Yongzheng Qi
Professor Benjamin J Philippi
English 201
16 September 2015
Irony in the General Prologue
In The General Prologue, Chaucer’s narrator depicts a number of pilgrimages who represent different estates: the chivalrous and righteous Knight, the fashionable young Squire in the military estate; the graceful and merciful Prioresse, the rich Monk who breaks down the tradition, the slick Friar in the clergy estate; the indebted Merchant, the knowledgeable Clerk in the professional estate. That group of people reflects the contemporary situation of the whole English society. Chaucer uses irony as a primarily rhetorical device to reveal the corruption of those people. Squire, Prioresse and Clerk are three typical figures in the poem.
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Chaucer’s narrator portrays her as a secular woman who tried to edge herself into the upper class: “And Frenssh she spak ful faire and fetisly, / After the scole of Stratford at the Bowe - / For Frenssh of Paris was to hire unknowe…Of smal coral aboute hir arm she bar / A paire of bedes, gauded all with greene…And after, Amor vincit Omnia” (124-126, 158-162). The Prioresse spoke a fluent French, but in an English accent; which implies that she learned French deliberately rather than naturally. Moreover, the Prioresse wore cheap and bright beads, suggesting that she possibly was just striking a noble pose in order to interact with people in the upper class. However, it was not pleasure for her to imitate the elegant behavior. In essence, she was an earthly woman who forced herself to be graceful and discreet. Chaucer’s narrator satirizes the snobbish Prioresse and points out her pain of doing what was against her …show more content…
Chaucer’s narrator describes the Clerk as a plain student: “Ful thredbare was his overeste courtepy, / For he hadde geten him yit no benefice, / Ne was so worldly for to have office” (292-294). The Clerk could not afford a better living, though he spent much money on books. In addition, the narrator portrays the Clerk as a knowledgeable scholar: “Souning in moral vertu was his speeche, / And gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly teche” (309-310). The Clerk was truly enthusiastic with study and showed virtue. Chaucer’s narrator is confused with him, for his shabby clothes, his richness of books and his ideologism on knowledge. Chaucer’s narrator admires his determination to pursue his goal and his indifference to material wealth as other people do, while Chaucer’s narrator may think his character is too extreme, which forced him to struggle to make a living in the realistic world. Ironically, other people who belonged to this group were rich, because they broke the traditional orders and pursued material wealth or spiritual
In “The Pardoner’s Tale,” Geoffrey Chaucer masterfully frames an informal homily. Through the use of verbal and situational irony, Chaucer is able to accentuate the moral characteristics of the Pardoner. The essence of the story is exemplified by the blatant discrepancy between the character of the storyteller and the message of his story. By analyzing this contrast, the reader can place himself in the mind of the Pardoner in order to account for his psychology.
The structure Geoffrey Chaucer chose for his masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, of utilizing a melange of narrative voices to tell separate tales allows him to explore and comment on subjects in a multitude of ways. Because of this structure of separate tales, the reader must regard as extremely significant when tales structurally overlap, for while the reader may find it difficult to render an accurate interpretation through one tale, comparing tales enables him to lessen the ambiguity of Chaucer’s meaning. The Clerk’s Tale and The Merchant’s Tale both take on the institution of marriage, but comment on it in entirely different manner, but both contain an indictment of patriarchal narcissism and conceit.
“The Canterbury Tales” was written in the 14th century by Geoffrey Chaucer. These tales constitutes a frame story which each pilgrim has to tell their own story to the Chaucer, the pilgrim; not the poet. As we know, the tale itself is a satire, but the stylistic structure in the tales creates a sense that can be a parody as well. To support this idea of parody, it is need to know the definition of parody and how Chaucer use this style to make his own ideas clear through the general prologue and the tales such as “The Miller’s Tale” and “The Knight’s Tale”.
She tried very hard to be perceived as courtly and dainty, something she was not. “To counterfeit a courtly kind of grace” (Chaucer, “Prologue” 143). Chaucer was quick to realize that everything the Nun did was an act to seem courtly. She was obsessed with the courteous world and romance. She spoke French to try to seem well-educated but the French she spoke was incorrect. “And she spoke daintily in French, extremely, / After the school of Stratford-atte-Bowe; /French in the Paris style she did not know. /” (Chaucer “Prologue” 128-30). She tries speaking French which is known to be one of the world’s most romantic languages at the time but, she ends up making a fool of herself because she is doing it incorrectly. Chaucer also describes her as having remarkable table manners but also makes sure to inform the reader that it is all self-taught because, she does not come from a courtly world. “Of table manners she had learnt it all,” (Chaucer “Prologue”127). Chaucer also leaves out a description of how she interacts with people on purpose instead shows how she interacts with
In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Chaucer the author and Chaucer the pilgrim are both quick to make distinctions between characters and point out shortcomings. Though Chaucer the pilgrim is meeting the group for the first time, his characterizations go beyond simple physical descriptions. Using just twenty-one lines in the General Prologue, the author presents the character of the Miller and offers descriptions that foreshadow the sardonic tone of his tale and the mischievous nature of his protagonist.
seriously as we can see that he is not meant to be a character that we
The Canterbury Tales is a literary masterpiece in which the brilliant author Geoffrey Chaucer sought out to accomplish various goals. Chaucer wrote his tales during the late 1300’s. This puts him right at the beginning of the decline of the Middle Ages. Historically, we know that a middle class was just starting to take shape at this time, due to the emerging commerce industry. Chaucer was able to see the importance and future success of the middle class, and wrote his work with them in mind. Knowing that the middle class was not interested in lofty philosophical literature, Chaucer wrote his work as an extremely comical and entertaining piece that would be more interesting to his audience. Also, Chaucer tried to reach the middle class by writing The Canterbury Tales in English, the language of the middle class rather than French, the language of the educated upper class. The most impressive aspect of Chaucer’s writing is how he incorporated into his piece some of his own controversial views of society, but yet kept it very entertaining and light on the surface level. One of the most prevalent of these ideas was his view that certain aspects of the church had become corrupt. This idea sharply contrasted previous Middle Age thought, which excepted the church’s absolute power and goodness unquestionably. He used corrupt church officials in his tales to illustrate to his audience that certain aspects of the church needed to be reformed. The most intriguing of these characters was the Pardoner. Chaucer’s satirical account of the Pardoner is written in a very matter-of-fact manner that made it even more unsettling with his audience. Chaucer uses his straightforwardness regarding the hypocrisy of the Pardoner, suggestive physiognomy of the character, and an interesting scene at the conclusion of the Pardoner’s Tale to inculcate his views of the church to his audience. The way that Chaucer used these literary devices to subtly make his views known to an audience while hooking them with entertainment, shows that Chaucer was truly a literary genius.
Chaucer identifies a pardoner as his main character for the story and utilizes the situational and verbal irony found in the pardoner’s interactions and deplorable personality to demonstrate his belief in the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church during this time. Chaucer first begins his sly jab at the Church’s motives through the description of the Pardoner’s physical appearance and attitude in his “Canterbury Tales.” Chaucer uses the Pardoner as a representation of the Church as a whole, and by describing the Pardoner and his defects, is able to show what he thinks of the Roman Catholic Church. All people present in the “Canterbury Tales” must tell a tale as a part of a story-telling contest, and the pilgrim Chaucer, the character in the story Chaucer uses to portray himself, writes down the tales as they are told, as well as the story teller. The description of the Pardoner hints at the relationship and similarity between the Pardoner and the Church as a whole, as well as marks the beginning of the irony to be observed throughout the “Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale.”
Written by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the fourteenth century, The Canterbury Tales and more specifically it’s prologue, shed a great deal of light on the rising middle class in (fourteenth century) England. Despite the fact that some readers may not know a lot about the time period today, Chaucer’s writing in the prologue elaborates on topics such as occupations, wealth, education, and political power. Scholar Barbara Nolan writes of the prologue, “it is more complex than most…It raises expectations in just the areas the handbooks propose, promising to take up important matters of natural and social order, moral character, and religion and outlining the organization the work will follow” (Nolan 154). In other words, while noting the distinct complexity of the writing, Nolan points out that Chaucer’s prologue gives the reader a lot to digest when it comes to both background information and overall form of the following writing. Focusing on the background information supplied in the prologue, readers quickly become educated about middle class England in the fourteenth century despite having been born hundreds of years later.
The characters are on a pilgrimage which is a clear indicator that the text is of religious genre. The Catholic Church, at the time, was losing many followers due to the Black Death and their lack of faith in the importance of the church. The Summoner and the Pardoner, who both represent the Catholic Church, are both described as greedy, corrupt, and abusive. This is a direct correlation to how Chaucer and many others felt about the Catholic Church during this period. The Monk and the Prioress are not described as being corrupt like the Summoner and the Pardoner; however they are described as falling short of what is considered ideal for people of their position. They both are described as being in a depressed state. Also bot...
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales is a masterpiece of satire due to the frequent use of verbal irony and insults towards the characters and their roles in society. A major source of Irony is Chaucer’s representation of the Church. He uses the Prioress, the Monk and the Friar, who are all supposed to be holy virtuous people to represent the Church. In his writing he suggests that they are actually corrupt, break their vows and in no way model the “holiness” of Christianity.
...eveals insecurities of him in the process while that itself tells us more about the popular culture in this time. Chaucer, along with many of the other pilgrims attempts to place themselves in a socially desirable or even superior position. With the Narrator having the responsibility of articulating the tales to us in a coherent fashion, he might feel pressure to present himself as all-knowing or superior to his companions rather than show us an honest and unbiased point of view. After all, he is telling the story; the Narrator can ultimately choose to tell us whatever he pleases. The Narrator plays the role of telling tales and providing the groundwork for this pilgrimage story, but since his ideas and opinions are designed in such a particular way; he indirectly tells us so much more about not only about the pilgrimage but of this time period’s culture as a whole.
Geoffrey Chaucer was a on a mission when he wrote The Canterbury Tales. That mission was to create a satire that attacked three major institutions. Raphel displays, “Medieval society was divided into three estates: the Church (those who prayed), the Nobility (those who fought), and the Patriarchy. The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales is an estates satire.” Chaucer wanted to shed light on the institutions that were taking advantage of the everyday man. Chaucer does this by making up tales about certain people that she light to the undercover world of the institutions. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses satire to attack the Church, the Patriarchy, and the Nobility.
He earns a sizable income trading furs and cloths around England and haggling for better prices. Unlike the Sergeant of Law, who is in a constant struggle to reach nobility status, the Merchant is striving to reach prominence in the rising middle class, or bourgeoisie, in 14th century England. Chaucer writes of the Merchant, “So estatly was he of his governaunce, / With his bargaynes and with his chevyysaunce” (281-2). This means that he manages his financial affairs in a very dignified and stately manner in loans, bargains, and negotiations that nobody knows that he is actually in debt, except for Chaucer, who seems to figure it out immediately, implying that the Merchant thinks he is better at hiding his debt than he really is. He covers up for his debt seemingly by purchasing expensive outerwear. In contrast to the Sergeant of Law, the Merchant is much more concerned with his outward appearance. Chaucer begins his description of the merchant as, “…ther with a forked berd. / In motlee and hye on horse he sat, / Upon his heed a Flaundryssh bevere hat. / His bootes clasped faire and fetisly” (270-3). The Merchant, with his forked beard, gaudy clothing, Flemish beaver hat, and elegantly clasped boots, sits pompously on his horse. This description elicits a sense that the Merchant relies on appearances to sell his products and make him a recognizable figure. However, Chaucer cannot even remember his name
we see how Chaucer the pilgrim has been swayed and convinced by what the other pilgrims tell him. So much so that he reports qualities that are often the opposite of the true personalities of the characters he is describing. This ambiguity reveals a very clever sort of irony on behalf of the writer - while Chaucer the pilgrim is easily drawn in by their deliberate misrepresentations, it is up to the readers to see how wrong he is and draw their own, more accurate, conclusions. It shows many of the pilgrims to be very different people than those symbolised by the ideal qualities they want others to see.