Essay on Chaucer and His Tales
To the taste of a twentieth century reader Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales can be extremely difficult to understand and appreciate. Written in Middle English, even some literary experts believed the piece to be somewhat amateurish in its use of meter and rhyme. The make-up of the language clearly displays its roots to French, though it is linguistically much closer to modern English. With a proper understanding of the pronunciation the Canterbury Tales can recognized as the work of art that it is. This composition of the first identifiable English writer solidifies Chaucer's position as a master of melody and rhyme, and the "father of English literature." Aside from being a literary masterpiece the tales are a window into the society living in medieval England. At the time English was considered the "peasants language," making this piece, among other things, a work of national patriotism. As part of an English nationalist movement it helped to rally against France at the beginning of the Hundred Years War. Considering that its capital city covered an area of only one square mile England was home to a wide range of characters. Instead of following the traditional format for writing an epic poem, which included writi
ng about several characters of high social standing, Chaucer gave his audience a sample of social variety by involving various characters from a spectrum of social classes. Nevertheless, in his description of the knight, Chaucer shows the reader the possibility of the chivalric way of life. In fact the only vow she lives up to is, "until death do you part. Certainly, the knight is dressed in a common shirt which is stained "where his armor had left mark". The knight is larger than life, the embodiment of the chivalric code; he is devout and courteous off the battlefield and is bold and fearless on it. Thomas of Canterbury for his help in keeping them alive. The narrator attempts to apologize for the tale that will follow, admitting that the Miller is not well-bred and will therefore tell a bawdy tale. Chaucer's story is asking his audience to revaluate the church and society; and to redefine the convention because society is filled with moral and spiritual upheaval. The combination of almost slapstick comedy and verbal irony add to the brilliance of the poetry. However, the romantic protagonists in the Miller's tale are a foolish young man, a cunning student, and a spurned husband, not the interchangeable and indistinguishable knights. Both tales also rely on convenient coincidences that drive the plot, such as the sudden appearance of Theseus in the Knight's Tale and the shout "water" that awakens the carpenter in the Miller's Tale. The drunken Miller claims that he has a tale as noble as the one the Knight had told. Nevertheless, he was still able to appeal to royalty.
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