Essays on Geoffrey Chaucer

Hypocrisy is “the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform. The Pardoner in “The Pardoner’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer portrays a perfect example of hypocrisy as shown he “does not practice what he preaches” (141-142)….

Stories are built on trust. But who or what we put our trust in is relative. Pardoner’s Tale is a story about a corrupt pardoner telling his interesting story. The Pardoner makes sure that the audience knows that he is a liar, driven by avarice…

Geoffrey Chaucer uses exemplums within The Pardoners Tale to show that greed is the root of all evil. An exemplum is a story within a story that typically teaches a lesson, Chaucer uses several so that the Pardoner can emphasize the dangers of greed. Before…

The proverb that I decided to go with is one that goes along the lines of, “Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones”. To begin, the first step is to understand what exactly this proverb means, or is referring to. Basically, this phrase…

Ganim asserts that the Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales was “deeply implicated and interested in the burning issues of his day” and Oberembt builds on this by stating that “we must, of course, affirm the omnipresence of misogyny in the Middle Ages and the anti-feminist bias of…

“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…

One of the most striking elements of Troilus and Criseyde is the difference in Chaucer’s presentation of the two lovers. Whereas Troilus is certainly the better person of the two, I intend to show that the reader ultimately finds it easier to identify with and…

“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…

Both Chaucer in Troilus and Criseyde and William Langland in The Vision of Piers Plowman make frequent allusions to other texts in their works. Troilus and Criseyde uses mythological figures and tales to foreshadow events and highlight characters’ flaws in Chaucer’s own story, whilst Langland…

John Lydgate was a 14th and 15th century English poet who inherited the legacy of Chaucer, his work spanned from religious, private, public/performative, and didactic. His poetry has been largely forgotten but at his time, and years after it, he was incredibly popular and wrote…

The Wife of Bath’s Prologue: Literacy and Gender Wars Geoffrey Chaucer’s Wife of Bath is adored for her outrageous demeanor and actions in The Canterbury Tales, making her a valuable component of a poem written in this time period. At the time of the Middle…

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…