The General Prologue - The Canterbury Tales
The General Prologue
The most popular part of the Canterbury Tales is the General Prologue,
which has long been admired for the lively, individualized portraits
it offers. More recent criticism has reacted against this approach,
claiming that the portraits are indicative of social types, part of a
tradition of social satire, "estates satire", and insisting that they
should not be read as individualized character portraits like those in
a novel. Yet it is sure that Chaucer's capacity of human sympathy,
like Shakespeare's, enabled him to go beyond the conventions of his
time and create images of individualized human subjects that have been
found not merely credible but endearing in every period from his own
until now.
It is the General Prologue that serves to establish firmly the
framework for the entire story-collection: the pilgrimage that risks
being turned into a tale-telling competition. The title "General
Prologue" is a modern invention, although a few manuscripts call it
prologus. There are very few major textual differences between the
various manuscripts. The structure of the General Prologue is a simple
one. After an elaborate introduction in lines 1 - 34, the narrator
begins the series of portraits (lines 35 - 719). These are followed by
a report of the Host's suggestion of a tale-telling contest and its
acceptance (lines 720 - 821). On the following morning the pilgrims
assemble and it is decided that the Knight shall tell the first tale
(lines 822 - 858).
Nothing indicates when Chaucer began to compose the General Prologue
and there are no variations between manuscripts that might suggest
that he revised it after making an initial version. It...
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he does not put people in the order of their social rank, "My wit is
short, ye may well understand." This persona continues to profess the
utter naivety that we have already noted in his uncritical
descriptions of the pilgrims.
It is in this way, too, that we should approach the conclusion of the
Prologue. Here the Host of the Tabard Inn (Harry Bailey, a historical
figure) decides to go with them and ironically it is he, not Chaucer,
who proposes the story-telling contest that gives the framework of the
Tales. He will also be the ultimate judge of which is the best: "of
best sentence and most solas." He is, after all, well prepared by his
job to know about the tales people tell! One model for the literary
competition would seem to be the meetings of people interested in
poetry, known in French as puys, with which Chaucer would have been
familiar.
In the Canterbury Tales, the Knight begins the tale-telling. Although straws were picked, and the order left to "aventure," or "cas," Harry Bailey seems to have pushed fate. The Knight represents the highest caste in the social hierarchy of the fourteenth century, those who rule, those who pray, and those who work. Assuming that the worldly knight would tell the most entertaining and understandable story (that would shorten their pilgrimage to St. Thomas Becket), Harry tells the Knight to begin.
In “Hidden Intellectualism,” Gerald Graff pens an impressive argument wrought from personal experience, wisdom and heart. In his essay, Graff argues that street smarts have intellectual potential. A simple gem of wisdom, yet one that remains hidden beneath a sea of academic tradition. However, Graff navigates the reader through this ponderous sea with near perfection.
When we are taken on the pilgrimage to Canterbury by Chaucer in the story “The Canterbury Tales” we are introduced to all classes of characters from every corner of life. The use of satire is used throughout the story and I believe it helps, it shows the stereotypical difference in class at his time of day. While keeping nothing from harm in “The Canterbury Tales” Chaucer takes a huge chance by mocking even the church. But did all the use of raunchy humor and everyday language really help him or did it make the story too much to read?
George Orwell used an English language so simply and accurately to express what he mean, and at the same time with great meaning. He was telling the story about of a revolution by farm animals against their cruel and dissolute master, and about their subsequent fortunes. This was the book that Orwell most prepared for. In 1943, Orwell felt people's admiration for Russian war effort. He was very conscious, so he felt how English communists used their position as unofficial representatives of the USSR to prevent the truth from coming out. Also Orwell was an anti-communist, throughout the book he is on the side of the animals. Also one of the Orwell's goals in writing "Animal Farm" was the portray the Russian Revolution (Bolshevik) on 1917.
Napoleon imbues the animals with his subjective ideologies and indoctrinates them in order to cloud their thoughts and dominate their lives. Napoleon persuades the animals to act in accordance with his ideas and to surrender to his will by constantly bombarding them with persuasive messages of propaganda. Such devious efforts are highlighted by the cows in their statement, “’Thanks to the leadership of Comrade Napoleon, how excellent this water tastes!’” (page 62). In the cows’ words it is clear that Napoleon strives to control the animals by using the influence of reciprocation as conveyed through propaganda. The cows’ testimonial gives the animals the impression that Napoleon is working to help them and in turn the animals feel an obligation to surrender to Napoleon’s will in order to reciprocate the favor. Thus, Napoleon uses propaganda to apply the rule of reciprocity and gain control of the animals. Additionally, Napoleon wields charisma as a tool for indoctrinating the animals a...
There are seven deadly sins that, once committed, diminish the prospect of eternal life and happiness in heaven. They are referred to as deadly because each sin is closely linked to another, leading to other greater sins. The seven deadly sins are pride, envy, anger, sloth, gluttony, avarice, and lechery. Geoffrey Chaucer's masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, provided an excellent story about the deadly sins. Focusing mainly on the sins of pride, gluttony and greed, the characters found in The Canterbury Tales, particularly The Pardoner's Tale, were so overwhelmed by their earthly desires and ambitions that they failed to see the effects of their sinful actions, therefore depriving themselves of salvation.
“Hidden Intellectualism” written by Gerald Graff, is a compelling essay that presents the contradicting sides of “book smarts” and “street smarts” and how these terms tied in to Graff’s life growing up. Graff felt like the school was at fault that the children with more “street smarts” were marked with the reputation of being inadequate in the classroom. Instead of promoting the knowledge of dating, cars, or social cues, the educational system deemed them unnecessary. Gerald Graff thought that “street smarts” could help people with academics. In his essay, Graff confessed that despite his success as an “intellect” now, he was the exact opposite until college. Where he grew up in Chicago, Illinois, intelligence was looked down upon around peers
as brown as is a berry." (P 120 line 211) This shows that the Monk spends
In the world today animals are treated poorly and are overworked under harsh conditions. In Animal Farm by George Orwell the idea of Animalism and lack of freedom is shown. Old Major gave an inspiring speech about how the animals live together without humans. After not being fed the animals attack Jones and end up taking over the farm. The animals survive on the farm, by making commandments, assigning jobs, and soon electing a leader. With Snowball and Napoleon guiding them they soon come across an amazing idea that could shorten the work week. After debating on the different viewpoints they both had on the windmill, Napoleon trains dogs to attack Snowball. With Napoleon now as the leader and Squealer as his spokesman they both run “Animal Farm”. With the victory at the Battle of Cowshed the animals start to have hope, after the windmill was knocked down by the humans everything falls apart. After years of mistreatment the animals decide to fight back. Unknowingly they place themselves under a manipulating leader. The animals soon believe that Napoleon is always right. In the end they lose their strongest most dedicated animal, Boxer. In order to secure a life of luxury for Napoleon and his fellow pigs, Napoleon (with Squealer as his spokesman) uses language that intimidates, language that distorts the truth, and language that appeals to the emotion of the others to manipulate the gullible animals of the farm.
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.
Often times in a communist society, a leader’s use of language can lead to abuse of power. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the farm leaders, the pigs, use unknown language, invoke scare tactics, and create specific laws, thereby enabling them to control other animals, to suit their greedy desires, and to perform actions outside their realm of power. Because of the pigs’ use of broad language, implementation of scare tactics, and creation and manipulation of laws, they are able to get away with avoiding laws and convincing other animals into believing untrue stories and lies that are beneficial to the pigs.
The corruption of power is one of the world’s undeniable truths, throughout history power has corrupted many famous leaders such as Hitler and Henry VIII. Power corruption can happen in many ways, but there are three main sources. The sources would be character, how you use power, and the outlook on power. However other leaders did very well with power, so the real question would be what type of power corrupts and why? To answer what type of power corrupts I’ll have to go back to a quote from John Dalberg-Acton, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
It is not hard to apply Chaucer's description of the greedy doctor to today's medical system, nor is it difficult to find modern-day people with equivalent personalities to those of many of Chaucer's other characters. However, it is the institutions of his time as well as their flaws and hypocrisies that Chaucer is most critical of; he uses the personalities of his characters primarily to highlight those flaws. The two institutions that he is most critical of have lost much, if not all, of their influence; in many instances, the Church has only slight hold on the lives and attitudes of the people as a whole, and the strict feudal system has entirely disappeared. Few institutions today are as clearly visible and universally influential as those two forces were in the Middle Ages, so, if Chaucer were writing his tales today, he would most likely turn to the hypocritical attitudes of the general populace and the idiosyncracies of our daily lives. He gives some emphasis to these in the Tales (for example, he mentions the prioress's ladylike compassion for even the smallest creature in the Prologue, but has her tell an anti-Semitic tale later), but, in today's American culture, he would be most likely to criticize businessmen, middle-class parents, and the demand formust instantaneous gratification.
In every society there are leaders who, if given the opportunity, will likely abuse their power. Napoleon takes over the farm but in the process he becomes exactly like the humans by mistreating the other animals and actually becoming friends with a human that owns a farm nearby. He breaks the laws that the animals made for everyone.
George Orwell's, Animal Farm, depicts how power can corrupt society. If one person receives too much power, one will most likely lead up to dictatorship. To exemplify this idea, Orwell uses a farm to represent a society and the animals inside to portray the people. Orwell's use of the pigs and animals are also an analogy that people sometimes act as 'mindless pigs';. Orwell makes the reader realize just how bad a society of dictatorship can really be.