and ambiguity. On one hand, he is described as a "noble ecclesiast" (Chaucer 691) and a skilled preacher, capable of moving his listeners to tears with his sermons. On the other hand, he is also a con artist, selling indulgences to people who believe that they can buy their way out of sin. This duality is central to the Pardoner's character, and it is the source of both his power and his corruption.
Chaucer wrote the book: The Canterbury Tales, in which a group of men going on a journey all tell a tale. Within each tale is a moral lesson as well as each tale consists of a corrupt action committed within the church and is conveyed by those kind of characters within the story. One of the tales that Chaucer tells in his book is called: The pardoner 's tale. Within this tale the pardoner (who is telling the tale) is a preacher who often gives sermons but admits that he does is solely for money and not to condemn people of their sins. (Greed)
Geoffrey Chaucer was an author, known as the father of English poetry for his recognition in all his literary works. He wrote the Canterbury Tales, which are multiple stories composed into one to create a form of poetry. "The Pardoners Tale" is the most recognized work of art he put together out of these multiple stories. The story is told in first person, which makes use of the story to lecture against the individuals who are ignorant, and profane. In this short tale about eagerness, but also death, Chaucer uses three forms of figurative language such as irony, personification, and symbolism to tell a story of three rioters.
In the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer utilizes the immoral character of the Pardoner to tell the utmost moral tale through satirical devices, presenting the true greed and hypocrisy that runs throughout the Church, regardless of it attempt to cover it. Chaucer introduces the hypocrisy within the Church through the characterization of the Pardoner, as he is explained to be a man with, “flattery and equal japes./He made the parson and the rest his apes” (“General Prologue” 607-608). “Japes” are tricks, alluding to the Pardoner’s relics, as they are fake; yet, the Pardoner still sells these relics to the Church members as genuine treasures. This creates dramatic irony, because the character of the Church body is unaware of the situation bestowed
Chaucer uses satire to explain disloyalty among the friars. Chaucer uses the Summoner to explain how the churches use penance and how it is not for the good of the people. The Summoner explains through another character in his tale, “ ‘Masses,’ said he, ‘deliver from all penance/ Your friends’ souls, whether old or young,/ Yes, even when they are quickly sung -/
To fully appreciate the layers of irony in “The Pardoner’s Tale,” you must consider all types of irony. There are three types of irony: verbal irony is when something is said that contradicts the truth, or is the opposite of how the person speaking truly feels, situational irony is when events have an affect on a situation to make the outcome the opposite of what was expected, and dramatic irony is when the significance of actions and doings of the characters in a story are obvious but the characters within the story remain oblivious. Within “The Pardoner's Tale” in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, all types of irony are used throughout the story in order to show society uses deliberate ignorance to justify its wrong doings. Particularly,
This is because the Pardoner himself is a very greedy person. He chooses to steal from the church, make money off of things that are not worth anything, and chooses to cheat society. He was supposed to be the one who was pardoning people from their sins that they committed, but instead he was worried about himself and what he had. b.) In making this tale, Chaucer had a point that he wanted to make overall.
In The Canterbury Tales, readers met so many religious figures who amount to a pure source of hypocrisy and contradiction such as the Friar, the Pardoner, the Nun, and more. Geoffrey Chaucer, the author, brought a delightful dose of sarcasm in various descriptions of the religious characters
Greed or Wrath? Greed, greed is in the air, greed greed is everywhere. Geoffrey Chaucer’s story The Canterbury Tales begins with a prologue explaining the main points of the stories that follow the prologue. The two Stories “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Wife of bath’s Tale” are two of the stories in The Canterbury Tales.
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories that are verbally created as the Host requests that each pilgrim tell a story on the journey to Canterbury. Although this ultimately leads to conflict amongst the pilgrims, the entire spectrum of human personalities is presented by showing each character's qualities, flaws, and hypocrisy. In order to show multiple layers of perspectives, including that of the pilgrims, Chaucer as the narrator, and Chaucer as the writer, The Canterbury Tales is written as a frame narrative. The use of a frame narrative allows Chaucer to convey his own values in humanity by observing and reflecting on the strengths and weaknesses of human nature.
Perks of Sarcasm (Chaucer 's Use of Satire to Reach Intended Audience) Geoffrey Chaucer, also known as, “The Father of English Literature,” uses satire in his stories to influence his intended audience. Satire is the use of humor or irony to reveal a person 's stupidity. Considering Chaucer 's stories are legendary, he never fails to through some satire into his writing. With that being said, using it while writing a story is one of the most effective ways of writing.
Writers in the Middle Ages could not directly critic society without incurring strong disapproval from powerful institutions, such as the church. In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer, critics the pilgrims as individuals to show the overview of the church and society. Chaucer’s personal opinions are thinly veiled as he satirizes and praises certain characters as social criticism. Chaucer presents the Parson and the Friar as religious figures in terms of their morality, their vocation, and dedication to the church to criticize the corruption and virtue within the church.