Journals of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales/Troilus & Criseyde

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Journal Entry 1 – General Prologue March 24th, 2009 In the opening of The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer as the narrator seems to want to separate himself and take a journalistic approach. He merely reports what he observes refraining from passing judgment on others, this he leaves up to the reader. He is deliberately detached, and this creates a jovial and playful mood as we read The Canterbury Tales. You could say that the General Prologue could be considered a cross-section of medieval society. For example, the Knight and his son the Squire, are members of nobility, while a character like the plowman would represent someone from the peasant class. When you add in people like the Wife of Bath, the Man of Law and the Merchant, they give the group some fluff. They are materialistic, self-conscious and give off the vibe of someone who is nouveau-riche. You can’t go on a religious pilgrimage without people of the cloth tagging along. You can see in the way that Chaucer reports on the clergy. He describes of the large amounts of wealth and power of the Catholic Church. Fore example, the Prioress comes from a large and obviously wealthy estate: Ful fetys was hir cloke, as I was war. Of small coral aboute hire arm she bar A peire of bedes, gauded al with grene, And theron heng a brooch of gold ful sheene, On which ther was first write a crowned A, And ofter amour vincit omina. (lines 157-162 Gen. Prologue) In this excerpt, Chaucer is describing the clothes of the Prioress. Something that as a woman who is devoted to God should not really care bout. The characters of the Pardoner and the Summoner symbolize the widespread corruption that is happening in the church at that time. They both have the authority to forgive sin and they exploit it for profit. Chaucer has a really great way of taking a stereotype or a cross-section and makes them unique.
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