Geoffrey Chaucer and the portrait of English society

​​In a nutshell

Geoffrey Chaucer was an English poet and writer of the Middle Ages. He wrote important literary pieces such as The Book of the Duchess and his unfinished most famous narrative poem, The Canterbury Tales. 

The Author's life

Born about 1343 in London, Geoffrey Chaucer was the son of a wine merchant. He worked for John of Gaunt (son of King Edward III of England), and in honor of John of Gaunt's first wife's death, he wrote one of his most emblematic works, The Book of the Duchess. Moreover, Chaucer made prose and verse translations, including Italian poetry by Boccaccio. Ovid, Petrarch, and Virgil. Also, he worked in customs in the Port of London and was part of important diplomatic missions. Chaucer died in 1400, and his tomb locates in Westminster Abbey, which later became Poets' Corner.

Main Topics

The main topics he developed were religion, social classes, values, and morals. Most of Chaucer's works are poems and narrative poems.

The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales is an unfinished narrative poem written by Geoffrey Chaucer. This narrative poem illustrates the three orders of society, which was something similar to social classes in Medieval times. The Canterbury Tales shows a particular representation of stereotypes, such as ethical knights, dishonest millers, and lascivious friars. For this reason, it belongs to a writing genre called "estates satire". Although, Chaucer also included several references to the rising merchant class of his times.

The Canterbury Tales tells the story of thirty people going on a pilgrimage to the Canterbury Cathedral and the shrine of Thomas Becket. The innkeeper suggests each pilgrim tells two stories on the way to the Cathedral and two stories on the way back, the pilgrim who tells the best story would receive a free dinner. The diverse tales are religious, humorous, moral, and satirical. 

The Portrait of English society

The principal feature of The Canterbury Tales is the satirical description of English society.

The three orders

The prologue portrays the description of the orders of English society. The high social rank is represented with the first pilgrims introduced, then the social rank descents with every new pilgrim introduced. Chaucer begins the character description with a knight and his son, the knight displays the honor and warlike aspects of the noble class, which gave him status and power. 

Making fun of the religious

After Chaucer introduces nobility, he moves on to the clergy. The prioress, which was a sort of nun, is described next. However, instead of highlighting the regular aspects such as faith and fidelity, the narrator depicts her ability to sing, and speak French, her elegant table manners, and her passion for small animals. In Medieval times, it was dangerous to make fun of the King, but, writers made fun of monks, nuns, pardoners, and friars. In the Middle Ages, the church claimed to be a powerful organization, but people often ignored Church's law and even some people attacked Church property.

Confound the three orders

Chaucer's narrative poem also plays with the distribution of the three orders of society. He writes about several pilgrims such as the Cook, the Shipman, and the Physician, among others, who do not fit into the three-orders model. A great example of this is the Wife of Bath, her status as a merchant and widow contradicted the traditional idea of class and gender, hence the change in the social order. She had been on many other pilgrimages such as Jerusalem, Rome, Boulogne, Santiago de Compostela, and Cologne. This portrays freedom of movement and wealth that was not usual in the Middle Ages, but familiar enough to disorder the idea of the three orders.

The pilgrimage

The pilgrimage was the organizing principle for Chaucer's tales. In Medieval times, the pilgrimage was a significant religious element for every social class. Even though, the pilgrims in Chaucer's tales seemed more attracted to socializing instead of growing spiritually, pilgrimage in the Middle Ages was a kind of obligation to demonstrate faith, thanks, or search for forgiveness.

Language 

French, Anglo-Saxon, and Latin were the languages spoken during the Middle Ages. The blend of these three gave birth to Middle English. By the time Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales, English was becoming a popular language, replacing French at schools and being the language of the government. Therefore, there was a high demand for literary works in English. Writing a literary piece in English was a challenge due to the difficulty of using French and Latin models but built with English speech. Despite all this, Chaucer was able to create a strong and dramatic foundation for his writing pieces.