Canterbury Tales Research Paper

[Writer Name]
[Supervisor Name]
[Subject]
[Date]
Themes in the Canterbury Tales

Canterbury Tales by Chaucer The Canterbury Tales is a work written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the late fourteenth century about a group of pilgrims, of many different occupations and personalities, who meet at an inn near London as they are setting out for Canterbury, England. Their host proposes a storytelling contest to make the journey more interesting. The Prologue and the Tales are basically written by Chaucer, as a satire on the society of that time; he has portrayed each and every character in an ironical way; the way all the characters think and act are seem comical on surface level but its deeper understanding can make the reader feel that it is
all satirizing. The prevailing mood of The Canterbury Tales is obviously that of comedy. The most prominent aspect of the book is the amazing magnitude of the range of its representation of medieval society. The poem aims at wholeness and presents an amalgam of all the Themes and conventions of contemporary medieval literature.
Themes
"The Canterbury Tales" is a multifarious work with several thematic interests. The poem corresponds to the English society of the fourteenth century. All the three primary levels of medieval society; the Knighthood, the spiritual clergy and the toiling agricultural classes have generous representation in the portrayal of the Knight, Parson and Plowman. The high class breeding is represented through the Prioress and the Monk. The medieval mansion is pictured through the Miller and the Reeve. The Merchant, the innkeeper Host, the Manciple, the Cook, and the five guildsmen are the typical embodiment of the middle classes. The professional class is described through the Sergeant at Law and the Physician. Provincial England is also exemplified through the Wife of Bath and the Sea captain from Dartmouth. The Canterbury Tales caters the reader with a representation of a disorganized Christian society; all these characters employed by Chaucer portray different themes in the text and the main concern of the thematic representation of the Prologue is to identify the weakness and flaws of the English society of that time. One of the major themes found in the text is the representation of the Medieval Church and/or Clergy, critique of the church and the themes of Christian virtue and chivalry.

The Medieval Church and/or Clergy Chaucer also makes his readers aware of the corruption of the clergy and paints a portrait of the Prioress, Monk, Friar, Summoner, and Pardoner to present satiric portraitures of them. The perfect portrait of the Parson makes a balance between moral wickedness and dishonesty of the other ecclesiastical figures. Similarly Chaucer’s approval of the Monk’s pleasure in the finer things of life and intense passion for hunting is aimed at evoking the reader’s condemnation as he goes against his monastic vow of poverty. His regular hunting excursions disregard the monastic vow of leading a simple life and devoting oneself to studies. Monk’s refusal to follow the rules laid down by St. Benedict intensifies the irony. He reminds the reader,
"And I seyde his opinion was good."
(Chaucer, p. 300-390)
The Friar also, first praised for his humility, courtesy, virtuousness, and then praised for having the ability to ‘extract’ money from the poor. ‘Extract’ is very ironical here. Chaucer positively says that the worthy Friar had arranged the marriage of many young women at his own cost. Later on, the readers realize that the Friar’s motive for doing so is filled with contempt for his lechery. Similarly there is a sort of depravity and vice from the portrayal of the worldly Prioress to the portrait of the immoral Friar. (Hysell, p. 462-704) Medieval Pilgrims were mostly consists of clergy men, parsons and other church figures but they did not know the real meaning of pilgrimage. Pilgrimage is a holy journey that people do for religious purpose; to gain knowledge about religion and to preach religion. But the pilgrimage presented by Chaucer in this text seems for entertainment, as we find all of the pilgrims (including religious heads) are busy in telling tales.
Even these clergy men and parsons do not use the Bible for teaching. All of the religious figures do not focus on the religious motives; it means that they only want to do whatever they want. They all have worldly concerns. Bible and its teachings are nothing for them. As we can see that Chaucer admires Friar that he arranges the marriages of many people at his own cost.
The readers only realize a after some time that the Friar’s aim was not sincere. Similarly Chaucer praises the Friar’s knowledge of the ‘taverns and bars’ in the locality and says that it is not profitable to relate with the poor. Talking about Friar’s tale, he is a wanton and merry man. These are hardly the characteristics that befit a religious man. He is a "limiter" i.e. a Friar who is licensed to beg within a certain limited area. While hearing confessions he gave the best pardon to those who contributed the maximum amount of money. The author makes this statement in irony when he says that he is probably the only person who practices his profession most
accurately.
“And so befell, that once upon a day.
This Sompnour, waiting ever on his prey,”
[III] 1376 According to above lines the Friar skillfully attacks the Summoner and shows him in alliance with the devil himself. Thus in the portraits of the religious heads, Chaucer admires those traits which are absolutely opposed to their profession. There is a kind of increasing scale of ethical corruption. In Pardoner’s Tale, the main function of the Summoner was to summon sinners in front of the church figures and ecclesiastical courts for justice.
It is tremendously ironic for a dishonest Summoner who is himself a wrong doer and guilty of committing sins, to bring sinners to justice. His hideous physical appearance is a pointer of his contaminated soul. Chaucer powerfully condemns the Summoner’s receipt of bribes and the philosophy that the purse is the ‘archdeacon’s hell,’ which implies that the only punishment is to the purse of the sinner. On the other hand, the ‘gentil’ Pardoner is the symbol of evil. He sells self-indulgence and dupes adolescent people by selling them false remnants. Moreover the deceitful crook always teaches against covetousness even while he himself is guilty of the same sin. The Canterbury Tales thus establishes a passionate assault on the dissipation and corruption of the medieval church. Chaucer portrays the evils attacking Christians and the very root of Christianity. Chaucer’s portrayal of a perfect Parson, suggests c his desire for reformation and revitalization of Christian society. (Chaucer, p.
300-390)

Conclusion The "General Prologue" provides a kind of sample of to be followed. The stern ideals of chivalry, religion and agricultural labor are incorporated in the portraits of the Knight, Parson and Plowman. It also exhibits a sober and solemn tone, somehow comic, ironic and satiric. The portraits of the Prioress, Monk, Merchant, and others are predominant for comic relief. To conclude we can only say that the thematic representation of all the characters including religious heads is remarkable. Going through the text we can have a journey through medieval era. Works Cited
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed Mack, Maynard et al. W. W. Norton and Co. New York, NY. 1992
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer: Edited, from Numerous Manuscripts. The Clarendon press 1894, p. 300-390
Hysell, Shannon Graff. American Reference Books Annual. Libraries Unlimited, 2007, p. 462-704