Discuss The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales as a picture gallery of the 14th century English Society.

Answer

 Discuss “The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales” as a picture gallery of the 14th century English Society. [2020] ✪✪✪

Or, “The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales is a mirror to the 14th century England.” -Elucidate. [2018]

Or, Discuss how realistically Chaucer portrays contemporary society in The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. [2016] 

Literature shows the life and ideas of its time. A true writer becomes the voice of his age. Pope represents the eighteenth-century Neoclassical age, Tennyson represents the Victorian age, and Wordsworth represents the Romantic age. In the same way, Geoffrey Chaucer (1340–1400) represents the fourteenth century. In “The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales,” he paints the whole picture of medieval English life, not in parts, but as a complete whole. He is truly called “the social chronicler of his time.”

Political Condition of Chaucer’s Time: In Chaucer’s age, England was under King Edward III and King Richard II. The feudal system still existed, but was beginning to change. The nobility was losing power, and a new middle class was growing. He refers to the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 in his works, like The Clerk’s Tale and The Nun’s Priest’s Tale.

Religious Condition of Chaucer’s Age: The 14th-century Church was rich but corrupt. Many churchmen forgot real religion. Chaucer shows both good and bad examples. The Prioress is gentle and polite but worldly. She loves her little dogs more than the poor. She weeps if she sees a mouse in a trap. Chaucer says,

“She wolde wepe, if that she saugh a mouse

Kaught in a trappe.”

(She would weep, if she saw a mouse

Caught in a trap.)

The Monk loves hunting instead of praying. The Friar goes to taverns and flirts with women. Chaucer writes,

“He knew the tavernes wel in every toun.”

(He knew the taverns well in every town.)

But the Parson is pure, honest, and devoted. Chaucer says about