Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Geoffrey Chaucer s The Canterbury Tales - 867 Words

At the beginning of Geoffrey Chaucer’s â€Å"The Canterbury Tales,† he opens with a description of twenty-nine characters who are going on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. Each character in the story represent a stereotype of a kind of person that would be seen in England during the Fourteenth Century. Every single character is unique, but also embodies physical and behavioral traits that would be common for someone in their profession. He writes each character so they have realistic qualities. However, when viewed more closely, a reader can determine which of these characters have a convincing or questionable personality. Chaucer first sets the mood by providing an overall idea of each character before they tell their stories. The physical and†¦show more content†¦Chaucer states that he is an expert in stealing grain and charging three times the amount, but yet he still has a golden thumb. â€Å"An honest miller hath a golden thumb† is a pun used to ironical ly state that this Miller’s golden thumb comes from the increase in his own profit (Chaucer). The portrait that the Miller draws is based upon the negative stereotypes on the lower-class people during the medieval times. The idea was that these people had more brawn than brains, which he clearly demonstrates in his prologue. Another character that is criticized in the Prologue is the Wife of Bath. Her character is larger than life. She is described as having wide hips, a hat as bigs as a boat, and, just in general, taking up a lot of space in the pilgrimage and in the story as a whole. The Wife dresses in expensive clothes such, Her kerchiefs were finely wove†¦/ I dare to swear those weighed a good ten pounds, /That on a Sunday she wore on her head† (Chaucer). Her physical appearance matches a medieval stereotype of a lustful person. This stereotype was seen in a person who could not control their passions. The Wife falls perfectly in line with this stereotype by telling the other characters how she has had five husbands. Having so many husbands has made her skilled in â€Å"the oldest dance† (Chaucer). With the Wife of Bath, Chaucer is laying out the stereotypical medieval state

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.