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Diana Naboulsi
Mrs. Cradlin
British Literature
16 October 2013
Irony and Characterization in The Canterbury Tales Stories or poems are infinitely more significant if they form bold connections with their readers. When written words form pieces that readers can relate to, those pieces have so much more effect on societies, and so their stories linger on through generations. These forms of writing are passed down through history, just like the poem, The Canterbury Tales. This poem tells the tales of a group of distinct individuals who attended a pilgrimage starting from the south of London going to the shrine of Saint Thomas à Becket at Canterbury. The tales are so extraordinary due to their reflections of the society during the time the poem was written. The author of The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer, used the characterizations of the pilgrims in the poem to promote his positive, negative, and neutral feelings toward society and used irony to elaborate on his feelings. Chaucer’s positive feelings toward society were shown through his use of irony and his characterizations of the pilgrims in the poem such as the Knight and the Squire. The Knight was a brave, strong, experienced, and an idealistic Christian man who Chaucer was fond of. He was “ridden into battle, no man more, / As well in Christian as in heathen places, / And ever honored for his noble graces” (Chaucer 48-50). The irony found in the descriptions of the Knight was the expectation that characters of the Church such as the Pardoner, the Monk, and the Friar would be noble Christians rather than the Knight himself. Chaucer admired people like the Knight during his time and surprisingly possessed negative feelings toward individuals whose titles normally have the connotation of being religious but who didn’t live up to their designations. Additionally, the Knight’s son, the Squire, was a handsome and youthful young man. Chaucer held positive feelings toward men like him. However, “[h]e
Mrs. Cradlin
British Literature
16 October 2013
Irony and Characterization in The Canterbury Tales Stories or poems are infinitely more significant if they form bold connections with their readers. When written words form pieces that readers can relate to, those pieces have so much more effect on societies, and so their stories linger on through generations. These forms of writing are passed down through history, just like the poem, The Canterbury Tales. This poem tells the tales of a group of distinct individuals who attended a pilgrimage starting from the south of London going to the shrine of Saint Thomas à Becket at Canterbury. The tales are so extraordinary due to their reflections of the society during the time the poem was written. The author of The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer, used the characterizations of the pilgrims in the poem to promote his positive, negative, and neutral feelings toward society and used irony to elaborate on his feelings. Chaucer’s positive feelings toward society were shown through his use of irony and his characterizations of the pilgrims in the poem such as the Knight and the Squire. The Knight was a brave, strong, experienced, and an idealistic Christian man who Chaucer was fond of. He was “ridden into battle, no man more, / As well in Christian as in heathen places, / And ever honored for his noble graces” (Chaucer 48-50). The irony found in the descriptions of the Knight was the expectation that characters of the Church such as the Pardoner, the Monk, and the Friar would be noble Christians rather than the Knight himself. Chaucer admired people like the Knight during his time and surprisingly possessed negative feelings toward individuals whose titles normally have the connotation of being religious but who didn’t live up to their designations. Additionally, the Knight’s son, the Squire, was a handsome and youthful young man. Chaucer held positive feelings toward men like him. However, “[h]e
Cited: Chaucer, Geoffrey. “The Canterbury Tales: The Prologue.” Holt McDougal Literature: British Literature. Ed. Janet Allen. Evanston, IL: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2008. 140-162. Print.