The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales is more than just an entertaining accrual of stories and personalitys it is a representation of the society Chaucer lived in. In the late 14th cytosine England the traditional feudal system was changing as the church was losing its spl block offour and more people were becoming part of the emerging middle dissever. Chaucers Canterbury Tales is a microcosm of this society because it demonstrates the societal offices cognise as the Estates, it illustrates the growth of the middle class and the decline of the feudal system, and it shows the corruption and power of the church building, and it embodies most aspects of the Middle Age.Feudal society was traditionally divided into three estates, which were somewhat equivalent to social classes. The rootage Estate was the Church, the Second Estate was the Nobility, and the Third Estate was the Peasantry. The rigid division of society into the three traditional estates was beginning to break do wn in the late 14th century England, and by the time of Chaucer, there was a rise of the middle class. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer is highly conscious of the social divisions known as the Estates. While the genre of The Canterbury Tales as a whole is a frame narrative, the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales is an example of Estates Satire, a genre which criticizes the abuses that occur at heart the three traditional Estates.Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales embodies most aspects of the Middle Ages, whether it is in the form of culpable religious clergyman, poor, virtuous farthermostmers, or the honorable knight. All these characters provide delicate examples of the many omnipresent themes of the Middle Ages. The prevailing values and themes of the Middle Ages include military unit and revenge, religion and corruption, and social status and pecking order.The times in which Chaucers The Canterbury Tales is focalise are tumultuous and are filled with suffering, c onflict, and frequent animosity as much(prenominal), the ideas of revenge and thus violence are fairly prevalent. In a great many of Chaucers tales, this theme is framed perfectly. An example near the end ofthe Reeves tale after the miller dismaskings the scholars treachery. He the miller grabbed Allan by the Adams apple, and he, in return, roughly grabbed the miller and hit him on the nose with his fist (Chaucer 83). In this instance, not only a quick resort to violence is exhibited, barely violence is used as revenge as the miller attacks Allan after realizing that he has slept with his wife. Evidenced by this, violent tendencies were often the most common, and the most fascinate response.In all of England, violence was seen as something of a way of life Curtis Gruenler, in a literary analysis, states, Violence on a abundant scale held side attention as spectacular victories against the French early in the century Years warfare were followed by a series of costly, disastrous campaigns (Gruenler). War was a profession of many people in England including a character of Chaucers, the Knight had fought in at least 15 battles and had essentially strengthened out his entire livelihood based upon the battles he was called upon by his headmaster to take part in. In essence, violence was a universally accept form of justice and retribution something that was explicitly pointed out in Chaucers stories.Yet other theme is the forepart of religion, or more specifically, the presence of corruption within religion. Many members of the pilgrimage have ties to religious office, and all but the government minister have in some way violated their blasphemys or differently acted somewhat out of their bounds as a high rank member of the Church. Chaucer illustrates this elegantly in the form of the pardoners prologue where he states make an offering to my relics in this church . . . make an offering in the name of God, I shall absolve them by the authority of whic h was granted to me by papal prattle through ones hat (Chaucer 288).After telling the pilgrims of this trick, clearly aimed at pocketing a good deal of money, he explains, By this trick I have gained a hundred attach year after year since I became a pardoner (Chaucer 288). The Pardoner is not, however, the only immoral religious character involved in the pilgrimage. The Friar, for example, has depressed his vows as a clerical member of the Church, most prominently his vow of chastity.The Friar has engaged in relationships that have violated this vow, and when a fry have intercourses as a result of this interaction, he has gone so far as to marry the woman to herlover so as to cover his own tracks. All of these aspects of church corruption in The Canterbury Tales eventually come down to a desire for pleasure and money, something that plagued the legitimacy of the Catholic Church and eventually led to the religious reformation.Among the characters a sort of social hierarchy beca me quickly apparent in the midst of these many travelers. A common character emerged that separated the pilgrims based upon their economic and social standings. There was a rather large contrast between the richest of the travelers and the poorest. For example, the Franklin was an owner of a large estate and lavish personal goods. Although he is deeply in debt, his social status is still far higher than that of say, the Plowman. The Plowman is one of the poorer members of the pilgrimage, but despite this he is one of the more cheerful and charitable members of the pilgrimage. This prat be seen as Chaucers means of expressing his feelings toward the social hierarchy of the times.Chaucer also weighs in on feudalism, the socioeconomic system of the time. Chaucer represents the feudal arrangement of society . . . virtually the figure of the knight as a conception of nobility, and around the diddly-shit a conception of commonality (Morgan 8). Chaucer seems to see feudalism as a syste m that divides people into the wealthy nobles and the poor laborers. Chaucer also seems to recognize the presence of a middle class that seems to rise out of feudalism. For example, the figure of a merchant who gains his wealth by his own accord, specifically money trading, and is virtually entirely independent of the feudal system.The Merchant is described in the general prologue as a responsible man who kept his wits about him . . . still he was really a worthy man (Chaucer 6). In short, Chaucer cut the social structure of his time and saw certain things he had disfavour of, but indeed, he saw some other parts of it as beneficial to the betterment of society.To close, Chaucers masterpiece The Canterbury Tales exhibits many prevalent themes and in such(prenominal) a way paints a picture of the times. He does this by talk of violence, religious corruption, and social structuring, all of which were very pertinent bits of society in the time as they all formed a system thatis looke d fend for on and interpreted through works of fact and fiction such as The Canterbury Tales.