A Critique of Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales"

The unifying idea and quite obviously, the central theme of the poem is pilgrimage. Thirty travelers are off to give thanks to the martyr who helped them in their times of need. All acquainted characters are traveling to the Canterbury Cathedral for their own personal reasons, whether it be to satisfy their own religious and social needs, or to impress another. This theme carried throughout the poem can also be seen as an extended metaphor. Chaucer uses it as a device to show off his talent. Also, the pilgrimage can be seen as the journey we all make in our lives in attempts to find closure, the different characters representing the sundry people of society who strive for a greater good.

The introductory paragraph is brimming with examples of figurative language. Metaphors: ..".sweet showers fall And pierce the drought of March to the root," personification: .."Zephyrus with his sweet breath exhales an air in every grove..," assonance: "Then people long to go on pilgrimages," and alliteration: "And palmers long to seek the stranger strands." The springtime imagery presented rhetorically emphasizes the religious and social implications of the pilgrimage. These images and others aptly describe the country through the utilization of poetic rhyme in iambic pentameter. The pilgrims are vividly introduced to the reader from the story teller's point of view, who has developed complex opinions of each through individual observation of their idiosyncracies, faults and largely, their merits. Chaucer is very explicit in his description of these characters, expressing their qualities through use of comparisons, repetition and fine tuned rhetoric. The Knight was described with the simile "modest as a maid," and the Nuns polite nature stressed through alliteration: "At meat her manners were well taught withal."

The pilgrims exemplify a varied cross section of fourteenth-century English society. Medieval social theory divided this society into three broad classes, called estates. These `estates' were known as the nobility, the church and the peasants, the Knight belonging to the nobility category, and the Nun to the church. These characters symbolize the conflicting ideals of the class systems and society of that era, depicting several aspects of the human condition. The Knight, a noble and fearless hero, not only served his sovereign, but also his faith. This was a desirable quality in any male, but most often quite unattainable. As with today, images are what sell in society's social market. The Nun, a dainty and fragile character who strives to be polite and refined, only contradicts herself by speaking French "after the school of Stratford-at-Bow," the crude rustic pronunciation as compared to elite Parisian French.