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The canterbury tales vs the decameron
The canterbury tales vs the decameron
The canterbury tales vs the decameron
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The collection of stories comprised in both The Decameron By Giovanni Boccaccio and The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer illustrate a frame story where both parties are going on an adventure. In particular the characters in The Decameron are fleeing the city of Florence and the Black Plague, while in The Canterbury Tales the characters are making a pilgrimage. Each collection has one notable story that could be seen to have a common theme. In The Decameron the tale of “Federigo’s Falcon” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” in The Canterbury Tales both have similar themes of sacrifice. Whether this theme necessarily means the same thing to both tales is questionable. Despite this, it is clear that both do share a theme involving sacrifice, as well as having some subtle differences in what that sacrifice means to the character. …show more content…
For instance, in “Federigo’s Falcon” Federigo was willing to kill his last source of happiness in order make the women he loved appreciate him and “without thinking twice he wrung the bird’s neck and promptly handed it over to the housekeeper…” (Boccaccio 163). By killing his bird Federigo ironically ruins the one thing she, Mona, had wanted from him. While in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” the knight is given an ultimatum by the old woman for her to be young and unfaithful or old and faithful and in response the knight states “In honor to us both I don’t care which;/…‘And I have won the mastery?’ Said she,” (Chaucer 378-382). Thus, the knight surrenders his power, and puts his fate into the hands of the old woman, with the hope she will choose to become young and beautiful. Hence, both tales have their similar themes of sacrifice, although some discrepancies behind the meaning of each sacrifice seem to be
Koff, Leonard Michael. Schildgen, Brenda Deen. Ed. The Decameron and the Canterbury Tales: New Essays on an Old Question. Cranbury, NJ. Associated University Presses, Inc. 2000.
After kissing one’s arse; or being harassed for money; or having someone demoralize another’s occupation, according to “The Miller’s Tale”, “The Friar’s Tale”, and the tension between The Summoner and The Miller, one might have the motive to cause harm to those who hurt them. This shows the level of maturity in the characters, as well as demonstrating human feelings such as hurt, anger, and animosity. In The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer illustrates the pilgrims and characters within their stories as strong, clever, and sometimes even childish. They are often quick to react with revenge to solve their problems, instead of thinking about their actions. However, even if revenge does work to their advantage, it’s not always the most morally correct way for them to fix their troubles.
The Virtue of Men and Women in The Canterbury Tales People never change. In every town you will always be able to find the "rich guy," the "smart guy," the "thief," and the "chief." It has been that way since the first man was swindled out of his lunch. Throughout his life, Geoffrey Chaucer encountered every kind of person and brought them to life for us in "The Canterbury Tales," a collection of short stories written in the 1300's. There are tales of saints, tales of promiscuity, tales of fraud, and tales of love.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. “The Canterbury tales: The Prologue”. Our Literary Heritage. Ed. Desmond Pacey. 4th ed. Montreal, Que.: Mcgraw-Hill Ryerson ltd., 1982.
In “The Pardoner’s Tale” the rioters sacrifice for greed, two of them plot to kill the third, one said “Then draw your dagger too and do the same./Then all the money will be ours to spend,” (Chaucer 152-153). They would rather have money than a friend. In “Federigo’s Falcon” Federigo sacrificed for love because “When he heard what it was that she wanted, and realized that he could not oblige her because he had given her the falcon to eat, Federigo burst into tears” (Boccaccio 164). He sacrificed his last pleasure for love. In both stories they make sacrifices but for completely different
Moving towards the second tale “The Wife of Bath” love and death play a very large toll on the outcome of the story. We begin with a knight who rapes a woman and is given the death penalty. His “love” for her granted him a golden ticket to a death, but miraculously is spared to find the answer to question his life depended on. When introduced to the old woman, he is forced to pledge himself to her in order for help. She helps him and he lives but is now burdened with a woman he does not love. He has no love for her yet is forced to marry and remain miserable.
In The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, the stereotypes and roles in society are reexamined and made new through the characters in the book. Chaucer discusses different stereotypes and separates his characters from the social norm by giving them highly ironic and/or unusual characteristics. Specifically, in the stories of The Wife of Bath and The Miller’s Tale, Chaucer examines stereotypes of women and men and attempts to define their basic wants and needs.
The Gift of a Lifetime: Sacrifice in a Tale of Two Cities. Some men are engraved eternally in the hearts and minds of those he inspired. It is done so in a fashion that allows his name to live eternally, long after his ephemeral existence. However, what truly sets a man apart from his lesser counterparts is his willingness to give without taking.
In his Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer assembles a band of pilgrims who, at the behest of their host, engage in a story-telling contest along their route. The stories told along the way serve a number of purposes, among them to entertain, to instruct, and to enlighten. In addition to the intrinsic value of the tales taken individually, the tales in their telling reveal much about the tellers. The pitting of tales one against another provides a third level of complexity, revealing the interpersonal dynamics of the societal microcosm comprising the diverse group of pilgrims.
In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, a collection of tales is presented during a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral. The pilgrims on the journey are from divergent economic and social backgrounds but they have all amalgamated to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas. Chaucer uses each pilgrim to tell a tale which portrays an arduous medieval society. The values, morals and social structures of the society can be examined through the fictitious tales, unravelling a corrupt, unjust and manipulative world, a world that is based around an ecclesiastical society.
In “The Canterbury Tales”, Chaucer introduces pilgrims that go on a pilgrimage to The Canterbury Cathedral to celebrate Thomas Becket’s life, which is the framework of the poem. The 120 stories the various pilgrims tell along the way are the framework-stories (Harmon, 209). Similarly, “The Decameron” tells of ten men and women who flee a plague, which is the framework, and the stories of the men and women being the framework-stories. Boccaccio composed “The Decameron” in French forty years before Chaucer began writing “The Canterbury Tales” allowing Chaucer the time to read Boccaccio’s work and implement its format in his planning when writing “The Canterbury Tales” (“Boccaccio, Giovanni”). Although, there is already supporting evidence that Chaucer was exposed to some of Boccaccio’s writing because he summarizes more than 1000 lines of Boccaccio’s “Teseida” in “The Knight’s Tale” (Heffernan, 317).
An interesting aspect of the famous literary work, "The Canterbury Tales," is the contrast of realistic and exaggerated qualities that Chaucer entitles to each of his characters. When viewed more closely, one can determine whether each of the characters is convincing or questionable based on their personalities. This essay will analyze the characteristics and personalities of the Knight, Squire, Monk, Plowman, Miller, and Parson of Chaucer's tale.
In “Federigo’s Falcon” by Boccaccio and “The Wife of Bath” by Chaucer, the theme of love is shared by these two stories. The theme of sacrifice in Boccaccio’s story by showing how far some people are willing to go to demonstrate their love and the theme of power in Chaucer’s story by stating that what people want most in a relationship is to have power is the main difference between these two tales. In Boccaccio’s story of love and sacrifice it can be seen that only a sacrifice will reveal the true intentions of someone. Federigo is so in love with Monna that he spends all his riches until he ends up penniless.
Many of the religious characters in The Canterbury Tales represent character traits that are different from what is traditionally expected of them. This is because the Catholic Church, which ruled all of England, Ireland and most of Europe in the Fourteenth Century, was extremely wealthy. Extravagant cathedrals were built in every big city while the people suffered from poverty, disease and famine. The contrast between the wealth of the church and misery of the people was overwhelming. As a result, the characters in Chaucer's tales were portrayed as deceitful and greedy. Two examples of this are the Summoner from the "The Friar's Tale" and Death from the "The Pardoner's Tale."
Throughout history, many historians have written religious works that consist of absolving sins, or vices. The Canterbury tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, is a prime literary example of these types of works. A pilgrim who admits that he is greedy has written the exemplary tale of the three rioutours and false, Chaucer modeled the pardoner’s tale on Faus Semblant a notorious character in Le Roman De La Rosa (Dean). Le Roman De La Rosa is an allegorical poem of chivalric love that Geoffrey Chaucer used as a base for many of his writings that were very religious, and church oriented. Books during the crusades used to advocate cultural values, and religious concepts. It is common for authors to base their stories off other author’s works, even in today’s era.