General Prologue: Introduction Fragment 1‚ lines 1–42 Summary Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote . . . (See Important Quotations Explained) The narrator opens the General Prologue with a description of the return of spring. He describes the April rains‚ the burgeoning flowers and leaves‚ and the chirping birds. Around this time of year‚ the narrator says‚ people begin to feel the desire to go on a pilgrimage. Many
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What Do You Mean? (Chaucer’s Use of Satire in General Prologue‚ Pardoner’s Tale‚ and Wife of Bath) What in the heck do you mean? Isn’t that a use of satire one might ask? Satire is saying one thing and meaning another. It is a perfect example of irony. Irony can be seen in our everyday lives and is greatly used throughout comedy and poetry. Especially in the old poetry. Satire can also be seen as a slightly different version of sarcasm depending on how it is used in context. There is a great deal
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Chaucer is undoubtedly a masterful writer‚ especially in character drawing. His heroes in “The General Prologue” are genuinely and full-dimensionally presented. The first time I read the text‚ it was like watching a “black and white” picture‚ probably due to the many unfamiliar words in the text‚ although the copy was in Modern English. After looking up the words‚ the picture became like of a “high definition” screen‚ but after mastering the glossary and re-reading the text several times‚ it turned
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In the General Prologue‚ the narrator presents himself as a gregarious and naïve character. Later on‚ the Host accuses him of being silent and sullen. Because the narrator writes down his impressions of the pilgrims from memory‚ whom he does and does not like‚ and what he chooses and chooses not to remember about the characters‚ tells us as much about the narrator’s own prejudices as it does about the characters themselves. The Knight - The first pilgrim Chaucer describes in the General Prologue
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Satire of the Knight in Prologue and Knight’s Tale Satire. Satire is a biting literary tool‚ one that Geoffery Chaucer used liberally when he wrote his Canterbury Tales. Webster’s New World Dictionary says that satire is "the use of ridicule‚ sarcasm‚ etc. to attack vices‚ follies‚ etc." Using that definition‚ I think that all of the pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales are satirized to some extent; some of the satirizations are more subtle than others. The Knight is one of the pilgrims
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as a feminist character through her prologue by acting in ways customarily reserved for men‚ by controlling her husbands instead of vice versa‚ and by being open with her sexuality. The most evident aspect of the Wife of Bath that makes her a feminist character is her many actions that are atypical for a woman who lived in the 14th century. Most women did not have occupations and were housewives‚ but Lady Alisoun was a capable cloth-maker. In the general prologue‚ Chaucer describes her cloth making
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and were still esteemed greatly. Finally those who worked (i.e. merchants‚ carpenters‚ farmers) were at the bottom of all classes. These people did pay taxes and were under the rule of the classes above them. The Canterbury Tales starts with a general prologue where the characters are “ presented to us within a carefully organized structure that reflects the hierarchal order of [the 14th century] contemporary society.” (Morgan‚ 411) In this way Chaucer gives us a picture of how society functioned and
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Canterbury Tales Paper: The Wife of Bath- In Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer‚ the description of the Wife of Bath in the “General Prologue” seems to contradict her tale and prologue. In the “General Prologue”‚ The Wife of Bath is described as a very confident woman who is superior‚ socially speaking. But this portrayal is contradicted by her tale and prologue due to the fact that her independence results from other people‚ more specifically men. From this it can be derived that it is not
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In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales‚ participants of a pilgrimage to Canterbury tell tales to entertain each other‚ revealing many aspects of medieval society. Through the double narration it can be seen that the narrator of the Prologue is Chaucer but this pilgrim Chaucer is not the author Chaucer. The pilgrim never describes his own career or social standing‚ but upon examination‚ he proves to be a corrupt individual of the upper class. The tales are not simply a story or a poem‚ it
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specifies in the General Prologue their physical characteristics which signify aspects of their character. Within the troupe of pilgrims‚ the Miller takes on a larger than life persona which shapes his raunchy tale. The Narrator describes the Miller as a cheat‚ a bagpipe player‚ and a stout wrestler with red hair and a blue hood. These particularities of the Miller’s appearance demonstrate significant qualities about millers during the medieval time period. The General Prologue portraits
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