Chaucer is successful in creating humour in the Wife of Baths prologue and tale.

With close reference to at least three episodes, show how Chaucer creates humour in the Wife of Bath’s prologue (&/ or) Tale. Chaucer was born in 1343, and was known for his renowned collection of the Canterbury tales. A group of pilgrims of different social ranks travelled to Canterbury, each telling their tale on the remarkable journey. From the Tabard Inn to the shrine of St Thomas á Becket which lay in Canterbury, they made a pact to illustrate stories to one another. Chaucer uses each individual character prologue to capture the reader’s attention, as well as engage them to a feel for each pilgrim’s behaviour. Chaucer is successful in creating humour in the Wife of Bath’s prologue and tale. A heavy use of fabliaux, (which are extended jokes that are commonly known to be bawdy and full of sexual innuendo) is used to emphasize the ridicule of the wife of Bath in whom Chaucer satirizes. An example of this is found in lines 706-710 where the wife of Bath is implying that mature scholars unable to hold an erection anymore write ‘tell-tale’ attacks against women at the bitterness of their impotence. It is possible that she may be indirecting Jankin’s future with her as he himself is indeed a scholar. She says “Therefore no woman of no clerk is preysed. The clerk, when he is oold and may nought do, of Venus werkes worth his olde sho, Thanne sit he down and

  • Word count: 1032
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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The Merchant's Tale. Consider how the power balance has been subtly altered from line 843 onwards, and how Chaucer has demonstrated this.

Consider how the power balance has been subtly altered from line 843 onwards, and how Chaucer has demonstrated this. The use of the word ‘but’ in line 843 is the first signal to the audience that there is going to be a significant change within Januarie’s fortune. Up until this point he has been considerably lucky; he is described as a ‘worthy knight’ who has ‘lived in greet prosperitee’ and has been married to ‘fresshe may, his paradys, his make’. Through this excessive amount of fortune, Chaucer has led the audience to believe it is too good to be true, and so the change is almost inevitable. Januarie’s fortune is represented by the image of ‘the scorpion’, which smiles with its face while stinging with its ‘sweete venym queynte’, just as Januarie is deceived into believing he has found stable happiness when he suddenly goes blind. When Januarie becomes physically blind, this becomes a fulfilment of the metaphorical blindness of self-delusion which has afflicted him from the outset. On line 386, the audience are reminded of the proverb ‘love is blind’, and Januarie’s character has been built up to this point as a demonstration of the truth of this saying. At this point in the tale, we have only recently heard May’s voice for the first time, (like 770) but we are yet to know much about May’s personality from anyone other than

  • Word count: 609
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Geoffrey Chaucer. Through the double narration it can be seen that the narrator of the Prologue is Chaucer but this pilgrim Chaucer is not the author Chaucer

In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, participants of a pilgrimage to Canterbury tell tales to entertain each other, revealing many aspects of medieval society. Through the double narration it can be seen that the narrator of the Prologue is Chaucer but this pilgrim Chaucer is not the author Chaucer. The pilgrim never describes his own career or social standing, but upon examination, he proves to be a corrupt individual of the upper class. The tales are not simply a story or a poem, it is an individual speaking about his observations- an oral performance. In the tales that follow, Chaucher (the pilgrim) will impersonate the others, "The wordes mote be cosin to the dede- (Line 742)" so his words must match the action he sees. It becomes a double narration, where Chaucer creates this pilgrim who tells the story of a great pilgrimage to Canterbury. There is no longer a creator of the poem, simply a speaker, a character who has his own characteristics and repeats what he sees. Despite its subtly, these traits expose the pilgrim Chaucer. Each of the stories in The Canterbury Tales are to be told with the utmost accuracy, suggesting Chaucer's literacy. "Whoso shal telle a tale after a man, He moot reherce as ny as evere he can Everish a word, if it be in his charge, Al speke he never so rudeliche and large; Or elles he moot telle his tale untrewe, Or

  • Word count: 1234
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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How does his presentation compare to what is known of merchants in Chaucer's day and how do you respond to him as a reader?

"What do we learn of Chaucer's merchant from the information provided in the General Prologue and the prologue to the tale itself? How does his presentation compare to what is known of merchants in Chaucer's day and how do you respond to him as a reader?" Chaucer describes the Merchant in a subtle but detailed way. The Merchant is presented as favourable and yet several indistinct statements challenge this initial portrayal. Chaucer's typical use of irony excels here for the reader to interpret the Merchant openly. Taken literally, the Merchant could be seen as a conservative member of the developing middle class and yet the more popular interpretation, taking into account that the ambiguous statements are ironic, implies that the Merchant is enigmatic and somewhat dubious. The General Prologue gives us a clear physical description of the Merchant. He is well-dressed and considered contemporarily stylish with his "Flaunderissh bever hat", his "bootes clasped faire and fetisly" (line 274-75) and his "forked berd" (line 272). This makes him appear as a successful merchant who can afford to dress in the fashionable way. He is also described as "His reasons he spak ful solempnely", which again describes him as a respectable member of society, "solempnely" meaning "with dignity". However, the next few lines undermine this image of him being a dignified citizen as they describe

  • Word count: 966
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Chaucer creates humour by satirising values in religious and courtly love. To what extent do you agree with this statement?

Chaucer creates humour by satirising values in religious and courtly love. To what extent do you agree with this statement? "The Merchant's Tale is only rarely seen as humorous; most often it is noted for its darkness, its "unrelieved acidity"; it is said to offer a "perversion" of the courtly code."1 I disagree with this statement made by J. S. P. Tatlock. Chaucer was successful at creating humour within his narratives, which is partly why his works were, and still are, so popular. Humour can be achieved through a variety of elements including plot, characterisation, language, timing and circumstance. Chaucer used of all these, but largely drew upon the satirical portrayals of both the courtly love genre and religion within The Merchant's Tale. The tale opens with The Merchant who is envious and astringent of all people that are of a higher class than he; therefore, in his narrative, he targets and satirizes the traditions of the knightly class, including the romantic conventions of courtly love often attributed to the upper classes. Another of Chaucer's tales is The Knight's Tale which is about two knights and close friends, Arcite and Palamon, who are imprisoned by Theseus, duke of Athens. Whilst in prison they fall in love with the beautiful sister of Hippolyta, Emily (Emelye). The sense of competition brought about by this love causes them to hate each other. They

  • Word count: 1885
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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According to what principles, and for what purposes, do Twentieth Century women-writers revise and rewrite fairy tales? You should illustrate your answer from at least three stories.

According to what principles, and for what purposes, do Twentieth Century women-writers revise and rewrite fairy tales? You should illustrate your answer from at least three stories. Fairy tales of the Sixteenth to Eighteenth Century were created as traditional narratives advocating gender roles and employed as a means of preserving the established patriarchal order. Traditionally, termed as 'old wives' tales' the stories became female, oral narratives. However, the male rewrites of Perrault and the brothers Grimm led to a prevalent masculine orientated message. Such campaigning for the male agenda begged a feminist response in the Twentieth Century. Through her collection of fairy tales, The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter, Recovered a female tradition of story telling obscured by the popularity of such male adaptations as Charles Perrault, the brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen.'1 Carter embraces the subversive potential of the fairy tale and undermines the fixing of gender roles and natural laws through focusing upon the intermediate grey areas between the masculine and the feminine, childhood and adulthood, animal and human. The impact of the feminist perspective has served to revolutionise a genre that only appears to be impartial and uncomplicated through its categorising as a mode of story telling aimed at children. The feminist perspective has

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Discuss how the concept of courtly love is represented in the Franklin's tale.

Discuss how the concept of courtly love is represented in the Franklin's tale. Courtly love is a common theme within the Franklin's Tale, and different characters seem to have different attitudes and approaches towards the concept. For example, Aurelius seems to see it as a somewhat more lustful pursuit than Averagus; he presumably went through the process of courtly love to marry Dorigen, but his vows suggest that he has genuine love for Dorigen. Throughout the Tale, Chaucer seems to poke fun at the idea of courtly love via the Franklin's comments. This could either be Chaucer representing the idea of courtly love as interpreted by Aurelius as foolish, or the traditional ideas behind it. Traditionally, courtly love was like a game, in which a noble young man, often a knight or squire, would attempt to woo a lady. Usually, it would be a lady of higher status, and it was not uncommon for her to be married as well. The lady would always be in control, and the young man would perform many foolhardy and dangerous deeds to get her attention. It was, in theory, a chaste pursuit, and not for sexual purposes; Aurelius clearly sees it differently. The brave and foolhardy deeds to the whim of the lady then continue until she shows some form of concern or pity toward the young man; then, there is supposed to be a secret, painful passion between the two, and they get married unless she

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Geoffrey Chaucer provides humor in many of the tales from Canterbury Tales.

Canterbury Tales tells many stories from medieval literature and provides a great variety of comic tales. Geoffrey Chaucer injects many tales of humor into the novel. Chaucer provides the reader with many light-hearted tales as a form of comic relief between many serious tales. The author interpolates humor into many tales, provides comic relief, and shows the reader a different type of humorous genre. Geoffrey Chaucer provides humor in many of the tales from Canterbury Tales. The Miller's Tale is one such tale. In the Miller's Tale, a carpenter marries an eighteen-year-old girl named Alison. The carpenter also houses a cleric named Nicholas. The clever Nicholas tries to take advantage of the carpenter's young wife while he goes away. Alison begins to like Nicholas and tells him that if he can trick her husband, then she will make love to him. Another man, Absalom attempts to capture Alison's love, but "Alison loved clever Nicholas so much that Absalom could go blow his horn elsewhere."(Canterbury Tales 65). Nicholas comes up with a plan to trick the carpenter. He tells the husband that he knows another great flood will come and that he, the carpenter, and Alison will be safe if the carpenter builds three separate barrels and hangs them from the ceiling where they can climb to safety. On that night, all three climb into the barrels and the carpenter immediately

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Dear Arch Bishop of Canterbury, (letter on Geoffry Chaucer's 'The General Prologue').

39 Mortham Street Stratford London E15 3LS 26th January 2004 To Arch Bishop of Canterbury Canterbury Kent B5 7QP Dear Arch Bishop of Canterbury, I have recently finished studying an anthology of poetry by Geoffry Chaucer called "The General Prologue", having done so I am completely enraged and horrified to discover the appauling and disgusting behaviour of the religious people in the 14th century. Three out of four religious characters were corrupt, and it was shocking that the disgraceful behaviour was not stopped. I am writing to you to share my knowledge of this corruption in the church at this time. The first and maybe the most important point I would like to bring to your attention, is the fact that many of these characters did not perform their religious duties. The monk was expected to spend his whole life in prayer but instead, he spent most of his time outside the monastery, "An outridere." Chaucer uses the word "outridere" and this implies to us that the monk spends most of his time on horseback, this is truly disgraceful because he should be in the church performing his religious duties. This shows he is not a honourable monk that does not want to worship god. The monk is very greedy and self-absorbed he is there just for the money; he does not care about serving the world "Let Austyn have his swynk to hym reserved". The monk is extremely self indulgent

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Is the climax of the Miller's Tale simply an example of bowdy humor or does it have a deeper message of Chaucer and his time.

Is the climax of the Miller's Tale simply And example of bowdy humor or does It have a deeper message of Chaucer and his time? During the climax of the Miller's Tale, Chaucer incorporates a kind of bowdy humor that makes the whole tale seem as though it is a comedy that just entertains the reader as a kind of prelude for the rest of the Tales in the Cabterbury Tales it self. The whole ending to the reader may just seem an elaborate ending to a tale that seems to stem from a kind of perverted mind at the times of Chaucer. The setting of the time is very important as it shows that the old days in which Chaucer lived in was not all the stereotypical ideas that many hold today and have been exploited by film makers as well. The ending and the tale show that the people of those times were not all that afraid of the kind of sexual ness that people are subjected our days. And the climax shows that a humorous society may have lived during the time and may have embraced the magnitude of the humor that Chaucer implies to the ending of the Tale The ending of the Tale is quite vivid. It figures Absalon, Nicholas and John as well as Alison. What befalls Nicholas is quite funny at first glance as a hot poker is shoved up his arse 'And he was redy with his iren hoot, And Nicholas amide the ers he smoot.' By Absalon, due to the fact that Nicholas tried to trick him again with the same

  • Word count: 724
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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