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The Medieval period, also known as the dark ages were from 1066 to 1485. During the Medieval period, William the Conqueror brought French ideas to the people of England. He brought the class systems and continued Christianity. Throughout history, nobles have been known for greed, corruption and the need for more power and material items. This greed soon trickled down toward the middle class. They began leaving their farms and taking other jobs; even owning land. Geoffrey Chaucer despised the idea of class jumping and felt the middle class should stay below the upper class and continue with their own roles in society. Since he could not stop it, he uses his novel to satirize class jumping and several institutions heavily involved with class jumping.
There is no question that contradictory values make up a major component of The Canterbury Tales. Fate vs. Fortuna, knowledge vs. experience and love vs. hate all embody Chaucer's famous work. These contrasting themes are an integral part of the complexity and sophistication of the book, as they provide for an ironic dichotomy to the creative plot development and undermine the superficial assumptions that might be made. The combination of completely contradictory motifs leads to the unusual stories and outcomes that come to play out in the tales. And these outcomes draw focus on the larger universal issues that in many cases transcend the boundaries of vernacular periods to all of humanity. That is the essence and success of the tales; their themes are universal and their irony is still applicable today.
One might assume that the person telling the story has a lot to do with the story they're telling. This is the case in the Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales." In the tale of "The Pardoner's", the voice tells a tale dealing with his famous preach; "Radix malorum est Cupiditas." In English, "The root of all evil is Greed." An ironic distinction can be made with what a "Pardoner" is known to be, the character (the voice/Pardoner), and the tale that he tells.
The Canterbury Tales were written and pieced together in the late 1380's, early 1390's. The author of the book is Geoffrey Chaucer. When considering the structure of the tales, one can deduce that they were put together using Framework Narrative, a very unique style of writing. The opening prologue speaks of 29 pilgrims, including Chaucer, who are all on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. All of them are seeking a certain shrine for spiritual cleansing, and relief. The journey was to be long, but in the end it would all be worth it. Chaucer's social views and prejudices are revealed through his description of the pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales.
The middle ages, a time around 500 to 1400 AD, have been known to be the dark ages of medieval times. The middle ages are known to be dark because the lack of cultural advancements. The middle ages were not that dark and there is evidence to prove it. For example, agriculture flourished during the early middle ages, which caused the population to rise. Another example of the middle ages having a positive outcome is that fair laws that were being made like, the Magna Carta. Another example is that universities were starting to pop up during this time period, this is example of an advancement in the middle ages. Agriculture flourishing, laws becoming fair, and universities being born, are all ways to prove that the middle ages were not that dark.
In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, the prioress’s behavior can be interpreted as being part of the change occurring within religious institutions, which were changing to allow for freedom of thought and individual choice, as the nun does when she takes the liberty of customizing her fine garb by wearing it with beads and a gold brooch. The nun is one of the first characters to be given a name and as such is identified as being an individual, and not just seen as being a nun. The nun’s deviation from expected behavior and norms can thus be seen as a positive trait which Chaucer praises as women became more independent and redefined their own roles in society. Excessive understatement, negative imagery, and refined diction, however satirize the unwarranted care that the nun places on her appearance as well as her shallow take on piety. The corruption and hypocrisy of religious institutions and of aristocracy are highlighted through the nun’s lack of true religious devotion and effort to gain reverence through the mimicking of the court’s manners. The prioress represents the decline of morality and devoutness in monasteries and convents in the Middle Ages, and is an embodiment of the vice present within nobility. Though the narrator praises the refined etiquette and manners that the nun practices, the praise inadvertently allows for the reader to picture the nun as being monstrous and grotesque. The narrator’s passing remarks on her actions allow for the underlying cruelty in the nun to be revealed. Because the narrator fails to notice the corrupt nature of the prioress, the narrator is associated with superficiality as he focuses on the appearance of people and fails to understand the flaws in their actions.
England, in Chaucer's time, was a nation of social and economic growth. Medievalism was a dominant influence in the lives of Englishmen, but the Renaissance had assumed definite form, and the country stood on the threshold of the modern world. Medieval Europeans asserted that the ideals of spiritual community, social groups and national interests were greater than individualism. In Chaucer's time, there were many manifestations of rebellion against the old order of things, including an influx of mysticism and materialism. People demanded more voice in the affairs of their government and viewed the Catholic Church as corrupt. An emerging religious reformation, which placed emphasis on individualism and national patriotism, along with the upsurge of manufacturing and commerce, gave rise to the English middle class.
Social class was the foundation of everyday life during the Middle Ages. Social class played a significant role in the lives of medieval people. The aristocracy class and the immoral lower class were often viewed by society as practically different races. In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer shows the wide variance among the classes in every aspect of their daily lives. The zeitgeist of the Middle Ages can be seen through his illustration of differences between classes in moral behavior, economic power, the autonomy and education of women during the Middle Ages.
After reading explications of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, a student is likely to come away with the impression that the Franklin is the critics favorite punching bag. To the average reader in the modern English-speaking world, the Franklin comes across as surprisingly fair-minded and level-headed, noteworthy as the man kind and inventive enough to resolve the marriage cycle with a tale of decency and openness. The critics, however, often depict the Franklin as a man primarily concerned with upward mobility, finding in his tale a number of remarks intended to win over the nobility and subtly assert his own claim to a kind of nobility. The contrast between the fawning Franklin of certain critical approaches and the open-minded Franklin of the more pedestrian reader can probably be summed up in the word "bourgeois." Some critics find in the Franklin a good example of the less flattering qualities of the word, while modern American readers -- products of a society in which the bourgeois lifestyle is considered the norm -- tend to find in the Franklin an intelligence, style and tolerance often associated with the upwardly mobile or the middle class. His "everybody wins" approach to the problems of the romance might even be an example of what Marxists and anarchists used to decry as bourgeois liberalism.
For some the middle ages was filled with fine writing and stories with a strong leader and government and for some individuals in the same society the day was filled with hard and tedious work for hours on end. Some brought terror and fear while others brought the joy of language the Middle Ages cannot be summed up in one word, one essay, and not nearly by one person. The middle ages were filled with new ideas and culture and with that came hard work and dedication for the world comes at balance a society thriving with new inventions but with that comes irksome consequences the world will remain in balance at one point or
The Medieval Ages was a time in history when people were extremely undeveloped, war was not uncommon, and people had absurd beliefs. Among these poor things, culture did have a big role in the Medieval Ages; since there was a majority Christian population, the church often ruled most lives. This was also a time of great kings and their kingdoms, and the valiant knights that protected them.
In the General Prologue Chaucer had many characters he used to describe and reflect on the social classes of the medieval society. He had characters that went anywhere from the highest to the lowest class. For example he described the Doctor, the Woman and the Skipper.
The time period between 500-1400 C.E. deserves the title “The Dark Ages”. It began with the fall of the Roman Empire and ended with the rise of the Renaissance. The Middle Ages were split into three different periods. The first period was the end of the Roman Empire. The second period was the birth of population growth in Europe. This population growth was accompanied with many new ideas and economic growth. The third period was the worst period of all, the late Middle Ages. During this period, the Black Death and other deadly disease spread across Europe. With the end of the Middle Ages came the beginning of the early modern period.
none so plainly as the developments witnessed in the Language and Literature of that time. It began with the Norman Conquest: eloquent french words substituted for the “harsh” saxon equivalents, primarily in the upper levels of society. Literature began to reflect these changes in the language, and continued to evolve throughout the Renissance. Together, these aspects helped define the Middle Ages.
Chaucer's society represents every social class. In doing so, it shows what it takes to actually make a society function. The different people carry different stories to share. These stories carry lessons learned in hopes of sharing them with others so that they may not end up in the same predicaments. After all, that is the main point of sharing stories, isn't it?
72). That is, the knight is "just home from service" (l. 73) and is in