Chaucer’s art of characterization in The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales
The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales is a notable literary work by Geoffrey Chaucer. A complete discussion of this literary work is given, which will help you enhance your literary skills and prepare for the exam. Read the Main texts, Key info, Summary, Themes, Characters, Literary devices, Quotations, Notes, and various study materials of 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:
- Clergy class
- Merchant class
- 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,Unlock this study guide now