Even though the Tales are fictitious, Chaucer draws directly on real people and real events in his satire of human life. Chaucer presents his characters as stock types – the greedy Pardoner, the hypocritical Friar, etc. – but he also presents them as individual people who exist in the world around him.
Through the characters of all the classes, Chaucer portrays the vast range of contemporary society by making each character tell their own story. In this way, Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales” is not only the best social commentary of the age but also an authentic picture of fourteenth-century England.
How does The Canterbury Tales reflect society?
Its vivid portrayal of a diverse group of travelers reveals much about the composition and values of society in late medieval England. It shows us shifting dynamics of social power, an economy in flux, and diverse expressions of faith and doubt within late medieval Christianity.
Social commentary is an element of a narrative that levels a comment — usually a critique — on societal issues or general society as a whole. Any issue relating to or ingrained aspect of a society can be a target.
Chaucer describes the Friar as a religious figure who doesn’t fulfill his oath to the church to help others and live a life in poverty. He goes against everything a friar should be, by taking money or sex from those that he listens to for confession, while using the information he gains from this act to his advantage.
The Pardoner bases his tale on the consequences of greed and deception. Due to the fact that society often judges people on their status, they strive to become wealthy . Their overall concern with gaining wealth leads to greed. People put morals and values aside to achieve a position of power.
The five groups were Royalty, Nobility, Church, Merchants, and Peasantry.
What is the overall message of The Canterbury Tales?
One of the main lessons throughout all of the tales and main story is that honor and honesty is valued. In stories like the Physician’s Tale, we see that the lying Appius who lusts after a young girl, is eventually caught for his lies and thrown in jail where he kills himself.
What is the purpose and message of The Canterbury Tales?
The tales could be described both as social realism and as estates satire. At the same time that Chaucer takes care to honestly show the perspective of each of his characters, he also aims to critique the hypocrisy of the church and the social problems posed by Medieval politics and social custom.
What are 3 reasons The Canterbury Tales are important?
The Canterbury Tales is considered Chaucer’s masterpiece and is among the most important works of medieval literature for many reasons besides its poetic power and entertainment value, notably its depiction of the different social classes of the 14th century CE as well as clothing worn, pastimes enjoyed, and language/
Plato’s The Republic, Aristophanes’ plays, The Hunger Games, and Jonathan Swift’s A Modern Proposal are all examples of social commentary.
Social commentary is the act of using rhetorical means to provide commentary on social, cultural, political, or economic issues in a society. This is often done with the idea of implementing or promoting change by informing the general populace about a given problem and appealing to people’s sense of justice.
Terms in this set (7)
- Irony. when something happens in a way you wouldn’t expect it to happen.
- Verbal Irony. say one thing mean another; sarcasm.
- Situational Irony. occurs when events differ from typical expectations; what’s least expected.
- Dramatic Irony.
- Hyperbole.
- Understatment.
- Bathos.
The First Estate was the Church and members of its religious hierarchy. The five characters in The Canterbury Tales who fall into this class include the Prioress, Monk, Friar, Parson, and Pardoner.
What was the lesson in the Friar Canterbury Tales?
Lesson Summary
‘The Friar’s Tale’ deals with themes that would have been familiar to the audience at the time, including the necessity to be cautious about people you might meet on the road, or who appear at your house, because appearances can be deceiving.
What was Chaucer’s tone in The Canterbury Tales?
While the tone of the stories that comprise The Canterbury Tales ranges from pious to plain to comical, Chaucer as narrator takes an upbeat but wry tone, allowing himself to make his social commentary through humor and irony instead of direct criticism.
The Canterbury Tales as a Satire
The Canterbury Tales is a satire, which is a genre of literature that uses humor—sometimes gentle, sometimes vicious—to ridicule foolish or corrupt people or parts of society.
What are three major themes in The Canterbury Tales?
The Canterbury Tales Themes
- Social Class. One present theme throughout The Canterbury Tales is the importance of social status during Chaucer’s time.
- Deceit. Deceit is a reoccurring theme in The Tales involving the Miller, the Merchant, and the Pardoner.
- Religion.
- Social Satire.
- Courtly Love.
- The Significance of Company.
What are the three levels of society shown in The Canterbury Tales?
In conclusion, all the characters in The Canterbury Tales fall in one of the three social classes: nobility, clergy, and peasants, implying that England was structured during the feudal and medieval periods. The peasants belonged to the lowest class and lived under poor conditions.
What are the main features of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales?
The tales are by turns satirical, elevated, pious, earthy, bawdy, and comical. The reader should not accept the naïve narrator’s point of view as Chaucer’s. Protagonists Each individual tale has protagonists, but Chaucer’s plan is to make none of his storytellers superior to others; it is an equal company.
The wealthiest class with the most respect is royalty, which is followed by the noble. Both royalty and noble had a few things in common, one being clothes made from fine materials with bright colors and fancy food covered in seasonings that were devoured by the rich and served by the poor (The Middle Ages, 2018).