& # 8217 ; s The Canterbury Tales Essay, Research Paper

& # 8220 ; The Canterbury Tales & # 8221 ; was a fresh written by Geoffery Chaucer in 1386. In the prologue to Chaucer & # 8217 ; s work, he describes certain characters utilizing the literary device known as sarcasm. His descriptions of the characters do a few different things. First, they give the reader an accurate vision of the clip period that the novel takes topographic point, fourteenth-century England, through the context of the character descriptions such as their frock. Second, his word pictures reflect Chaucer & # 8217 ; s ain personality, one of humor and wit, but besides of earnestness. Chaucer & # 8217 ; s ain personality diffuses from his pen and onto the paper, leting readers take notice of the sarcasm in his work. If Chaucer does non experience that the life manner of a character is one of great morality, one can state through his usage of satiric wit. He seems to cognize precisely how to acquire his point across about his feelings of a character, but without being bitter. He shows certain characters phoniness, vanity, etc. To turn out my above thesis, I will give three illustrations of characters that Chaucer has described, utilizing sarcasm, in the prologue to the & # 8220 ; Canterbury Tales & # 8221 ; .

One of the characters that Chaucer describes with great usage of sarcasm is the Monk. As we all know, monastics devote their life to God and seek to follow his illustration of unconditioned love. Chaucer & # 8217 ; s Monk, nevertheless, is non a typical monastic. You would believe that a monastic would be a loving, peaceable individual. However, Chaucer & # 8217 ; s monastic is a huntsman, an carnal slayer who finds it gratifying to slay God & # 8217 ; s animals. Hunting is a worldly persuit of which monastics are non supposed to take active involvement in. Monks are besides supposed to take a vow of poorness, but he spared non expense in purchasing the most expensive and keen hunting equipment and dress. Another dry thing about the monastic is that there is a set of ordinances and regulations for monastics to stay by, which was set by Saint Benedict and Saint Maur, but he did non follow with these regulations. The monastic was besides really lazy.

Another character that Chaucer describes with great usage of satir

vitamin E is the Prioress, or the Nun. Nuns are supposed to populate field and simple lives, but Chaucer’s nun is characterized by her inordinate concern about her visual aspect, chiefly her cleanliness. She did non allow a morsel from her lips autumn, kept the smallest bead of nutrient from falling upon her chest, would pass over her upper lip so clean that non even a hint of lubricating oil could be seen. Nuns are besides non supposed to pull broad attending to themselves, but Chaucer’s nun sang really aloud at all the multitudes, through her olfactory organ. She besides spoke in French to seek to affect others. She smiled a hypocrite smiling, merely to do it look like she was a pleasant, compassionate individual. But the truth was, that she cared for animate beings more than worlds. She would shout if a mouse got trapped or killed, but didn’t attention if anything happened to people. She wore tonss of spiritual bangles, such as her prayer beads, to do it look as if she was whole-heartedly into her faith, when she truly was non.

Last, the 3rd character that I will depict that Chaucer characterizes with great usage of sarcasm is the married woman of Bath. The married woman of Bath would utilize church as a & # 8220 ; runway & # 8221 ; to demo off her stylish apparels and money. She wore the finest apparels, as she was a great fabric shaper who traveled worldly to buy the finest wool and stuff. Clad in bed upon bed of vesture, she would scamper and force over parishioners to make the communion table in church foremost, as the first people to have Communion were the highest people in societal position. Besides, she would get married old work forces to derive her wealths, and so they would decease and she would derive all the heritage. All in all, she had five hubbies who she took full advantage of.

Through the apprehension of the satirical word picture that Chaucer uses in the prologue of & # 8220 ; The Canterbury Tales, & # 8221 ; it is obvious that he has a amusing humor about himself, and is a skilled in utilizing the literary device of sarcasm. By utilizing sarcasm, Chaucer depicts certain characters in a much more interesting mode than that of other authors, and this is an plus that has likely attributed to the broad success of his plants.