Human Nature in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, (written c. 1387), is a richly varied compilation of fictional stories as told by a group of twenty-nine persons involved in a religious pilgrimage to Canterbury, England during the fourteenth century. This journey is to take those travelers who desire religious catharsis to the shrine of the holy martyr St. Thomas a Becket of Canterbury. The device of a springtime pilgrimage provided Chaucer with a diverse range of characters and experiences, with him being both a narrator and an observer. Written in Middle English, each tale depicts parables from each traveler.

England, in Chaucer's time, was a nation of social and economic growth. Medievalism was a dominant influence in the lives of Englishmen, but the Renaissance had assumed definite form, and the country stood on the threshold of the modern world. Medieval Europeans asserted that the ideals of spiritual community, social groups and national interests were greater than individualism. In Chaucer's time, there were many manifestations of rebellion against the old order of things, including an influx of mysticism and materialism. People demanded more voice in the affairs of their government and viewed the Catholic Church as corrupt. An emerging religious reformation, which placed emphasis on individualism and national patriotism, along with the upsurge of manufacturing and commerce, gave rise to the English middle class.

The Canterbury Tales is a literary work that deals with the personal concerns and solutions of an evolving Medieval society. In Medieval Europe pilgrimages were common for personal reflection, penance, and spiritual renewal. Chaucer chose the framework of a pilgrimage for its naturally plausible diversity of people and mix of pious purpose and holiday spirit.

Geoffrey Chaucer, England's first great poet, was born in 1343, during a time of social, political, religious and literary ferment. Chaucer, who was the descendent of a prosperous family from Ipswich, received the impetus for writing from fourteenth-century Italian and French poets. Chaucer--whose father was a successful wine dealer in London and whose mother, Agnes de Compton, a member of the English court--was reared in an intellectual environment of high society. He was well educated, having studied at the Universities of the Court. He lived among nobility in his service to the Court.

The project of writing The Canterbury Tales took Chaucer thirteen years of unremitting toil, a work that was both continually evolving and unfinished. It is believed that the framework idea of The Canterbury Tales came from Novelle by Sercambi, or Boccaccio's Decameron. The traditional starting date is believed to be 1387, following his wife Philippa's death. It is also believed that the Clerk's Tale is a self-portrait of Chaucer. When he embarked on the project of The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer was thoroughly familiar with the principle of the frame story and group of tales because he had already written the Legend Of Good Women, and part of the Monk's Tale. Chaucer died October 25, 1400, possibly due to the Black Plague, at the age of 57.

Chaucer's own affable and delicate social position among the aristocracy led him to never pronounce moral judgments. He uses a cross-section of society for the characters of his pilgrims. Chaucer maintains a conservative and conventional viewpoint in the area of political and social questions. To maintain his social status and impartiality, Chaucer never maligns his contemporaries or church doctrines. He makes generally structured and aesthetic references to government, social class, and the poor. He utilizes classical allusion, subtle satire, irony and allegory to reveal society's shortcomings. The Canterbury Tales parodies individuals and situations, while religious tenets are revered.

In The Prologue, Chaucer introduces the reader to a vivid characterization of each pilgrim and an apt description of the country through the use of poetic rhyme descriptions in iambic pentameter. Through The Prologue the reader can readily see examples of similarities in both appearance and attributes within social classes that exist with each person and upcoming fable. The Prologue also conveys an accounting of medieval life along with the pilgrim's mindset to be expected during the journey. The Prologue is Chaucer's most explicit, admired and commented-upon account of his society. He intentionally has an absence of aristocracy in his group of travelers, and every phase of life in England except royalty is represented. This is illustrated by there being no social rank higher than the Knight, and the lowest social class represented is the Plowman. These are examples of Chaucer being critical of authority figures and heightening the nature and role of the common man.

During the fourteenth century, the literary device of allegory was created. Chaucer relies heavily on allegory in his stories. Even though the events described in The Canterbury Tales are fictional, the stories nevertheless are relevant and sensible. Chaucer's overall main focus of the tales is to give the reader an idea of the ostensible and underlying traits of human nature that were both impacted and illustrated by events during his and previous eras in history.

While Latin was considered the literary language of European literature, Chaucer chose to write in Middle English, the language most often used by the common man. His main audience would have been highly educated, worldly and sophisticated. Chaucer's narrative framework of tales includes a variety of literary genres or types.

For example, Chaucer utilizes courtly romance or the stately love story in the tale of the Knight. By prominence in social rank, the Knight is the first to tell his tale, and receives accolades from his fellow travelers. As a man who fought only in religious wars, he is considered a "genteel" man who loves truth, freedom, chivalry and honor. Chaucer views the attributes of respect and sovereignty as venerable ideals on which all societies and relationships of equality should be based. The Man of Law's and the Squire's tales share the same premises.

The Miller's, Reeve's, and Merchant's tales are to be classified as fabliaux--comic, frank short stories with a cynical and sharp ending. Intended purely for amusement and humor, these vulgar tales of promiscuity did prove offensive to some readers, due to their harsh and ribald content. Fabliaux were popular in medieval story-telling, and they show the continual delight in practical jokes.

The Breton lay--a narrative romantic poem--is illustrated by the Franklin's tale. Chaucer utilizes this rhymed and often sung method to manifest the undaunted patience and nobility of true love, being virtuous in any era.

An exemplum is a short medieval sermon or anecdote which provides examples to depict the theme of the passage, as seen in The Pardoner's tale. Chaucer uses a tragic fable to illustrate a timeless lesson: the love of money is the root of all evil, and those who covet money and covet death will find it.

The Monk's Tale is a medieval tragedy, and also a narrative poem which describes the downfalls of great men such as Samson, Adam and Hercules. These stories are rudimentary parables and provide a well-founded moral in each case. Other types are the Prioress' tale, which demonstrates idealism through a saint's legend. The Wife of Bath's tale provides an original story of a loathsome lady, beautiful in youth and frightful as an old woman, who provides a great comic character, with an idealism of love combined with female domination.

In conclusion, The Canterbury Tales provides the reader with a great scope of stories, which although written simply, give humorous, ironic, and poignant examples of medieval life, some of which may relate to similar moral and ethical dilemmas of the present day and throughout the history of civilization. Since virtually all of the tales are borrowed, Chaucer owed a great deal to the authors who came before him. Chaucer reassembled his material, gave it fresh meanings and revealed new truths, thus giving new insights to his readers. He wished to create a real life setting for his tales to communicate principles and the essential irony of human existence. His goal was to show the humor, sorrow, and foibles of human nature through ordinary people in ordinary circumstances by satirizing or exposing individuals.

free study materials for West Bengal School Service Commission

1.   'One day I wrote her name.........'

      Where does this line occur? Who wrote the name? Whose name did he write and on what?   

                                                           

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2.   'One day I wrote her name.................'

      Where does this line occur? Whose name did the Poet write? How many times did the Poet write the name? What was the effect?                                         

Ans.  The line occurs in‘One day I wrote Her Name’ written by Edmund Spenser. The poet wrote the name of his lady love on the strand of the sea-shore. He wrote her name twice on the sea-beach. But as ill-luck would have it, the tide came and swept away the name which he wanted to immortalize. The poet’s desire to eternalize his lady’s name was mocked at by the surge of waves.

3.   'Vayne man, sayd she..................'

      Where does this line occur? Who said this? Who was the vain man? Why was he the vain man?

                                                       

Ans.  The line occurs in‘One day I wrote Her Name’ written by Edmund Spenser. The lady-love of the poet uttered the words. The poet was the vain man. He exhibited his over-riding vanity in his attempt at making the name of his lady-love eternal on this mortal earth. He was a fool who made vain efforts. The mistress knew about the futility of human existence. The Lover’s utter idiocy about it makes his lady-love characterise him as ‘Vain’.

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4.   How will the poet immortalise his lady love?                                                                               

Ans.  ‘But you shall live by fame’the poet ultimately arrives at the idea-Inspite of his sound knowledge of the futility of material things, the poet made vain attempts to immortalize the name of his lady-love upon the sandy beach. Being severely castigated  by his lady love, the poet realised his folly. But, still, he would not allow her to be subjected to decay or destruction. He thought that his verse, celebrating his love shall immortalise the rare virtues of his beloved who will live eternally through ages together in the minds of the millions. His robust belief in the authenticity and the power of his verse made such an impression as this upon him.

5.   What is the vain attempt of the poet in 'One day I wrote her name'.                                         

Ans.  The poet wants to reject the idea of transitoriness of human existence on earth in his vaingloriousness and tries to translate his dream of immortalizing his lady love into a reality by writing her name on the strand of the sea. Inspite of the fury of the waves that erase the letters curved on the sand, the poet attempts a second time to materialise his hope-though he proves a failure against the scourge of Nature. This is the ‘vain attempt’ referred to here.

         

WBSSC Study Guide Loving in Truth

1.   'In verse my love to show'

      Why does the Poet want to write verse?

                                                          

Ans.  The Poet's love was true and he was particularly keen to show it in his verse written in praise of his lady-love. Sidney’s feeling is deep and true. His lady-love Stella might feel delighted with the verse written by the poet. Her delight at the sight of the product of the poet's poetic pain might compel her to read this. She might feel curious. Stella might also learn how deep the poet's love for her was . Her knowledge of love might make her pitiful to him. Her pity might lead her to show her favour to the poet. The poet expects to win her grace by means of his verse written in her praise.

2.   'In verse my love to show'

      How does the Poet want to show his love in verse?

                                                             

Ans.  The poet wants to show the pangs of his love-lorn heart by painting his innermost afflictions and woes in lucid rhymes. He would limn them in the deepest dye of injured feelings that may stir the depths of his lady love’s compassion and draw her attention to him . He  wants to sketch a lurid picture of his agony in words.

3.   'Invention Nature's child, fled stepdame studies blow'

      What is meant by invention? Why is study called a stepdane? 

                                                         

Ans.  Here 'invention’ means poetic invention or in other words poetic impulsiveness. It consists in a  spontaneous overflow of power ful feelings that endows a man with rich and varied imagination. It gives rise to strange shapes of emotion that invests all earthly things with glory and uniqueness. ‘Study’ is called the step-mother of poetic invention. It is something external and it has little capacity to rouse poetic feeling. As a step-dame is quite different from original mother and her love greatly differs from hers, so also invention acts like the original mother while stndy with its borrowed property is only less original and less conducive to poetic urge.

4.   'Invention Nature's Child.................'

      Where does this line occur? What is invention? Why is invention called 'Nature's child'?

                                                          

Ans.  The line occurs in the poem ‘loving in truth’ by Philip Sidney. Invention or poetic impulse is a spontaneous urge and it can never be drilled by any external force.  It depends on no outside help for its enrichment. It is the child of Nature. Its fertility grows out of inner impulse or emotion, the offspring of Nature

5.   'Biting my truant Pen...............'

      Where does this line occur? What is meant by truant Pen? Why did the Poet bite his pen?                                                                                                         

Ans.   The line occurs in ‘Loving in Truth. Truant pen’means a pen that runs away. Like a truant boy’ the pen seems to run away. By studying the works of others and borrowing their  materials and fit phrases for depicting his woes the poet finds it difficult to carry out his purpose effectively.So, the pen he holds does not seem to obey his heart’s desire or pay heed to his feelings. The poet bites his pen to indicate  the state of his mental restlessness . He grows angry  with himself for his failure to express his poetic feeling. It is well suggestive of a lover’s psychology’ his utter helplessness caused by intense passion of love.

6.   'Fool, said my Muse to me................'

      Where does this line occur? Who was the Muse? What did the Muse say?                                        

Ans.  The line occurs in ‘Loving in Truth’ by Philip Sidney . The ‘Muse’ according to classical tradition is the goddess of learning . She is the guiding poetic spirit, the inspirer of poetry. The Muse says to the poet that true inspiration lies in the core of heart and not elsewhere. The poet should seek inspiration from within for his poetic creation.It comes spontaneously from the heart and is enkindled by nobler feelings like love that too dwells in the deep recesses of heart. So, the poet should delve deep into his heart instead of looking here and there for his poetic inspiration.

7.   'Fool, said my Muse to me..........'

      Elucidate briefly the contention of the Poet and his Muse.                                                          

Ans.  The poet feels helpless for he cannot express his poetic urge in proper words. He has gone through the works of other writers for inspiration but he does not feel quite at home with them. The Muse or his guiding poetic spirit suggests that he should ransack his heart where lies true inspiration and write and this attempt will surpass all efforts made before in merit, worth and poetic sublimity. The excellence of verse never owes to borrowings of any kind but it depends absolutely on the poet's own feelings and power of creativity.

Oedipus the King: Metaphor Analysis

Metaphor Analysis

Throughout Oedipus the King, Sophocles employs one continuous metaphor: light vs. darkness, and sight vs. blindness.  A reference to this metaphor occurs early in the play, when Oedipus falsely accuses Tiresias and Creon of conspiracy: Creon, the soul of trust, my loyal friend from the start steals against me... so hungry to overthrow me he sets this wizard on me, this scheming quack, this fortune-teller peddling lies, eyes peeled for his own profit-seer blind in his craft!
Tiresias responds by using the same metaphor: So, you mock my blindness? Let me tell you this.  You with your precious eyes, you're blind to the corruption of your life, to the house you live in, those you live with-who are your parents? Do you know? All unknowing you are the scourge of your own flesh and blood, the dead below the earth and the living here above, and the double lash of your mother and your father's curse will whip you from this land one day, their footfall treading you down in terror, darkness shrouding your eyes that now can see the light!
Though at this point the reader cannot be sure which character is right, eventually Tiresias comes out the winner.  This is revealed as Oedipus learns his tragic fate, saying, O god-all come true, all burst to light! O light-now let me look my last on you! I stand revealed at last-cursed in my birth, cursed in marriage, cursed in the lives I cut down with these hands! Here again, the metaphor of light, which represents truth and knowledge, is present.
Ironically, this causes the king to gouge out his eyes, which have been blind to the truth for so long.  He screams, You, you'll see no more the pain I suffered, all the pain I caused! Too long you looked on the ones you never should have seen, blind to the ones you longed to see, to know! Blind from this hour on! Blind in the darkness-blind! Oedipus furthers Sophocles' sight metaphor when he defends his decision to humble himself through blindness: "What good were eyes to me? Nothing I could see could bring me joy."
Thus the idea of sight is critical in Oedipus the King.  Though Tiresias is physically blind, he sees the truth from the beginning, while Oedipus, who has physical eyesight, is blind to his fate.  By the end, Oedipus makes his eyes blind when he learns the truth and finally sees.