CT Class Questions

Unlike other books and poetry written in the medieval time period, The Canterbury Tales was written in English. Chaucer wrote the story in English because he felt that there should be literature written in the vernacular, or the common spoken language. Most literature was written in Latin and English was thought to be unworthy to use to write. Chaucer felt otherwise. He saw that English was just as worthy as Latin or other languages that were used in writing in his time period. Chaucer also writes about many cultural issues. These include, social class, views on women, and the Church. These issues are all shown throughout the stories inside the main story, which is known as metafiction.
Chaucer uses the story of the Wife of Bath to show the role of women in the medieval age. It was thought that women should be subervient to their husbands in all matters. The husbands made money so they could do what they wanted. This is not what women want according to the story of the Wife of Bath. Alisoun, the Wife of Bath, says that women want control over their husbands. This did not occur often in her time period. Another cultural issue that is revealed through the prologue of the Miller's tale is the issue of social class. The host wants the monk to tell his story after the knight, following the status of the group. This does not happen because the Miller interupts and tells his story. Also, the miller's tale uses imagery more akin to farmlife. The Knight's tale used more noble imagery. Even though the imagery was described differently, they are still equally descriptive. Chaucer also reveals his thoughts on the church by how he describes the clergy and workers of the church in his story. The monk, friar, and the pardoner are all bad men. The monk and the friar break almost every single one of their vows, and the pardoner is shown as being corrupt. Maybe the pardoner is corrupt because he has to be for his job, but that is left for the reader to decide.
The Canterbury Tales were very innovative. It was one of the first stories to use the frame narrative technique. This is when there is a story told within a story. Also, many times during prologues, the speaker speaks directly to the reader. For example, when the Miller apologizes to the reader if the tale is offensive. Lastly, The Canterbury Tales was one of the first storys to be written in the vernacular of the time, English. This is very important because English was thought to be unworthy to use to write. So, Latin and French were used most of the time. Chaucer thought that English was just as worthy and poetic as Latin or French and decided to use English for his story.
The stories inside of the Canterbury Tales all reveal something about the teller. For example, the story of the Wife of Bath has a lot to do with women. It shows that the teller believes that women should have power over their husbands. The Miller's tale uses very common items in the imagery of the tale. This shows that the imagery can be as nice as the knight's tale's imagery, but uses farm - like words in the imagery which also describes the Miller. The Pardoner is an official of the church, so in this story, he is going to be shown as a bad person. Before his story, we know the pardoner as a bad and corrupt man. He says he doesn't care about the people he sells his pardons to, which clearly shows the type of person he is.