Essays on Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales follows the path of 31 pilgrims, who seek spiritual renewal by traveling to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket. In the prologue the author gives a short backstory of each character, describing their appearance, personality, actions, and…

“Sampson,” one of the short stories from “ A Monk’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer is a tragedy that is told as a parable. Chaucer uses this story taken from the Bible to demonstrate a couple themes. The first is that everyone can fall, and the…

Feminism: Now vs Then The Wife of Bath from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Jane Eyre from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre represent the “radical” feminist ideologies of their respective time periods. Both women do not need a man to think for them, but the Wife of…

The Holy and the “Hethen” Whether it be religious corruption or the refusal of sanctity within Christianity and the church, The Canterbury Tales often showcases a negative connotation following the word “hethen” when recounting characters seen as faithless. The placement of “hethen” is necessary and…

The Canterbury Tales in Society Today Geoffrey Chaucer reexamines the stereotypes and roles in society in the 1300’s in the collection of stories, The Canterbury Tales. To bring issues into light by discussing different stereotypes and separates them from the social norm, Chaucer gives his…

“My jolly body shall a tale tell, and I shall waken all this company; But it shall not be of philosophy, nor of physic, nor termes quaint of law; There is but little Latin in my maw.” So writes Geoffrey Chaucer, in the prologue of…

In Troilus and Criseyde, opposing ideas are often used to manipulate characters’ perception and understanding of other characters in the tale, as well as foreshadowing future events. Langland makes use of opposites to help highlight the importance of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. This…

Introduction The Merchant’s tale is the 10th tale of the Canterbury tales which was preceded by the Clerk’s tale. The Merchant’s tale is as Chauncer would have it, a story about one of his fellow travellers. The Merchant was marked out as a successful foreign…