Anushay Afnan Professor Taylor Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales November 2‚ 2015 The Merchant’s Tale Chaucer describes the Merchant as a well-dressed‚ yet exotic businessman‚ a successful financial expert‚ and a very unhappy husband. Most people would agree that there is no textual evidence to support that the Merchant is a cuckold or that January‚ the main character in the tale is a mirror of his own character. However‚ both the Merchant and January have disillusioned views and experiences regarding
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Both the Summoner and the Pardoner are corrupt religious officials. A Summoners job is to bring people before the church so that they can confess their sins‚ and were typically lower class. The Summoner in The Canterbury Tales‚ does not do his job well. He let’s men keep their mistresses for a year just for a quart of wine. The Summoner does this because he too is guilty of these sins. He would drink a lot‚ and when he got drunk he would attempt to speak Latin in order to sound smart‚ which proved
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The premise of the poem‚ Canterbury Tales‚ written in iambic pentameter‚ allows Geoffrey Chaucer not only the chance to tell a number of very entertaining stories‚ but‚ more importantly‚ an opportunity to create a cast of enduring characters‚ still recognisable after six centuries. One of these is the ‘Pardoner’ who proves to be an intriguing character. The passage begins with the words‚ ‘But let me make my purpose plain; I preach for nothing but greed of gain’. (p.243) These lines‚ in effect
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The Miller’s Tale from The Canterbury Tales shows many elements of a fabliau. A fabliau is a short story that had comical and colorful observations on life. The stories would make comical shots at marriage‚ treatment of women‚ and religion. Since the story that the Miller tells is about a carpenter’s wife that cheats on him‚ the Reeve doesn’t want the Miller to tell his story. A common occurrence in a fabliau is a love triangle with four people. In the Miller’s Tale there is a character named Nicholas
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The Pardoner is perhaps one of the most complex characters in The Canterbury Tales because of the tricks and games he plays with the other pilgrims. The tale he tells about the three greedy men is a moral story in order to have his audience‚ the other pilgrims‚ feel guilty about their own sins‚ repent‚ and then‚ in turn‚ give him money. The Pardoner is only concerned with making a profit. He even says this in his prologue that all his sermons are about money being the root of all evil because
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simple reason. We grasps concepts better when they are told in story form. For example‚ fairy tales used to be to warn children‚ to prepare them‚ for the dangers‚ the atrocities of this world. Stories about a big bad wolf‚ or a slow‚ but determined turtle‚ teach us things. They are easily told‚ easily understood. These concepts of animals having human actions has been around forever. In Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales‚ we hear the story of a destitute widow and her overconfident rooster. He struts around‚
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During the late Middle Ages‚ the majority of society deemed women as inferior to men. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales‚ the Wife of Bath represents a nontraditional role for women of that time. A woman’s role customarily did not include a voice in society‚ religion‚ or government. The Wife of Bath’s history includes five marriages‚ numerous lovers‚ and three trips to Jerusalem. The Wife of Bath’s character steps outside tradition in both the physical and the psychological aspects‚ emerges
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Wife of Bath In the poem “The Canterbury Tales‚” the Wife of Bath had five husbands. She liked the first four husbands because they were old and rich . The last husband was very abusive to her. She thinks marriage is pain and misery. She was a very wealthy weaver. The Wife of Bath was a pretty large women. Her complaints about husbands is “husbands complaining about wives‚ but it is their own fault.” Husbands don’t trust their wives‚ they think wives try to make their lives miserable. She likes
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wanting more land and food. They go through so much that most people could not deal with the pain and suffering that 3rd world countries go through; however‚ people in the Middle Ages had a hard time as while. In “The Canterbury Tales”‚ Chaucer uses The Pardoner’s Tale and The Miller’s Tale descriptions of greed‚ and death to persuasively illustrate that during medieval times people fought and even killed
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Satire in the Pardoner’s Tale The pardoner in The Canterbury Tales‚ preaches against greed. His motto being‚ "Money is the root of all evil‚" but‚ he himself is greedy and puts his financial desires above others and God. His tale is about the From the Pardoner’s perspective‚ the Physician told a cheaply pious story and the Host‚ a sanctimonious fool‚ reacts to the tale with what seems high praise. Then‚ after praising the Physician‚ the Host turns to the Pardoner and asks for a merry tale or jokes
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