Chaucer also utilizes the literary device of a parody, by parodying the rooster and chickens of the barnyard to a king and other members of the royal court. While life outside the barnyard is described as monochromatic, the rooster Chauntecleer is described much like a king “His comb was redder than fine coral…and his color like the burnished gold.” (Lines 39-44). The choice to use chickens to represent nobility in itself says a lot about how Chaucer views the court, considering that chickens are not very bright animals. By using chickens to parody members of the court, Chaucer is easily able to mock medieval education and the learned traditions of the medieval court by likening them to facts that simple chickens could comprehend. While discussing
In the west end, 1550 there lived the Devil. The Devil was evil and monstrous. No one dared to go into his deep, dark, eerie cave. The Devil loved to eat everyone’s soul.
Chaucer wrote The Pardoner's Tale with the ideas of hypocrisy in mind. He attacks this subject with a thorough use of personification and irony in his story telling. Chaucer captivates these rhetorical techniques multiple times throughout the piece. He brilliantly personifies the ideas of greed and death, as a walking man. He also displays irony throughout the story with also the ideas of greed and death.
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of twenty-four stories regarding numerous pilgrims and their pilgrimage to Canterbury written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer. The subjects of these tales range from knights to the clergy to government officials, and catalogues their tales as they head towards Canterbury. The various tales in the work are presented in the manner of a contest at the Tabard Inn in London, in which the prize for the best story is a free meal upon their return. Chaucer writes the entire work in verse, as well as makes use of social commentary within the Canterbury Tales to express his views on the condition of society without stating them upright. To this day, some consider the Canterbury Tales the single greatest contribution
All the punishments are awful. However, when Dante describes the punishments of those who committed violence against god he clearly shows his anger towards these people through the punishment he gave them. Those who are: simonists, fraudulent, magicians, diviners, and fortune tellers. The punishment for all the fraudulent is to be boiled in pitch and furthermore to have devils jab them with pitchforks. As for the other sins they have four punishments any of them could get such as: Face down in holes while their feet burn, being integrated with others forever, to wallow in ordure, and lastly being covered with sores and scabs from head to toe.
General knowledge of monks suggest that they are meant to live a simple life, studying in their cloisters and devoting their time to public service and work, however we see the exact opposite from the monk in the story. Rather than fulfilling his duties as a monk, the story mentions his love for hunting hares with the greyhounds he owns, and riding his horse (Acosta). Chaucer also notes his robes, which are meant to be plain are instead covered “with fur of grey, the finest of the land”, which further separates this character from the conventional monk (Chaucer 194). With all aspects considered, the Monk is not outright a terrible person; in a reader’s eyes we can infer that he became one due to the order and environment it brings (Acosta). Chaucer’s use of satire in this paragraph is very effective, because it highlights the sharp contrast between the Monk’s description in the prologue and the usual behavior and code of morals exemplified by actual monks without actually mentioning Chaucer’s own thoughts and opinions, at the same time serving to poking fun at how different this man
In the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer utilizes the immoral character of the Pardoner to tell the utmost moral tale through satirical devices, presenting the true greed and hypocrisy that runs throughout the Church, regardless of it attempt to cover it. Chaucer introduces the hypocrisy within the Church through the characterization of the Pardoner, as he is explained to be a man with, “flattery and equal japes./He made the parson and the rest his apes” (“General Prologue” 607-608). “Japes” are tricks, alluding to the Pardoner’s relics, as they are fake; yet, the Pardoner still sells these relics to the Church members as genuine treasures. This creates dramatic irony, because the character of the Church body is unaware of the situation bestowed
In the Canterbury Tales written by Geoffrey Chaucer, satire is shown in many characters throughout the poem. The Friar, Monk, and Pardoner may seem like normal, and worthy people, but their true colors will show. Satire brings out the true characteristics of each character. The Frair, Monk, and Pardoner all have something in common. They are all suppose to be holy religious figures.
Katrina’s essay on Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is an example of plagiarism. Firstly, Katrina attempted to paraphrase sentences of a definition of Middle English from C.Hugh Holman’s A Handbook to Literature. She only rearranged and replaced a few words within the sentence and as a result, her work is similar to the work of Holman’s. For instance, a line in Holman’s work is: “preceding the Modern English period beginning at the Renaissance.”.
During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church had a great amount of power because it was the only one at the time. As expressed in The Canterbury Tales, it even oversaw the court, so one could propose that the Church had exponential power. They seemed to rule the economy and hold a lot of land. Kings and queens were even preceded by the Church. Supposedly, in those times, the Catholic Church was a source of great hypocrisy or a good number of its people were.
Chaucer also uses satire in a more comical way to illustrate how women can’t keep a secret. The Wife of Bath reveals this trait when she says “by heaven, we women can’t conceal a thing” (Chaucer 341), mocking the suggestion that women have an inability to keep a secret. Chaucer also makes fun of the knight’s condition using the irony of women being incapable of keeping a secret as the only thing that can save him. Mocking women and their incapability to not share private information only further reveals Chaucer’s satire.
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories that are verbally created as the Host requests that each pilgrim tell a story on the journey to Canterbury. Although this ultimately leads to conflict amongst the pilgrims, the entire spectrum of human personalities is presented by showing each character's qualities, flaws, and hypocrisy. In order to show multiple layers of perspectives, including that of the pilgrims, Chaucer as the narrator, and Chaucer as the writer, The Canterbury Tales is written as a frame narrative. The use of a frame narrative allows Chaucer to convey his own values in humanity by observing and reflecting on the strengths and weaknesses of human nature.
Perks of Sarcasm (Chaucer 's Use of Satire to Reach Intended Audience) Geoffrey Chaucer, also known as, “The Father of English Literature,” uses satire in his stories to influence his intended audience. Satire is the use of humor or irony to reveal a person 's stupidity. Considering Chaucer 's stories are legendary, he never fails to through some satire into his writing. With that being said, using it while writing a story is one of the most effective ways of writing.
Reality in the Sarcasm (A Discussion on Chaucer 's usage of Satire to Meet His Agenda.) Geoffrey Chaucer was known as the father of the English Language. During Chaucer 's time in the late 1300’s, he had many issues with the state of how people lived. He used his writing to criticize the societal issues he noticed during his time.