Chaucer a conscious artist: It was during the 14h Century that the world of English Literature, luckily, saw the dawn of Chaucer’s genius. Chaucer was a conscious artist and, as such, he tried his level best to shift the focus of his native literature from the world of “Fantasy” and “Romance” to the “Republic of … Read more
Introduction to the life of Geoffrey Chaucer During 14th century, nearly 1340 or 1344, (the exact year is unknown), a renowned wine merchant called John Chaucer from London celebrated the birth of his first son whom he named Geoffrey. His grandfather, Robert de Dynyngton, moved from Ipswich to London and settled there. When they came … Read more
In the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer has pointed out the corruption, laxity of discipline, and love of luxury, which had crept into the ranks of the elegy. Except for the village Parson, having fallen from the high order, Chaucer satirizes all the other pilgrims who are connected with the Church. There is, in fact, a discrepancy … Read more
Summary of “The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales” People from throughout England set out on a pilgrimage in April every year to Canterbury. They first join in at the Tabard Inn to organise for the pilgrimage. This year Chaucer himself is the part of this pilgrimage. On the day, the host of the Inn … Read more
Geoffrey Chaucer was an English poet and author. Considered among the greatest poets of English in the middle ages, his most celebrated work is “The Canterbury Tales”. He has been called as the “father of English Literature” and “father of English poetry”, alternatively. The Canterbury Tales is the collection of 24 stories based over 17,000 … Read more
Introduction to 29 Characters in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales There are twenty-nine main pilgrims in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. They all are the significant members of the party of those pilgrims who journeyed from London to the shrine of St. Thomas, which is a Becket in Canterbury. During a four-day’s journey, many stories are told which cleverly … Read more
Geoffrey Chaucer’s World Literature creates a world of its own, which goes parallel with the real world. As the world of literature is fictional and imaginative, its characters cannot be taken as the prototypes of the characters found on the real world. Now, it depends upon the skill of the writer to what extent he … Read more
Among Chaucer’s pilgrims, there were two female characters, one from ecclesiastical class and second from common domestic society of females. Chaucer satirizes both characters for their non-feministic attitude towards life and one is religiously corrupt and second is morally corrupt. Let us analyze both characters individually. The Nun (Prioress) in Canterbury Tales Like the other … Read more
Chaucer depicted a range of religious characters to portray the image of Christianity during that time. During Middle Age, church was in power and all the ecclesiastical characters were dominant in the society. At the same time, there was corruption in the church where these ecclesiastical were involved, but few were struggling for the true … Read more