Preview

Which Member Of The Emerging Middle Class Does Chaucer Portray In The Most Favorable Light?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
234 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Which Member Of The Emerging Middle Class Does Chaucer Portray In The Most Favorable Light?
Q: Which member of the emerging middle class does Chaucer portray in the most favorable light? In what way does his description of this character differ from other members of this class or estate? In your response, cite specific text-based evidence.

A: In the medieval period, English society was divided into three general categories, known as estates (a term which is derived from the Latin word status). These three estates consisted of the clergy (officials in the Christian Church), the nobility (those holding honorary titles, including members of the military), and the peasantry (or laborers who belonged neither to the clergy or nobility). Together, these three estates were meant to ensure that all members of the population could expect material

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Britian was not very large, the first half of the 18th century, the population of England was 6 million, which grew little until the 1740’s. In this period, as today, social observers identified three broad categories of social three wide ranging categories of social classes could be found. It was not the level of income that mattered most, but their social ranking. The upper ranks were usually called the gentry, families whose status was assured by land ownership, and who were largely free from laboring for their livelihood. The second rank would be "the middling sort," or "tradesmen"; people who made money by…

    • 1866 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    king was a class of nobles; a middle class was composed of priests and commoners;…

    • 1334 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    This last class was divided into two groups consisting of free peasants and indentured servants. The free peasants held their own businesses and paid rent to the lords in order to use their lands. The indentures peasants, however, where bound to the land in which they labored to earn their stay. When the lands changed ownerships, the peasants living in those lands immediately came under the jurisdiction of the new lord. That class was under the control of these nobles who squeezed the peasantry hard in effort to maintain their luxurious lifestyle (Tignor p 428).…

    • 1424 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Chapter 9 outline

    • 3964 Words
    • 16 Pages

    The clergy was the First Estate; the nobility the Second Estate; and everyone else, from the wealthiest…

    • 3964 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Most cultures of the Mesoamerican region held four different classes, but medieval Europe only had three states. At the bottom of the Mesoamerican class system were the slaves, prisoners of war, and sometimes farmers. These people were despised by the upper classes and had very few rights, if any. Next were the merchants and artisans who played a vital role in influencing economy and culture. A prominent civilization that did not have the merchant and artisan class was the Incans, who did not support trade. The priests and warriors were second highest, responsible for advising the top class: kings and nobles. Similar to the Mesoamerican cultures, medieval Europe had a very low bottom estate called the peasantry. This class consisted of those who worked to support the upper classes. An example of some of their work would be food production. Next was the nobility, which included the knights who had power to own slaves and land. They also had influence on politics, economics, religion, and culture. The very top of the three estates was the church. Unlike the second and third estates, anyone could choose to be in this estate, as opposed to being born into one’s estate. Priests, those who prayed, etc. held great power over medieval Europe, not just in the spiritual realm, but in politics as well.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    * An individual’s ‘membership’ of the upper, middle, or lower class reflected their own economic role in society & their opportunities…

    • 2213 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Chaucer’s attack on the hypocrisy of the whole church is found repeatedly in the General Prologue as well as The Pardoner's Prologue and Tale. The fight against patriarchy clashes with the blindness of people and fraud in the church. He in his…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Medieval Societ

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages

    During the Medieval period, European society was divided into three estates. The first estate included the Holy church, and it made up about 5-10% of the population. The second estate was the nobles, knights, and warrior, and they also made up 5-10% of the population. The majority of the population was made up of the commons, the third estate. The only form if government the medieval times had was feudalism. Feudalism is a loose system of government where vassals give their obedience and service in exchange for land and protection. This form of government helped the lesser lords.…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    For as long as man have lived together, they have divided themselves: the strong from the weak, the rich from the poor, and in Medieval England, the gentle from the masses. Of course today, although there are still without a doubt class distinction and divisions, society has come a long way in a very short time. When Geoffrey Chaucer was writing his masterpiece, Canterbury Tales, societal oppression was the norm, and this inspired many of his character’s whom he created as stereotypes to criticize his world. If one was born poor he or she would be poor for eternity, but if one was born rich and noble, or gentle as it was called, one would live in the lap of luxury. While Chaucer does not directly identify the role that the Franklin plays in society, he does praise the Franklin’s gentle manner and breaking of class barriers.…

    • 1740 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Regency England

    • 403 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Regency England was highly structured and intensely class-conscious. During the period, the social ladder was an extremely fixed and rigid hierarchy within the nobility and the rest of the population. Those of the higher class, often referred to as the ton, lived extremely privileged and indulgent lifestyles, while the middle class where more interested in morality than manners.…

    • 403 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Late Europe had many classes to as what part of the hierarchy ladder you stood on. In modern time s we thing a Social classes is based solely off how much a money a person has acquired. One knows that American consists three social classes that being the poverty, middle, wealthy classes. Back in the late medieval times ones level of social classes had many different factors that played a role in their hierarchy. One’s estate was a major role in a person’s social status.…

    • 727 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The lowest strata of society remained the peasant. The peasant supported all other estates of society not only through direct taxation but in the production of agriculture and the keeping of livestock. The peasant was the property of whomever he was subject to. Be it bishop, prince, a town or a noble, the peasant and all things associated with him were subject to any whim whatsoever. Countless taxes were exacted on the peasant, forcing more and more of his time to be spent working on his lord’s estate. Most of what he produced was taken in the form of a tithe or some other tax. The peasant could not hunt, fish or chop wood freely in the early sixteenth century as the lords had recently taken these commonly held lands for their own purposes. The lord had rights to use the peasant’s land as he wished; the peasant could do nothing but watch idly by as his crops were destroyed by wild game and nobles on the chivalric hunt. When a peasant wished to marry, he required the lord's permission as well as having to pay a tax. When the peasant died, the lord was entitled to his best cattle, his best garment and his best tool.…

    • 309 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I agree with Condren’s take on Chaucer. I believe that Chaucer designed this work to display the acts of social classes. In a sense, Chaucer stereotypes these classes based off of the characters within the story.…

    • 238 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The early Middle Ages are characterized by the Church and the feudal and manorial systems; systems in which every European’s life were centered around. In this arrangement there were kings, lords, vassals, knights, peasants and serfs. The hierarchy was that of a property owning basis. It was a land exchange for protection. During early medieval times, Europe was in a state of chaos. Muslim, Magyar, and Viking invaders devastated the continent and surrounded it from all sides. With no true government in place, people were susceptible to invasions, and then came the feudal system. When kings gave men plots of land, those men would have to provide protection for the king and the land given through knights. The system was actually extremely complex because a lord was a vassal and he could also be a knight. In addition to that, a vassal could be a vassal to multiple people and they often fought over land. After the knights were peasants, people who worked the land of their lord. Some peasants were serfs, who were legally bound to the land they were born on, but they were not slaves. The wealth of every lord came from the work of his peasants.…

    • 1317 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    During the time of The Tempest, Dukes and Earls, who were among the nobles, were…

    • 1211 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays