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You submitted the following rating and review. We'll publish them on our site once we've reviewed them. Item s unavailable for purchase. Please review your cart. Ye be my lyf, ye be myn hertes stere, Quene of comfort and of good companye: Beth hevy ageyn, or elles moote I dye J Now purse, that ben to me my lyves lyght And saveour, as doun in this world here, Out of this toune hslpe me thrugh your myght, Syn that ye wole nat ben my tresorere; For I am shave as nye as any frere.
Its consistent development has been noted, as well as its purpose in the author's writing. Only through allusions here and there in his works can we say that Chaucer was actually conscious of the great events of his day, yet we know from certain events of his own life and background that he was very much a part of the life and activity of his country.
Actually we can say that his works were consciously untopical In nature.
Full text of "Satire as an aspect of Chaucer's social criticism"
We can detect many subtle probes at the Institutions and traditions of his day, but the Important events of his day, such as the war between Prance and England, the Peasants' Revolt, the Black Death, were almost never written about directly. It Is certainly true that Chaucer lived In an "epoch-making 31 age.
Chivalry, a dying Institution of the nobility, flared up In a kind of "autumnal splendor" during this period. Carl Stephenson 5 states that under such conditions chivalry became more and more an aristocratic affectation, overlaid with the courtolsle of the fashionable romance. By the end of the thirteenth century chivalry had been made Into an elaborate ceremony— half mystic sacrament to conform to the Ideals of the church, and half courtly pageant to delight the eyes of the high-born ladles.
In the fourteenth century the lower the noble sank In Importance, the more extravagantly he flaunted his pride of birth and his Coulton, Chaucer and His England , p. In fact no better account of the Hundred Years' War could be found than that of Frolssart. However, we do find his accounts slanted toward the upper classes rather than the yeomen, peasants and others of the lower classes who both kept the war going and suffered Its aftermath.
But in the practical sense chivalry was dying the longbow had already destroyed the mili- tary value of the mounted knight: Crecy was actually won by the arrows of the massed yeomen. Even though it was just another chapter in an old, old story, during the time of Chaucer there were rustles of anti- clerical dissatisfaction, which reached a head in the last years of Edward III and under Richard II. Ever since the Conquest there had been a tendency to resent papal Interference in English affairs.
While thus distrusting many actions of the papacy, many Englishmen were also becoming at this time antagonistic to their clergy, with their vast lands and increasing wealth. Along with decadent chivalry and dissatisfaction with the clergy, the years of Chaucer's life saw also the social and econouic discontent of the dying days of serfdom. In the fourteenth century, there were three great risings for which the peasants were at least in part responsible: Consequently, laborers were growing more and more conscious of their importance and at the same time their lack of privileges.
During this period of disintegration of the forces of the Middle Ages, new forces, new factors were at work producing what we like to think of as the modern world. One factor which gave a fresh direction to society was the rise of the middle class. In the Middle Ages, society, as we have already noted, was divided Into three main elements: Since the class developed between the titled nobil- ity on the one hand and the peasantry and small artisans on the other, It is called the middle class, or the bourgeoisie.
Trevelyan, Chaucer and the Age of Mlycllffe , p. Along with the progress of this class came many other things, such as the growth of new urban centers, craft gilds, capitalistic enterprises, and development of banking.
Hence, the entire economic expansion of the early modern period is In a way an expression of the middle class. With the change In the class relations came the rise of the national states in western Europe. The national governments under strong monarchs were absorbing the old feudal states both as to territory and as to function. In this process of unification the monarch was en- abled to overcome the power of the remaining feudal nobles only with the financial support of the rising middle class.
A good example of imperialism which Chaucer hlaiaelf witnessed was Edward's armed claim to the throne of France and another in the attempt of John of Gaunt to seise the kingdom of Castile. True monastic Ism was mainly puritan, and therefore unfavorable to free development in any way except that of mystlo contemplation.
It Is notable, also, that our universities rose on the ruins of monastic learning. It Is very likely that Chaucer had his training, which equipped him for the diplomatic business, at one of the Inns of Court, the Inner Temple. Another phase of learning and study during this period, which had a great deal of Influence on Chaucer's own writing, was that of humanism.
The credit for the revival of Interest In humanistic study goes to Petrarch. Even before his time the humanist had existed, but the earlier humanist was essentially one who remained loyal to the Ideal of the ancient grammarians or the secular literature of pagan antiquity. Now the tendency In Italy was the emphasis upon the aesthetlc--to study interesting are the collections on the university life of Chaucer's day by Edith Rlckert In her Chaucer's England, pp. She Includes such excerpts as: Lowes , ue'oTTrey Caaicer, p. Even though Petrarch may have been largely responsible for the revival of the new interest In the classics, it was also "Boccaccio's practice to direct men to the artistic purpose of the writers of antiquity, who portrayed life realistically.
Chaucer 's pathway to realism was much more difficult than that of Boccaccio, because the entire atmosphere in Italy was more sym- pathetic to art. One hundred and fifty years later England was ready for what Chaucer had discovered. Sir Philip Sidney's 2 tribute to Chaucer In this respect follows: Chaucer, undoubtedly did excellently well in his Troilus and Criseyde: Chaucer lived in the very flood tide of all the changes which have been noted above and, indeed, was very much a part of them, lie was born of a middle class London family, he had court connections that brought him into public employment all his life.
He served in the English army in France as early as , at which time he was taken prisoner near hhelms. The next year he was released on ransom, to which Edward III con- tributed. He was an ambassador on diplomatic and secret missions to France, Italy, and Flanders.
In , after his return from his mission to Italy, he was appointed Conptroller In the port of London of the customs and subsidy of wools, hides, and wines. This office he probably held until In he had become one of the sixteen Justices of peace for Kent. The following year he was chosen as Knight of the Shire not In chlvalrlc sense for Kent. One of his most responsible positions, which he held under royal appointment, was the office of Clerk of the King's Works. In and again In , he was appointed one of two deputy-keepers of the small royal forest of North Petherton.
Tatlook 1 states that It Is probably during these North Petherton years that Chaucer forned his valuable relation with Henry Bollng- broke. This satire has been defined as being the kind after the "order of Horace," that It Is not necessarily malicious and offensive.
Tatlock, The Mind and Art of Chaucer , p. The purpose of this expli- cation has been to show how this technique set the tone and led the way to the study of his method of criticism of his contem- poraries and their traditions. The temper of the times has been shown in order to give a historical background against which Chaucer's portraits may more graphically be seen. It is, how- ever, with his criticism of the upper classes that this thesis is ultimately concerned.
Examples from the portrayal of other daises will only be shown to contrast with and to serve as high- lighting for the upper groups. Especially through the framework of The Canteroury Tales are we allowed to visualise examples of a whole society. We find various ideas and pictures reemphaslzed in other writings, but it is in The Tales that we get the fullest view. Only on a religious pilgrimage could suoh a heterogeneous group be found. Indeed, it proves a normal way to bring all kinds of people to- gether.
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Tho circle of the royalty and the higher nobility is not directly represented, to be sure. Men of such rank could hardly have been included in the company, iiut the vivid life and manners of a courtly society are well expressed by Knight, the Squire, and even the Prioress. A lesser gentry is found In the land-owning Franklin. The Sergeant at Law and the Physician illustrate the learned professions.
We have the Merchant to represent the upper reaches of commerce --the new class of wool exporters, exchange -manipulators, beginners In capitalism. The Wife of bath, a cloth-maker, is also representative of the newest 59 and most important of England's Industries at the tine. Next come the servunt class, with the Manciple and the Reve in the upper brackets and the Yeoman and the Cook below them. At the lowest of the whole scale, yet treated kindly by Chaucer, his creator, is the country Ploughman.
The Church is rather well represented, too, and at lsast one representative, the Prioress, probably possesses "noble blood" such as that of the Knight. At the other end of the clergy scale is the village Parson, brother of the Ploughman, and in Ilka manner treated kindly. Then soaewhere between the ecclesiastics and the laymen comes the representative of the university, the Clerk of Oxford. At a moral and social level below all of these come the Pardoner and the Sommoner. The Knight is portray- ed as one who loves "chlvalrle, trout he and honour, freedom and curtetsie.
The first group, he says, represents events In "a long struggle to drive the Moors out of Spain and to punish their piratical raids from Northern Africa upon Christians and Christian commerce. This like worthy knyght hadde been also Somtyme with the lord of Palatye Agayn another hethen In Turkye.
His hors were goode, but he was nat gay. Of fustian he wered a gypon Al blsmotered with his habergeon, 2 This, however, only adds to the picture of the knight of honor and service, for the lines which follow these Indicate that he had Just returned from a "vlage" and has been anxious to go on the pilgrimage to pay homage to Saint Thomas, the patron of the wounded and the ill. If, however, we are looking for a representative of knight- hood who is gay, romantic, and vivid, let us take a look at the Squire, the Knight's son.
After all, he Is a product of his father's training, so it is not too much to assume that he is a younger "version" of our "worthy Knight" and even as the Knight may become after he returns to his home from the pilgrimage. A lovyere and a lusty bacheler, With lokkes crulles as they were leyd in presse. Embrouded was he, as It were a meede Al ful of freshe floures, whyte and reede. Syngynge he was, or floytynge, at the day; He was as fressh as Is the month of May.
He koude songes make and wel endltej Juste and eek daunce, and weel purtreye and write. So hoote he lovede that by nyghtertale He sleep namoore than dooth a nyghtyngale ilbid. And earf blforn his fader at the table. The tale which the Knight tells la certainly an Indication of his courtly love tendencies. It la the story of Palamon and Arclte and their courtly love affair with Emily. For our pur- pose at this point we are only Interested in the tales insofar as they help reveal to us the nature in which Chaucer charac- terizes the teller. Root says concerning the nature of this tales If we are to read the Knight's Tale In the spirit in which Chaucer conceived It, we must give ourselves up to the spirit of romance; we must not look for subtle characterization, nor for strict probability of action; we must delight in the fair shows of things, and not ask too many questions.
Chaucer can be realistic enough when he so elects; but here he has chosen otherwise. It Is not In the characterization, but in the description that the greatness of the Knlfiht 's Tale resides. The Knight's Tale Is preeminently a web of splendidly pictured tapestry, in which the eye may take delight, and on which the memory may fondly linger. The Squire is permitted to tell a story of pure romance, full of adventure and enchantment, laid in the distant land of Cambyuskan.
It has features of all the romance of the courtly code. The main part of his story Is that of a falcon deserted and betrayed by her tercelet lover.
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It Is filled with wonders, horses of brass, magic mirrors, rings, and swords. The Squire, though he has been "somtyme In chlvachye" Is living mainly In the infinite future, where all things are possible. To most people the portraiture and the tales of the Knight and the Squire are simply Ideal examples of Medieval noble society.
But we must remember that these two were contempo- raries of Chaucer and when held up against the actual circum- stances of the day they are anachronistic. The satire Is very subtle, but It is there, nonetheless, contrasting Chaucer's noble society as It actually was and how It sometimes pretended to be. Chival- ry, a feature of feudalism, was the code of behavior of the Ideal knight.
It was simply the standards of behavior adopted by those of the warrior class to govern their relations with one another. The knight wa3 to fight bravely and according to certain accepted rules, scorning tricks and strategy that might be considered cowardly. He must be loyal to his friends, treat a conquered foe with gallantry, yet toward the baseborn he felt no such obligation. It was as Salzman states: A type of sentimental vassalage now became the order of the day; each knight must be in "spiritual vassalage" to a lady and each lady must have her courtly lover.
Now the knight must joust for the favor of proud ladles and seek opportunities to rescue dam- sels in distress. The songs of courtly love began to create a world of unreality. The rough fighting men, in outward form at least, took on more polished manners under the influence of cpurtoisle. Muriel Bowden 2 reminds us that before the eleventh century chivalry as we understand it today did not exist as an institu- tion.
Salzman, English Life in the Middle Ages, p. It was inevitable, of course, that few would ever attain, either then or in the centuries to follow, the exalted standard set by Urban II. As Professor Hearnshaw points out, "the deoadence of chival- ry can be discovered in its very idea;" "medieval religion was too irrational, medieval warfare too cruel," for the Institution of chivalry ever to have realized its ideal "even approximately.
How many of the so- called Crusades were no more than piratical raids. A couple of generations before Chaucer's birth Ktienne de Bourbon stated that the upper classes "not only did not take the cross, but scoffed at the lower orders when they did so. Another "fatal cause of the decay of chivalry, perhaps, lay in the growing prosperity of the merchant class. There were now Coulton, Chaucer and His England , p. Even Chaucer's most "worthy Knight" has something to say about rising to a higher "estaat": As whan a man hath been In povre eataat And clymbeth up and wexeth fortunat And there abideth in prosperitee Swlch thyng is gladsom, as It thynketh me.
And of swioh thyng were goodly for to telle. Another contributing factor to the falling away of chivalry was the war between France and England. It was also through the necessity of using every possible means to raise an army that we find at a very early stage in the war important commands given to knights and squires who had fought themselves up from the ranks.
Coulton 4 cites the example of Sir John Hawk- wood, the moat renowned of all these soldiers of fortune, who had begun as a common archer. Projected against all of this, it is not hard for us to see that Chaucer's Knight is out-of-date. These have a bearing upon Chaucer's portrayal of the Knight. Let us consider the "sacking" of Alexandria In , which might to soma go under the heading of a crusade, and In which our Knight supposedly participated. The victory of Alexandria was celebrated by unparalleled savagery. The two and a half centuries of Holy Warfare had taught the crusaders nothing of humanity.
Though the order was "born of mutual penetra- tion of monastic and feudal Ideas," it quite early took on the "character of great political and economic Institutions. The imaginative story of the Squire is either left unfinish- ed or Interrupted gently by the Franklin. At least the Franklin Is the next to speak: As to my doom, ther Is noon that is heere Of eloquence that shal be thy peere , If that thou lyve j God yeve thee good chaunce, And In verty send thee oontinuauncel B'or of thy speche I have greet deyntee.
I have a sone, and by the Trinitee, I hadde levere than twenty pound worth lond, Though It right now were fallen myn hond, He were a man of swich dlscrecloun As that ye beenl Fy on possession, But if a man be vertuous withal I I have my sone snybbed, and yet shal, For he to vertu llateth nat entende; But for to pleye at dees, and to despende And lese al that he hath, Is his usage. And he hath lever talken with a page Than to comune with any gentil wight Where he myghte lerne gentlllesse aright.
I wol yow nat contrarlen in no wyse As fer as that my wittes wol suffyse. I prey to Ood that it may plesen yow;. Thanne woot I wel tnat it is good ynow. Ho calls himself a "burel" man and says that he never slept on Parnassus, learned Cicero, or acquainted himself with the colors of rhetoric. Who is this man that could 1 Ibld. Gerould, Chaucerian Kssays , p. Who Is he that could answer the brusque words of the Host with a demonstration of "a soft answer turneth away wrath"?
Hla table dormant In his halle alway Stood redy covered al the longe day. At the time of the pilgrimage he was In the company of a Sergeant of the Law who had a notable position In the society of that day. The Franklin was "lord and sire" at "sesslouns," which means that he sat Importantly as Justice in petty session. He had been a sheriff and a "contour," one who probably audited the accounts of the sheriff.
He was a worthy "vavasour. According to Manly, Gerould, and Sowden 1 the main trouble relating to the disagreement concerning the Franklin's social position goes back to J. Todd's Interpretation of Sir John Fortesoue as saying that franklins did not belong to the gentry. Qerould especially condemns Henry Bradley, Root, and Klttredge for having been misled by this Interpretation.
Gerould 2 and Bowden 3 both refer to John Russell's book of etiquette, Book of Nurture , of about the same time as the writings of Fortescue, as placing the franklin at the table of the squire. It is Indicated that franklins were not only associated with knights, but had considerable estate and wealth. It has much of the courtly love theme In It, but at the same '' time It has the reconciliation of that love In faithful Christian marriage.
It Is a story of promises kept and fidelity rewarded. It Is a story that leaves a good taste, a feeling that the policy of "good for evil" Is a rewarding one. There are the possibilities of two kinds of satire In the portrait of the Franklin, One la a looking down upon him for his uncomfortable consciousness of a certain lack of gentility. In fact, Cog- hill goes so far as to say that the Franklin was the only person present, except the proud Knight, fit to Interrupt the Squire. Also, many have been concerned that the Franklin wishes that his son were like the Squire. Can we say that he Is necessarily envious of the Squire, or Is It not rather the natural tendency of a father to wish that his own son had turned out better?
Again let us make haste to say that the satire la not directly against our anachronistic Knight and Squire, but against a pretentious contemporary English society that would atlll cling, In theory at least, to feudallstlc chivalry that la decadent. Chaucer Is conscious that the "Jig Is up," and knows that his contemporaries are too, If they would only admit It.
The Prioress In our survey of the upper classes as depicted by Chaucer, the portrait of the Prioress follows naturally those of the Knight and the Squire, for "nuns In Chaucer's day were almost always drawn from the upper classes. Other evidences of upper class background and manners will be shown as we later discuss her description as it is given In the Ceneral Prologue.
It 13 ' "Chaucer's own peculiar satlre--mellow, amused, uncondemnlng, the most subtle kind of satire, which does not depend upon ex- aggeration.
Even though she may have carried over some of her out- ward ornateness from her noble family, as a person she lacks color and vividness. This again seems to be what the poet wishes us to see and feel. Our Prioress Is of the Benedictine nunnery of St. Elizabeth Chaucy, supposedly a sister or daughter of Chaucer, became a nun at Barking In Leonard's for many years and died there in This Eliza- beth was also a sister-in-law of the Countess of Ulster whom Chaucer served as a page and In whose company he probably travel- ed to St.
Oasquet, English Monastic Life , pp. Leonard's throws light on several problems relating to the Identity of Chaucer's Prioress. First, there Is the mentioning In her will of Kada-ne Argentyn as one of the benefactors. Manly considers It very likely that this could have been "Madame Eglentyne. Bowden, 1 too, would say that Elizabeth of Halnaut was responsible for the type of French spoken at Stratford-Bow, since It Is said about our Prioress that "Prenssh of Parys was to hire unknowe. The Prioress's French was only such as could be heard In an English nunnery. The comparison with the "Frenssh of Parys" Is disparaging, for the latter was standard and had long been recognized as such.
Chaucer can hardly mean that she spoke a dialect that was Just as good. Cue of the first points of satire In describing the Prior- ess is that she was with the group that made the journey to Canterbury. Such a motley crowd was hardly the place for a prioress. Too, It had often been decreed that nuns should not make pilgrimages at all.
In the Council of York decreed! In Archbishop Kelton decreed that the nuns of Nunappleton should not leave their house because of any vow of pilgrimage which they might have taken. For such a vow taken each nun was to say a psalter for each day that the pilgrimage would have taken.
A prioress with her attendants was allowed to go on ex- cursions on convent business or was allowed trips in order to attend ecclesiastical ceremonies, however. This strictness will perhaps make the modern reader pity the nuns, but no one ever succeeded into putting into full force all the many regulations placed upon the nuns, "though the bishops spent over two centur- ies in trying to do so and were still trying in vain when King Henry VIII dissolved the nunneries and turned all the nuns out into the world forever, whether they liked it or not.
At mete wel ytaught was she with alle: She leet no morsel from hir lippes falle, lie wette hir fyngres in hir sauce depe; Wel koude she carle a iorsel and wel kepe Eileen Power, Medieval English Nunneries , p. In curteisle was set ful muohel hlr lest. Ful semely after hlr mete she raughte. And slkerly she was greet desportj And ful plesaunt, and amyable of port, And peyned hire to contrefete cheere Of court, and to been estatllch of manere, And to ben holden digne of reverence.
However, the satire Is not so much the borrowing from the romance, for the manners are those of polite society, but from the particular setting from which they are taken. Hlr nose tretys, hlr eyen greye as glas , Hlr mouth ful smal, and therto softe and reed; And slkerly she hadde a fair forheed; It was almoost a spanne brood, I trowe. For hardily, she was nat undergrowe.
The nuns were supposed to wear their veils pinned tightly down to their" eyebrows , so that their foreheads were completely hidden; but blgta foreheads happened to be fashionable among worldly ladles, who even shaved theirs to make them higher, and the result was that the nuns could not resist lifting up and spreading out their veil3, for how otherwise did Chaucer know that Madame Eglentyne had such a fair forehead "almost a spanne brood, I trowe"?
If she had been wearing her veil properly, it would have been invisible, and the father of English poetry may be observed discreetly but plainly winking the other eye when he puts in that little touch; his contemporaries would see the point very quickly. The main factor of the satire lies in endowing a nun with the physical characteristics oi the "fascinating worldly heroine. Chaucer contents himself with "she was nat undergrowe. Pul semyly her wympul pynched was ; Ful fetys was her cloko, as I was war, Of smal coral about hire arm she bar A pelre of cedes, gauaed al with grene, And thereon heng a brooch of gold ful sheens, On which ther was first write a crowned A, And after Amor vlnclt omnia , 1 Her wimple Is well-pleated; her cloak Is well-made and handsome.
Or is It the meaning of sacred love whloh the Church adopted? The ambiguity of the meanings only adds to the satire of the entire picture of the Prioress. Now It Is earthly love which conquers all, now heavenly; the phrase plays back and forth between the two. And it is precisely that happy ambiguity of the convention — itself the result of an earlier transfer — which makes Chaucer's use of it here.
Which of the two loves does "aaior" mean to the Prioress? I do i Oenoral Prologue , lines , Z not know; but I think she thought she meant love celes- tial. For more than six tiresome centuries, according to Miss Power, 1 the registers of the bishops show the waging of "a holy war against fashion In the cloister," but it was In vain, for the "nuns mingled freely with secular women" and It was Impossible to prevent them from adopting their secular habits.
Another phase of this "holy war" against the fashion of the nuns were the attempts of the bishops to dislodge the regiments of dogs--and sometimes the monkeys—which the ladles used to solace their long leisure. Of smale houndes hadde that she fedde With rosted flesah, or milk or wastefc-broed. But soore wepte she If oon of hem were deed Or if men smoot it with a yerde smerte. The Prioress not only kept the dogs, but she fed them the very best of food, wastel-breed was a fine wheat bread, second only to "demelne," the lord's bread.
Geoffrey Chaucer’s "The Tale of Sir Thopas": Elements of Parody and Satire
Trevelyan, En glish Social History , pp. S General Prologue , lines Still is seen this paradoxical nature which has already been discussed in her outward appear- ances and habits. There has been much discussion on "hire gretteste oath. Loy to one of the most fashion- able churches of the day. Loy than we have suspected.
Then what has Chaucer said about her that might pertain i iiowder. For whom was her greatest concern in her ministering? Upon a first reading one thinks he has found something substantial concerning this point as he reads: But, for to spelcen of hire conscience, She was so charitable and so pltous She wold wepe,. This implication is later strengthened by her own Tale in which she tells with perfect blandness of the tortures visited upon the Jews; and by the fact that when Chaucer writes of the charity of his Parson, he Is explicit and clear In pointing out that here Is a man who follows truly all the teachings of Christianity in loving his neighbour as himself.
For Madame Eglentyne, then, the poet's "but" Indicates a reservation.
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Despite her charm and dignity, she possesses a real Imperfection not unmarked by the poet who had created her. Following is a brief summary by Carleton Brown 3 of the basic versions which form the theme of the Prioress's Tale ; Group A 1. The boy sings the responsorlum "Guade Maria' 1 as he passes daily along a street In which the Jews dwell and thereby provokes their resentment. He is 8 lain and his body is burled.
The boy's mother, in her search for him, passing by the Jew's door, hears the voice of her child and, with the assistance of friends and a crowd of citizens, forces an entrance. In consequence of this miracle, the Jew or Jews according to most versions, is converted. The boy is made a chorister and sings his song in the regular services of the church.
The boy's mother drops out of the story. The guilty Jew or Jews after the murder hears the boy singing as before. The Jew or Jews thereupon confesses the crime before the Christians have learned of it and in most versions is converted and baptized. The song which the boy sings through the Jewry Is the antlphon "Alma redemptorls mater" accord- ing to seven versions. The body of the murdered boy Is thrown Into a "Jakes.
The miracle does not end, as In Group A, with the recovery of the boy's body, but an elaborate funeral scene follows, during which the corpse continues to sing, for In Group C, unlike the others, the story ends tragi- cally. The Prioress's version Is placed in Group C, the most tragic of the three. Let us conclude our comments on the tale by say- ing that this is a rather bloody, tragic tale for one who "wolde wepe, if that she saugh a mous kaught in a trappe If it were deed or bledde" or one who "sore wepte she if oon of hem smale houndes were deed, or if men smoot It with yerde smerte.
However, his satire does not come in direct, harsh condemnation, but in genial suggestlveneas. We have seen at least three major phases of his satire in this case. As Chaucer revealed the Prioress as a person we felt the lack of warmth that would actually attract us.
There is also the probe at the laxness found among the clergy of the day. Then, lastly, we have seen again the pretensions and ostentations of the upper classes to which they yet Insist on clinging. We have become quite aware of the fact that the principles of courtly love pervade much of the writing of Chaucer, but can we actually say what his opinion of it is? By further examination of courtly love and by presenting illustrations from some of his writing we may be able to see his attitude toward the subject more clearly. We have already noted how Interwoven with chivalry was this formalization of love.
This theory of love was first seen in the south of France as early as the eleventh century. It was the part of a brilliant society with woman at a supreme place, with great importance attached to social etiquette and decorum. To this society belonged the troubadours who expressed in their poems this theory of courtly love. According to the troubadour, love was the ground of all goodness, of all excellence in the world.
Man without such love was worth no more than "corn without grain. If the lover could not resist it, it was because it was "his mightiest self, and not because it was a compulsion from without; it was his nature, not his disease. It reached England with her chivalrous son, Richard Coeur de Lion.
As the system was left by Chretien, so It was to remain. Since the lover's concern was to abide by the "rules and regulations" set up by the system, the courtly love literature actually be- came "devoid of spontaneity and real feeling. Even emotional experience became stereotyped. Andreas Capellanus worked out quite fully the Jurisprudence of that courtly system which Is shown In the romance of the Round Table.
What are its effects? What then follows is one of the funniest, but also absurd moments in the whole Canterbury Tales. Chaucer tells the tale of Sir Thopas, a story that lampoons the genre of romance, which was very popular in his time. This paper is devoted to giving an insight into how Chaucer managed to create the funniest work in The Canterbury Tales and, by showing how it not was, drawing a wonderful picture of one of the most popular literary genres of his time.
However, to understand a parody requires the audience to be familiar with the genre or tradition that is being parodied in order to be understood in its full extent. The necessity for this is proven by the fact that until around Sir Thopas was regarded as a serious representative for his genre. Thomas Warton was among the first to suggest that Sir Thopas was in fact a parody that mocked nearly all aspects of traditional romances Dane.
Then, since the main hero plays a crucial role and is almost always in the centre of the story, one has to have a closer look at the main character, Sir Thopas. However, Chaucer did not only make fun of the hero himself but also of the actions he undertakes and, linked to that, the understanding of love that romances usually conveyed.
Apart from the content, Chaucer aimed his parody also at formal aspects of romances, including the mechanical style, their sometimes terrible rimes, and even the uncreativeness of the minstrels. Romance originated in France and was a very popular literary genre that was originally narrated in verse, but later also in prose. By the 14th century, the flourishing of the genre was over in France and Germany.
It was at this time, however, that the old material was taken up again and changed in order to suit the different taste in England. Still, these works were not mere imitations but rather own developments and adaptions Mehl 2. Standard elements would be for one thing the damsel in distress, who often causes the quest as she needs to be rescued, and also introduces the element of love.
Besides many others, usual components would be magic e. There were basically three themes a romance would deal with: King Horn or Haveloc the Dane. Romances would normally be presented by minstrels who sang or spoke the story for their courteous audience. However, exactly because romances were so popular, Chaucer was able to parody that genre in the first place, as it is not worth the effort of making fun of something when only a few people realise the joke.
Since many people were familiar with the standard structure and elements of romances, Chaucer could lampoon their tradition and be sure that people knew exactly what he was aiming at.