Throughout history writers use the time period as a way to be inspired. Often writers will write what they know and what they know is the time they live in. Chaucer is no exception, he wrote about the beauty and darkness of the hierarchy society.
Chaucer's Canterbury Tale's is a great literary example of writing about the time he lived. He took the different levels of the society and told their stories. He showed the actual personality of the characters, not the fairytale version.
The Canterbury Tale's is a composition of a traveling company that has an entire hierarchy in it. There is a knight and a peasant all in the same traveling group; the diversity of the group is what makes Chaucer's story so appealing. The group decides to tell something about themselves and then two stories that are significant to each of them. The first story is told while riding to the shrine of the martyr Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury, the second would be told on the journey back. The host is the regulator to keep order; he also is the one who will decide which story is best from all the pilgrims.
The Knight's is first and must tell a tale to entertain everyone with the company. The tale that the knight tells very accurately reflects what he holds important in his life. He is a Knight for honor and through his story of the two knights fighting over a woman and winning her love he tells a part of himself. Chaucer portrays the knight as an honorable character. He is what a knight is supposed to be like, honorable and chivalrous.
The host then asks the Monk to tell the next story but instead the drunken miller interrupts and starts telling his story instead. He tells the story of a student named Nicholas and his stay with an old man and his young attractive wife. The story again accurately reflects the person. It's a story of deceit and does not have an honorable ending like the knights tale. Chaucer uses the Miller's tale to contradict the Knight in all his glory and honor. The Miller is a low life and has no class. His story does not teach a lesson or prove to be a wholesome tale; the same can be said of the miller.
By the time the Reeve's story is told it seems the social standings are starting to battle each other and make one another look bad. The Reeve is offended at how he portrays carpentry and tells a tale of a dishonest miller. The miller in his story steals corn from people so two students decide to pay him back from stealing their corn. The miller frees their horses and they have to chase it, but once they return it's too late to go home so they have to stay with the dishonest miller. The two young men seduce the wife and daughter of the miller. Once the miller realizes what has happened the two take back what he had stolen from them and run off feeling successful. Chaucer starts to show the animosity between the different classes of people. The Reeve did not want to be portrayed as stupid so he attacks the story of the Miller.
Skipping ahead to the wife of bath's tale, she talks first about her own opinions of marriage and quotes from the bible. She is one of the most interesting characters that Chaucer writes about. This woman had been married five times and only married for love once. Her story is about the discovery of what women really want. A knight has to go on a journey to atone for raping a maiden in the King's court. He is sent out by the queen to find what women really want. The knight finds an old woman who tells him the secret in return for his hand in marriage. The knight is pardoned because the old woman tells him what all women want, control of their husbands and their own lives. The old woman gives him a choice for her to be ugly and faithful or beautiful and unfaithful. He gives her the choice and since he learned from his journey the woman is beautiful and faithful. Her tale reflects her desire in life, to be in control and not have a man rule over her. In the time period when Chaucer wrote these tale's women were not viewed as valuable as men. Women did want more power not just staying home.
The Pardoner is other favorite of mine. He is depressed from the Physician's tale and says he will tell a merry one. He tells his story only after telling the company how he cheats people out of money by convincing them that money is the root of all evil. He tells the tale of three young men who set out to find and kill death. They are told about a tree that death lives under, instead of finding personified death they find gold. The youngest is killed by the older two; only after poisoning the food he had brought back for the other two. Under the tree where they are told to find death they all lay dead. This is one of the stories that does teach a lesson. The Pardoner then offers pardons to everyone in the company and shows his true character. In the time Chaucer lived the Catholic Church tried to sell people their salvation. They advertized the way to heaven could be bought. He described the Pardoner accurately in his tale according to history.
The rest of Chaucer's character's tales serotype the people who are telling the tale. Some of the stories are an accurate reflection of the person like the Knights tale and others are utterly pointless, such as the Wife of Bath's tale. Chaucer wanted to show the layers of the society he lived in. This is one of the best works that he ever wrote and arguably one of the most recognized. His knowledge of his society made it so easy for his characters to reflect what was lived in that day.
