Chaucer’s art of characterization in The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales

Answer

Explain Chaucer’s art of characterization in “The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.”

Characterization is a literary device used by a writer in his literary work to describe or introduce a character. Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) is the first great painter of character in English literature. Next to William Shakespeare (1564-1616), he is the greatest in the field of characterization. In “The General Prologue,” the author portrays thirty characters, giving us an excellent idea of contemporary society. These characters represent English society, morally and socially, in the natural and recognizable types.

Chaucer’s “The General Prologue ” has three different classes of characters (pilgrims). They are:

1. Clergy class
2. Merchant class
3. Military class

Clergy Class: In The Canterbury Tales, the clergy members included the Nun, Second Nun, Nun’s Priest, Monk, Friar, Parson, Pardoner, Summoner, and Clerk. These characters were born into the other two Estates and chose to dedicate their lives to the Church. They would have been expected to behave piously or religiously without too much attachment to material goods. However, we can see in the prologue to The Canterbury Tales that most of the ecclesiastical class people are hypocritical and preserve a materialistic outlook. The monk enjoys a life of luxury. He enjoys hunting and owns many excellent horses. 

“A manly man, to been an abbot able.

Ful many a deyntee hors hadde he in stable,

And whan he rood, men myghte his brydel heere”

But all the ecclesiastical characters are not flawed, materialistic, or dishonest. The clerk and the parson are honest and devotional-minded for the betterment of mankind. Chaucer says about the Oxford Clerk followingly,

“Of studie took he moost cure and moost heede.

Noght o word spak he moore than was neede;”

Merchant Class: The mercantile class included merchants who lived in the cities and represented a new middle class in England. Characters such as The Cook, Merchant, Reeve, Shipman, and Wife of Bath would have been part of this new emerging class. The merchant has all the vanity that comes from the growth of wealth. Chaucer states,

“Wel koude he in eschaunge sheeldes selle.

This worthy man ful wel his wit bisette;”

Military Class: Three men represent the military class. The Knight and his son, the Young Squire and Yeoman. Chaucer’s Knight is a man of courage, honor, and devotion, a soldier of the Crusades who has lived up to the ideals of chivalry,

“A Knyght ther was, and that a worthy man,

That fro the tyme that he first bigan

To riden out, he loved chivalrie”

Although the Knight, by tradition, is a member of the aristocracy, he has no vanity. He is wise and modest. He is strong and elegant, rides well, and performs with courage when tested in battle. He fought the fifteen mortal battles and devoted his victory to Jesus Christ.

The Squire does possess the potential to become a true, chivalrous Knight. He is strong and elegant and rides well. He is the son of the Knight. He is 20 years old. He can sing, dance, draw, write, and compose songs. 

“He was as fressh as is the month of May”

Chaucer presents two views of the military class through the Knight and the squire: the tried-and-true devoted soldier/Knight and the youthful but promising next generation. 

In summary, having all the pros and cons of the above discussion, we can say that Chaucer’s art of characterization is much like that of a novelist, dramatist, and humorist like Fielding and Shakespeare. Undoubtedly, he is rightly considered the supreme narrative poet of his country, and his The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales is an outstanding and excellent monument of his genius as a narrator of characters. His great art of character narration uplifts him from all the other writers of his age.