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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
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.
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.
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.
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a collection of stories by a group of pilgrims who are heading to Canterbury Cathedral. In this book, the pardoner and the reeve show antipodal characters in many ways. The pardoner is beautiful blonde hair man who is being loved by everyone. However he is very corrupted and smart and sells fake religious stuff to people saying very good compliment. On the other hand, the reeve is very serious and honest business man. He is very smart enough to know what criminals think and do. The pardoner story-tells a great example (or tale?) of seven deadly sins and reeve’s story is mocking of the miller. These very different characteristic men tell story telling that human beings are always punished for being greedy. The crooked pardoner and the honest reeve have different purposes for telling their tales, but their stories have the same major theme; sins deserve punishment.
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 two tales, told by the Wife of Bath and the Clerk in The Canterbury Tales, have parallel plots. “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” begins with a lusty knight standing before his king’s court because of unjust acts he committed with a young maiden. Before the king can execute the knight, the queen objects and offers that the knight’s life is spared if he can find the answer to what women really want. The knight embarks on his journey to discover the answer (“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” 167-68). Similarly, “The Clerk’s Tale” takes place in the kingdom of Saluzzo, Italy under the control of Walter, the marquis. The people of Saluzzo eagerly advised Walter to find a wife to ensure an heir to the throne. Walter finally finds the standard, beautiful woman in poverty named Griselda. She values hard work and humility, and Walter chooses to marry her. However, she must take a vow to Walter never to complain and to be loyal despite whatever the future may bring. Both plots revolve around the noble class and the differences among the social structure of the time because of the variety of characters portrayed in each tale. The two tales’ plots are d...
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."
Chaucer, Geoffrey. “The Canterbury tales: The Prologue”. Our Literary Heritage. Ed. Desmond Pacey. 4th ed. Montreal, Que.: Mcgraw-Hill Ryerson ltd., 1982.
In the Middle Ages, when The Canterbury Tales was written, society became captivated by love and the thought of courtly and debonair love was the governing part of all relationships and commanded how love should be conducted. These principles changed literature completely and created a new genre dedicated to brave, valorous knights embarking on noble quests with the intention of some reward, whether that be their life, lover, or any other want. The Canterbury Tales, written in the 14th century by Geoffrey Chaucer, accurately portrays and depicts this type of genre. Containing a collection of stories within the main novel, only one of those stories, entitled “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, truly outlines the 14th century community beliefs on courtly love.
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 “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
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.
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 “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).
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.