Use Of Satire In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

Satire is used in literature to criticize and point out society’s flaws. The criticism is usually masked in humour. Irony is commonly used in satires to expose flaws, an effective example is John Smith’s A Modest Proposal, he effectively uses irony, to communicate his argument about the poverty in Ireland at the time. Similarly, in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale she criticizes the society that women live in. Atwood uses allusions to the Old Testament, Cultural Revolution, Salem Witch Trials, and the Taliban to satirize the oppression of women in political, religious and social aspects.

In The War Prayer by Mark Twain,he talked about soldiers going to war and it relates kind of to all the wars that have happened before. He talks a lot about describing what the soldiers would go through and their families. He explained how soldiers were really patriotic about the war and the families saying a “ long prayer”. Twain uses satire to express what he thinks about war throughout his prompt he's describing about war and all the praying they did towards the soldiers who left to fight.

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.

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.

Geoffrey Chaucer pushed boundaries and told stories he knew his audience would want to hear. “The Miller’s Tale” as well as “The Reeve’s Tale” has crocodilian humor. Chaucer used bawdy and vulgar scenarios to generate laughter for the audience. His sardonic sense of humor made stories seem larger than life (Brewer, Derek). Both tales feature an elaborate plan for sexual gratification and have components of irony. 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.

Throughout literature, authors have used multiple different styles of writing to convey information and ideas to readers. One of these ways of expressing their thoughts is the use of satire. Satire is the use of humor, such as irony or exaggeration to denounce others' views and ways of life. One author who utilized this style of writing is Mark Twain in his novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Fin. In the novel, the text is littered with moments and events that poke fun at American social institutions. Twain uses satire in his writing to expose his own opinions of specific social institutions in American society.

During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church had a great amount of power because it was the only one at the time. As expressed in The Canterbury Tales, it even oversaw the court, so one could propose that the Church had exponential power. They seemed to rule the economy and hold a lot of land. Kings and queens were even preceded by the Church. Supposedly, in those times, the Catholic Church was a source of great hypocrisy or a good number of its people were. 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

For years, one of the single greatest techniques available to writers has been a sense of satire and dark humor. Former satirist, Voltaire, have motivated modern day writers like Libba Bray to create what some might consider thoughtful laughter with in a satire novel. Voltaire and Bray unique style from different eras both share a common goal of targeting an intended audience through diction, exaggeration, and invectiveness.

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 Pardoner is extremely upfront regarding his greedy motives as seen in the quote “For myn entente is nat but for to wynne,” (117). The sole reason he is in this game is no other reason than to make money. The revelation of this goal results in an ironic situation as his job consists of preaching against greed, while the only reason of his employment is driven by his own greed. “To yeven hir pens; and namely, unto me” is also written as “With offered pence, the which pence come to me” (116). Through this line, the audience can see that the character of the Pardoner, himself, does not see his situation as particularly ironic, instead, to him, is what he has to do in order to support his lifestyle. As one moves through the prologue, one is continuously shown abundant examples of this mistruth, for example as the Pardoner says, “For I wol preche and begge in sondry landes,/ I wol nat do no labour with myne handes,/ Ne make baskettes, and lyve therby,/ By cause I wol nat beggen

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

Jonathan Swift is an enlightenment thinker that uses satire in his writings to bring awareness to the political power and mistreatment of the people of Ireland, ‘‘he was angry or in a fit of despair over Ireland 's economic condition’’(DeGategno). Swift uses satire throughout his proposal, by suggesting to the people of Ireland that they should harvest the little children of the poor. Swift stated that by making ‘‘Them Beneficial to the Public", Ireland would be in a better circumstance. Swift proposed that the poor children 's guardians should give birth to however many number of children as would be possible and offer them for sustenance. Instead of Swift addressing the issue straightforward, Swift used Satire ¬¬¬¬which employs irony sayings- one thing while meaning its opposite—in order to present an argument. He is a genius of sarcastic composition ‘‘a literary form that seeks to correct and conserve cultural and moral values by ridiculing a group 's inappropriate behavior’’(Goldstein). He utilized this form of writing to perpetuate his unobtrusive proposal with the specific end goal, to call attention to the unpleasant treatment of the poor by the rich. Particularly, the way destitution debases and

Satire is the use of humor, irony, or exaggeration to reveal and criticize people’s vices. It becomes a success when the writer can make his readers believe the idea given is not only logical, but practical. While certain satires are appealing in their obvious disgust of humanity, other works are not so blatant in their mockery, presenting more realistic situations. Aldous Huxley employed such tactics in Brave New World. In Brave New World, Huxley explores this idea of a society controlled by pleasure, ignorance, and conditioning.

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. He uses the characters in his stories to help him achieve his goal while writing. Geoffrey Chaucer uses satire to reveal corruption, critique patriarchy, and appraise class and nobility.

Dramatic irony, in literature, is used to show the obliviousness of one or more characters to what is going on around them. It is for the reader, or audience, to gain more knowledge on the character that the character himself is unaware of. In Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, more specifically “The General Prologue,” the narrator uses this dramatic irony to introduce the pilgrims who embark on the journey to the Canterbury Cathedral. In particular, the monk and the friar are introduced by the narrator with great prestige. They are described with honor and holiness. But later on, the reader is shown who the monk and friar truly are.

Geoffrey Chaucer was the greatest poet of middle ages and known as the father of English Literature.