Category: Geoffrey Chaucer

Chaucer, at least on the surface, recreates the commonly perceived stereotype of a vile woman in Alisoun; and as D.W. Robertson in Chaucer’s Exegetes states, “She is but an elaborate iconographic figure designed to show the manifold implications of an attitude.” Alisoun is portrayed as somewhat of an iconoclast, transgressive to the core, and raucous…

In Love Visions, Chaucer uses the medieval tradition of dream exposition to comment on the societal draw toward the love idealized in a subset of medieval literature. Throughout the first three poems, Chaucer deftly parodies societal norms: his exaggerated descriptions and overly dramatic characters provide subtle hints to the ultimate goal of the poems. The…

Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem “The Book of the Duchess” was written between the years 1369-1372. The poem is a product of Chaucer’s French period. This work was written for Chaucer’s principal patron, John of Gaunt, after the death of his first wife, Blanche. Initially the poem was known as “The Deth of Blaunche the Duchess” and…

Table of contents Introduction Discussion Conclusions Introduction While there are places where the opinions of the medieval listener and the contemporary listener coincide, generally the vastly different contexts in which we assess the Wife of Bath divide our responses. Set in a strict world of Catholicism, aspects of religious blasphemy such as the allusion to…

Question – The Wife of Bath tells anecdotes of her personal life. Does her tale also concern universal truths? Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is a highly celebrated piece of British poetry of 14th century. A collection of 24 tales, it presents vivid and , related to all classes of the society, all on a…

While there are places where the opinions of the medieval listener and the contemporary listener coincide, generally the vastly different contexts in which we assess the Wife of Bath divide our responses. Set in a strict world of Catholicism, aspects of religious blasphemy such as the allusion to the ‘lighte’, like Jesus, in justifying her…

Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem ‘The Wife of Bath’ and John Ford’s play ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore’ portray sin and punishment both in contrasting and corresponding ways. Annabella of ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore’ is guilty of lust, one of the seven deadly sins, and even commits adultery and incest, which the Catholic Church deem mortal…

What makes a good tale? A common staple, especially of medieval tales, is a moral, or a message. The Franklin’s Tale is no exception, with the Franklin clearly giving his view of the world, with his aspirations of gentilesse and his (or perhaps even Chaucer’s) ideal view of marriage. However, a contrast in setting and…

“The Pardoner’s Tale”, written by , exhibits several qualities of life, as we know it today. In this story, Chaucer writes about a man who speaks to his audience for money. This man begins speaking against all that partake in drinking, and gambling but he admits to committing these sins himself. The pardoner speaks of…

Literature styles, methods, and forms influence the reader’s perception of the text a lot while he reads the composition. As for example, the works of the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries are perceived differently in comparison with the ones written in the last one hundred years. This difference becomes even bigger when people read the…