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The destination is a holy and venerated site, one that should inspire devotion, a spirit of penance, and peace; and it is fitting that a merry man should be the one to invite the other pilgrims to the game of the telling tales.
Unlike Dante's pilgrimage through the afterlife, which tends toward a much more spiritual focus, Chaucer's pilgrimage is earthly in the sense that its main focus is on human nature, in all its different shapes and sizes. If Dante analyzes the effects of sin and virtue on the human soul by viewing them from the realm of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, Chaucer analyzes the effects of sin and virtue on the human soul by viewing them from the everyday people he meets on a pilgrimage to a real place in real time: Canterbury.
Like Dante, however, Chaucer's Tales show the ways in which virtue is rewarded and vice punished. Such is clear in the General Prologue, too, as Chaucer...
These characters tell tales fitting to their character, but the General Prologue merely introduces them to the reader, putting before his eyes the varied and realistic characters of late-medieval England. Some characters are clearly ones that can be admired for their goodness of spirit (like the Parson), others are more worldly (like the Franklin), while others are somewhat mean in aspect (like the Miller, who likes to tell bawdy stories). Chaucer means to present humanity in its entire spectrum, showing how all of us are making a pilgrimage through life, from birth to death, towards eternity.
Works Cited
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Baron's Educational Series, 1970.
Works Cited
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Baron's Educational Series, 1970.
But while it is true that he loved the funny side of life, he was also quite genuine and sincere in his purpose to expose the superficialities of social roles. "If we look at the whole corpus of his work, we see his tragic poems all interrupted, unfinished, or transfigured into celestial comedy" (Garbaty173). Chaucer unlike some tragedy masters of his time was not too concerned with gloom and sadness
They were seen as wives, mothers, daughters and usually "portrayed in relation to a man or group of man" (Klapisch-Zuber285). While they were given little freedom outside this restricted sphere, critics observe that medieval women were granted substantial autonomy within that sphere. Men "imposed a closely circumscribed domain in which women exercised a degree of autonomy... primarily the house, a space both protected and enclosed, and, within the house,
Wife of Bath's Prologue, by Geoffrey Chaucer is one of the first pieces of literature that introduces us to a smart, intelligent, and independent woman. One of the most important aspects of the wife's character is her sexuality. In a day when women were not prone to speak out about their sexuality, the wife does and not only that, she brags about how much she enjoys sex. The wife is
Chaucer's CANTERBURY TALES (General Prologue) One of Chaucer's great character descriptions is of the Pardoner: a.) What image suggests his lack of manliness and his effeminacy? Why do you think Chaucer would portray the Pardoner this way? The Pardoner makes his living in an unmanly way, through wit and guile rather than true trade. The pardoner is described as a gelding or a mare, like an animal that cannot reproduce. b.) A goat is
Knights in the Canterbury Tales, The Knight's Tale, And The Miller's Tale The narrator in the Prologue of "The Canterbury Tales" paints a noble view of the Knight. For instance, we are told that the knight is a distinguished man who practiced "chivalry,/Truth, honour, generousness and courtesy" (20). We are also told he is wise, and he fought in "fifteen mortal battles" across the world. (21) While the narrator may have an
http://find.galegroup.com/gps/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=IPS&docId=A21240794&source=gale&srcprod=ITOF&userGroupName=va0035_004&version=1.0 Works Cited Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Trans. Neville Coghill. New York: Penguin Books, 1977.