Category: Geoffrey Chaucer
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Merchant’s Tale: Analysis of Genre and Main Ideas
In the Book of Genesis, Adam and Eve eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which gives them greater powers of perception but also causes their expulsion from Paradise. The story creates a link between clear vision and the ability to perceive the truth which, in this case, causes mankind to fall…
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Perception of Contemporary Society Expressed in The Canterbury Tales
Born in the year 1340, Geoffrey Chaucer’s life took him through both the dredges and the peaks of medieval civilization. While serving in the retinue of Prince Lionel, Chaucer was captured by the French during the siege of Reims. Seven years after being ransomed for 16 pounds, he entered service as an esquire for Edward…
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Unconventional Love Story in The Miller’s Tale
When the Miller proposes to “quite,” or revenge, the Knight’s tale in the Prologue to his tale (3127), he alters the host’s use of the word “quite” (3119). Whereas the Host is asking the Monk to match the Knight’s tale, the Miller wants to requite it, and he does exactly that. The Miller tells a…
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Analyzing The Husbands’ Behavior in The Canterbury Tales
To love, honor and obey is a common part of the modern marriage vow. It is taken for granted that both partners will strive toward an equal union, in which neither is completely dominant or completely submissive to the other. While this may make sense to modern married couples, medieval couples had a very different…
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Pardoner’s Complex Character in The Canterbury Tales
Chaucer is renowned for his psychologically intricate character portrayals. The Pardoner, an irreverent character in Chaucer’s framework narrative The Canterbury Tales, is an excellent example of just such a complex character. Although alcohol may have been partially responsible for the Pardoner affording his companions such an introspective narrative, the insight into the Pardoner’s character is…
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Insatiability and Incongruity: The Psychology of The Pardoner and His Story
Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales introduces readers to several fascinating and dynamic characters. Perhaps the most fascinating of all is the Pardoner, whose prologue and tale are filled with irony. The Pardoner is a complex character whose blatant hypocrisy and spiritual atrophy serve to give the reader an understanding of the irony of his tale…
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Analysis of The Wife of Bath in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
” Chaucer opens the “Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales” describing twenty-nine people going on a pilgrimage. It can be recognized from the way people behave today, that they had a distinct personality. In comparison with the other people, Chaucer made The Wife of Bath stand out from the other characters.The Wife of Bath is described intentionally in…
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Interrelation of The Heroes and The Setting in The Canterbury Tales
The characters introduced in the General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales each represent a stereotype of a kind of person that Chaucer would have been familiar with in 14th Century England. Each character is unique, yet embodies many physical and behavioral traits that would have been common for someone in their profession. In preparing the…
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Romantic Line in The Knight’s Tale
In Geoffrey Chaucer’s famous satirical poem The Canterbury Tales, the author describes a pilgrimage which commences in the town of Southwark and continues to the burial sight of Saint Thomas Becket. The pilgrims are quite an assorted lot, comprised of members of all classes of the social spectrum in late-medieval England. At the head of…
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Belonging to a Class in The Canterbury Tales
During the Middle Ages in England, a tripartite society existed, consisting of three estates: the nobility, the clergy, and the workmen. This tripartite system is often referred to as “those who fight, those who pray, and those who work” because of the duties of each section that provide the kingdom’s protection and rule, the sanctity…