Social_Portraits_in_Chaucer's__Canterbury_Tales_

“The Canterbury Tales” by Geoffrey Chaucer, is a richly varied compilation of fictional stories as told by a group of twenty-nine persons involved in a religious pilgrimage to Canterbury, England during the fourteenth century. This journey is to take the travellers to the holy martyr St. Thomas Becket. The device of a springtime pilgrimage provided Chaucer with a diverse range of characters and experiences, with him being both a narrator and an observer. At the beginning of the trip the pilgrims make a deal that each of them has to narrate two stories on the way to the shrine and two on the way back, and then it is up to the innkeeper to decide whose stories are the best and who receives a prize – a fine supper at the expense of the others. However, Chaucer did not finish his work and, consequently, there are less stories than it was originally planned. Nevertheless, author successfully manages to depict the usual characters of Medieval England, some of them being positive and some, what happens in most cases, being negative. The pilgrimage was a “democratic institution”, which means that rich and poor, noble and peasant rode side by side and stopped at the same inns. This also means that Chaucer, being among those travellers, could show the variety of people’s natures and behaviour. He starts with the general prologue, where thirty men and women from all ranks of society pass before our eyes. Chaucer draws a rapid portrait of each traveller, thus showing his character. Firstly, there is a brave knight who loves truth, honour and generosity. He was in armed expeditions in the Mediterranean, travelled in the North and was even in Russia and he is probably one of the favourite Chaucer’s personages. The knight obviously holds a very respectable reputation, and is treated with much honour and respect. He is a perfect gentleman, showing kindness and understanding to everyone he comes in contact with. The knight is extremely well-mannered, always being on his best behavior. The knight’s son, who travels with him, is a young squire with curled hair. Unlike his father he is a "lusty bachelor" of twenty, who is ultimately concerned with his appearance. His clothes are “as gay as a meadow with white and red flowers” and he has long white sleeves. He was on cavalry raids in France and fought well “in hope to win his Lady’s grace”. Their servant is a yeoman dressed in the clothes of a forester. The knight and his son are followed by two nuns and three priests (including monks). One of the nuns is a prioress, the head of the nunnery. She has a long face and a small mouth and weeps easily: “A mouth in a trap would make her cry”. She can sing all that is sung in churches and speaks French as it is spoken in England, for “French in the Paris style she did not know”. She has very good manners at table. She never lets a crumb fall from her lips and never dips her fingers deep in the sauce. “And she was dressed with graceful charm”. There is also a fat monk who loves hunting and a good dinner better than prayers. His hood and sleeves are decorated with fine fur and his greyhounds and horse are the best. Another monk, though not so rich, also likes to have a good time: “He knew the taverns well in every town and every innkeeper and barmaid too”. Then a student of Oxford in a shabby cloak rides a lean horse. He is thin and pale: “Whatever money from his friends he took, he spent on learning and another book”. There is another woman in the company, the wife of a merchant. She is merry and strong, though no longer young, and a little hard of hearing. She has red cheeks and red stockings on her fat legs, and her hat is as broad as a shield. She comes from the town of Bath and is mounted on a good horse. She likes to talk of her youth and her five husbands. Then we see other townsfolk: a merchant with a forked beard “always talking about his profits but telling nobody of his debts”; a man of law “who was less busy than he seemed to be”. Then come a poor priest and his brother, a ploughman, riding a mare. The ploughman is a hard worker with a true heart, and the priest is one of those who never talk much and who does all he can to help the poor. He is “the doer of the word before he taught it”. A very stout fellow with red hair and a broad red beard trots beside them. “His mighty mouth was like a furnace door”. This disagreeable man is a miller. His language is very rude. Dishonest in his work, “his was a master hand at stealing grain”. Not far behind them ride some other servants of the Church. One of them has greedy eyes and yellow hair “that thinly fell like rat-tails one by one”. He sells relics: pig bones in small glass cases, which he says are the bones of saints. He also sells “pardons”, “hot from the Court of Rome” (that is to say that he sells papers signed in advance by the Pope, and those who buy them have their sins pardoned). “He got more money in a day than a peasant in two months”. Several other professional men and some tradesmen of the time are there too: a tax-collector, a physician, a carpenter and a shipman, even a provisioner and a cook. Finally we see Chaucer himself and a certain Harry Bailly, who wishes to accompany the travellers. He is the owner of a London inn, from which they all start their journey and it is his aim to judge the stories of pilgrims. Before each new story begins, there is a short prologue in which the host speaks to the story-teller. He wants the stories to be interesting. He also takes care that the friendship which has grown up among the pilgrims should not change to hostility. Besides, in these prologues some of the travellers describe their lives and jobs which helps the reader to better understand each personality. Chaucer keeps all his characters alive in these conversations with the host of the inn. The most important thing of Chaucer’s “The Canterbury tales” is that he manages to show all ranks of society, all types of people that lived during his time, and through these people he shows a true picture of the life of the 14th century. In those times it was very common to criticize the Church and churchmen, but Chaucer gives a true and impartial portrayal. Most of his churchmen are not religious at all. For instance, the Prior cares above all for good food and wine and hunting; he wants to live and enjoy himself. At the same time Chaucer shows us the poor priest. He knew churchmen of this type: they protested against social inequality in general and hated rich and ignorant bishops. In addition, Chaucer understands that the end of the feudalism is near and that is why he shows us the miller and the merchant who care only for money but, in fact, will conquer the future. Yet he regrets that the chivalrous ideas of feudalism are retreating into the past. He demonstrates the honest knight who needs practically nothing for himself and his counterpart – the squire who prefers luxury. The ploughman and his brother, the poor priest are, probably, the only characters who escape Chaucer’s satire because of their hard-working nature. As a result, because of important problems discussed in “The Canterbury Tales”, they were very popular in the Middle Ages and are still now.