Canterbury Tales
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales contains many different types of individuals that exist in the Middle Ages. Although these characters lived in the fourteenth century, people similar to them still exist in today's society. Three pilgrims from Canterbury Tales who parallel people from today are the Merchant, who is closely related to the middle-class businessmen of today; the Nonne, who is much like modern day upper class women; and the Pardoner, who can be compared to a devious salesman or con artist from today's society. The first character, the Merchant, is very much like an average; middle-income businessman that exists in the world of today. The Merchant from the tales feels that he must brag and show off for people to recognize the wealth he wishes he had. Although he has a sufficient amount of money, which his wearing of posh clothing proves, he does not have as much money as he sees fit of himself or for anybody that falls under his job description. That means that the Merchant, because of a preconceived notion that all merchant's should be filthy rich, is insecure due to his financial situation, so he feels the need to deceive people because of his insecurity. Chaucer hints at the Merchant's tend
The Canterbury Tales has no place in time because of the commentary on different individuals that seem to fit in any time or place in history. A pardoner's job in the Middle Ages would be to sell pardons for the sins of regretful people. Chaucer does an incredible job of understanding and putting into words what lies inside of an individual that applies to people from the past, present, and future. Although she is a nun, the women of today like her have important men as husbands or, as heirs, receive a large amount of money. One similarity between con artists and the Pardoner lies in their ability to come across as if they have really befriended a person but actually trick them out of your money. These types of people still exist today and one can tell who they are because they tend to spend the money they do have on material things such as cars, and clothes, just as the Merchant chose to spend his money on expensive clothing and a nice horse, simply to convince people that they have money and can afford expensive things. The Nonne compares easily to an upper class, posh woman of today. ency to brag as well when he mentions that the Merchant is "Souning alway th' encrees of his winning" (Chaucer 277) meaning that the Merchant is always able to include implications of his success when he speaks. Another character from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales that reflects an individual from modern society is the Nonne. These women are stereotypically titled snobby because they expect the same type of manners from everyone else and look down upon these people if they are not extremely polite (but of course would not tell someone that to their face because that too would be considered rude). The Nonne and the aristocratic women of today are alike also in that they seem incredibly giving and pleasant to people, but this saintly appearance can also be taken as condescending to one because they seem as if they are giving you charity because they feel they are above you. A con artist of today would do the same thing by offering something that one sees as an absolute necessity to have but ends up a waste because the object has no worth, and the con artist would make off with that persons money. The Nonne wears highly expensive and beautiful jewelry, and is seemingly flawless in her social behavior. At the time people were actually gullible enough to buy these pardons, and people like the Pardoner would take advantage of them to make a good bit of money.
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