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"CANTERBURY TALES".

Examines pilgrims as individuals, satirical tools, symbols of vice & virtue, focusing on 'Reeve's Tale' & 'Franklin's Tale.'

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INTRODUCTION
Geoffrey Chaucer presents a broad portrait of life in his Canterbury Tales both in the depiction of the pilgrims themselves and in the characters in the stories the pilgrims tell one another to pass the time. One of his problems in shaping this lengthy project was a perceived need to achieve variety within a coherent and unified framework. He achieved unity first by means of his central premise--that these varied pilgrims were united on the road by their intention to reach Canterbury in the prescribed time and for a religious purpose. He achieved variety through his selection of the people to be on this trip, reflecting members of those segments of society which would be represented on such a journey, leavened at times with additional characters such as innkeepers and the like they would encounter on their

This clerk is very much in thetradition of the two clerks in The Reeve's Tale, a man capable of anddedicated to deluding others for his own amusement and gain. Chaucer repeats ideas from one story to the next and contrasts ideaswith different points of view. The Narrator of the Prologue manages to makethese people both individuals and types at one and the same time. The lust that is felt by Aurelius overcomes his good judgment and hismoral sense in the Franklin's estimation. Theshady dealings of the Merchant have been noted, while the shady dealings ofcertain of the clerics--notably the Summoner and the Pardoner--are alsoindicated. Variety is further achievedthrough the characters told about in these stories, offering an evenbroader cross-section of the society that produced these people. These characters are also individuals, however, and interactwith one another in ways that show they are listening to the tales told andare responding. (lines 4313-4316) In The Franklin's Tale, the intellectual class is presented in a waythat shows that it can be foolish but that it also has strong moral andethical precepts which can direct the actions of its members. (lines 1622-1623)The Franklin never answers this question himself. THE PILGRIMS As noted, the pilgrims themselves constitute a variety of types, eachwith his or her individual idiosyncracies, points of view, and charactertraits. Sheeven states this to him: For wel I woot that it shal never bityde. There are both males and females among the group, and there arealso groupings according to profession. His intellectuals are a force to punish the guilty,no matter how irresponsible they themselves may be, while the Franklin'sintellectuals are bound by a code that determines the rightness orwrongness of their every action. INTRODUCTION Geoffrey Chaucer presents a broad portrait of life in his CanterburyTales both in the depiction of the pilgrims themselves and in thecharacters in the stories the pilgrims tell one another to pass the time.One of his problems in shaping this lengthy project was a perceived need toachieve variety within a coherent and unified framework. The whole thing is a game to them at the same time, a lark inwhich they use the others as pawns in their game, seeking their ownenjoyment and unconcerned about the consequences to others. This is seen as asacrifice on his part and so impresses Aurelius that all the plans he hasmade and the efforts he has undertaken, including his illness of two yearswhile he pined away for Dorigen, are forgotten. The church women, like the churchmen, are very human. Chaucer challenges the authority of the church toa degree, certainly through the Wife of Bath's Tale, but also in thecriticisms of religion in the statements of Chaunticleer. The fact that the various characters are notnamed also points to a larger intent--these people, while drawn asindividuals, are also to be seen as representative types so that theirbehavior reflects on a broader segment of the population, just as theirstories show their preoccupations and illuminate further how they relate tothe world in which they live. They see themselves as abovethe law, as it were, and consider the miller an outlaw who needs to bepunished. They can beself-sacrificing just as they can be venal and lustful. This pattern isfound in other pairings of stories and characters, and there would likelyhave been much more of that sort of relationship had the work been finishedand the order of presentation established. In this casehe is deluding one of his own, another learned man who is also in the sametradition because he is a learned man who is easily deluded when hisdesires are concerned. Thenarrator describes the Merchant, for instance, in some detail, pointing tothe fact that his business dealings might be both honest and dishonest atdifferent times. The miller takes one lookat these two and knows what they want, what they think of him, and that hewill prevail over them: This miller smyled of hir nycetee, And thoghte, "Al this nys doon but for a wyle. This attitudecontrasts sharply with what will be seen in The Franklin's Tale, a story inwhich the intellectual class may start out just as greedy and just ascertain of its ability to do what it pleases, but that ends up with astrong moral sense that overcomes these feelings. This is white magic rather than black magic, and there isa hint of charlatanism in the behavior of the young clerk. It also shows a general attitude toward the intellectualclass that it is made up of people who may be learned but who are notversed in the practical things of this world as the working people are.The ease with which the miller and his wife delude these two scholars addsto this sense of the learned as world-foolish, but once aroused they arealso able to turn the tables on the miller and seduce his wife and daughterunder his nose much as he has stolen from them. He is also outspoken: His resons he spak ful solempnely, Sownynge alwey th' encrees of his wynnyng (274-275).At the same time, the man is left anonymous by the fact that he is notnamed and so is the Merchant, a type: For sothe he was a worthy man with alle, But, sooth to seyn, I noot how men hym calle (lines 283-284).These different types interact in their roles and illuminate those roles bythe stories they choose to tell. They wene that no man may hem bigyle, But by my thrift, yet shal I blere hir ye, For al the sleighte in hir philosophye. The Franklin takes a very different attitude to his material thandoes the Reeve to his. The intellectuals operate from a position of superiority thatis not always truly superior. . Indeed, the way they use their learning reinforcesthis concept. TheWife of Bath can be seen as a character exhibiting primordial behavior, orbehavior that is both original and primitive for her time. There is an arrogance inthese scholars, who hold themselves above the rest of society because theyare learned while the mass of people are not. Work CitedChaucer, Geoffrey. Human beings areruled in this world largely by fear, whether a fear of religion, a fear ofdreams, a fear of women, all expressed in the Nun's Priest's Tale and allinherent in the stories of the various pilgrims. The two young scholars in The Reeve's Tale are described as follows: Testyf they were, and lusty for to pleye, And, oonly for hire myrthe and revelrye, Upon the wardeyn bisily they crye To yeve hem leve, but a litel stounde, To goon to mille and seen hir corn ygrounde. In addition, there is unity in thesecondary premise that each of these pilgrims would help pass the time byrecounting tales to the others, and these tales often come in groups whichcomplement one another thematically or in some cases offer a form ofbalance between opposing points of view. Lat swiche folies out of youre herte slyde. In The Reeve's Tale, the youngscholars are involved in a back-and-forth game of one-upmanship with adishonest merchant, while in The Franklin's Tale there are severaldifferent intellectuals pursuing their own agendas, one of whom sets out toseduce a married woman, and another of whom offers to perform magic to helphim. (lines 4 4-4 8)Their reason for taking this action, the reason that gives them their"myrthe and revelrye," is to bet on whether or not the miller will be ableto cheat them, something for which he is noted. Through those calculations hedetermines when the moon will be in the right position to cause the tidesto rise and the rocks to disappear. Membership in the church is notan assurance of nobility for either sex. Indeed, the Reeve sees his tale as a moral one in which the millergets his just desserts, and thus he appears to condone the actions of theclerks as a form of justice: Thus is the proude millere wel ybete, And hath ylost the gryndynge of the whete, And payed for the soper everideel Of Aleyn and John, that bette hym weel. The Franklinrefers to him as the "subtil clerk" and notes that he "swich routhe had ofthis man" that he delays taking action and makes his client wait while hedoes his astronomical calculations. Consider the role of women in the Tales. Students are often seen as idle,with their efforts at learning viewed not as a task but as a way of passingtime and avoiding work. . The two clerks in the earlier story do the samething when they seduce the wife and daughter of the miller, though they arequite successful in getting back at the miller while Aurelius has a moralsense that overcomes his libidinous feelings in the end. The listener might not agree with the Reeve's assessment,but he does make one. (lines 957-959, 962)Indeed, Dorigen behaves dishonorably at this time by making her promise tohim, asking that he do something she knows is impossible because she has nointention of living up to the promise she makes and thus chooses a taskthat cannot be accomplished so she will never be called upon to do so. There is a clear division betweenthose who are clerics and those who have non-religious occupations. These different types also represent certain vices and virtues. Thecontrolling image for the book is the pilgrimage itself, and it is aroundthis event that everything else is shaped. Modern criticsfind much to discuss in Chaucer regarding the role of women, and feministcritics find evidence both of male domination and female assertiveness inthe pages of this lengthy poem. He balances his work by creating a dramaticand dynamic tension between the pilgrims and between the stories they tellone another on the journey. These clerks never question their own actions or the rightness oftheir vendetta against the miller. While it seems clear that Chaucer intended to balance groups ofstories as he had the storytellers, the fact that the project was notcompleted and that the precise order intended is not known creates someuncertainty as to how he would have accomplished his task and how he wouldhave balanced the various elements. This moral codecan have peculiar and even contradictory consequences. The young clerk in the second storyuses his wiles to gain a fee from the squire, and the squire is susceptibleto his blandishments because he has surrendered his mental capacities tohis physical desires. The Prioress is a woman of the church, while the Wifeof Bath is a worldly woman, and they are very much alike in many ways. Indeed, this points to another methodused by Chaucer to achieve balance--he balances each story with itsPrologue, with the pilgrims interacting in the Prologue and the individualstoryteller offering a point of view in his or her story. worse than they should be, and they aremuch more realistically portrayed than the idealized women of many otherwriters of the era. Pratt [ed.]). (lines 1 1-1 2)The result of her ultimatum is that Aurelius pines away for her, for hisfeelings are real and deep and are not the lust of a man who is accustomedto pursuing one woman after another: Two yeer and moore lay wrecche Aurelyus, Er any foot he myghte on erthe gon; Ne comfort in this tyme hadde he noon, Save of his brother, which that was a clerk. Here and elsewhere, therole of the Church is important for how it shapes Chaucer's argument andgoverns his characters. The clerk also changeshis mind when he hears about the sacrifices made by the husband and thesquire so that he gives up his demand for payment and thus accepts that allthe work and study he has undertaken will be for no reason. Set between the two groups is the Host, who is to act as judge of theirstories. The Miller not only respondsdirectly to the Knight but also tells a story which counters what theKnight has offered in his story. . Yet it is possible to seerelationships among the stories that do exist so that some idea of what wasintended can be inferred. The women inthese tales are neither better nor. He achieved variety through hisselection of the people to be on this trip, reflecting members of thosesegments of society which would be represented on such a journey, leavenedat times with additional characters such as innkeepers and the like theywould encounter on their trip. THE REEVE'S TALE AND THE FRANKLIN'S TALE Chaucer's intellectuals in The Reeve's Tale and The Franklin's Taleare presented as opportunistic young men whose education does not make themimmune from either the calls of the flesh or from leaving themselves opento manipulation and deception by the wily. . . Arveragus is aknight with a strong sense of personal honor, and to have his wife submitto the attentions of Aurelius would be dishonorable, and yet Arveragustells his wife that she must fulfill her promise to Aurelius because todishonor a promise is an even greater sin in his eyes. The "sacrifice" of Arveragus is even moredifficult to reconcile with his sense of personal honor, since he seems tomake a ranking that places some acts above others in a hierarchy of right,to the detriment of his wife, though she should never have made the promisein the first place. That is, they believe that they are mentallysuperior and act accordingly, as do the two clerks in who try to test theability of the miller to cheat them. These intellectuals tend to use their learning to take advantage ofothers, with the irony being that they are often themselves fooled bypeople much less learned than themselves. Consider some of these pairingsand what they say of how Chaucer intended to achieve his structure and hisbalance. He leaves it to hislisteners to make this decision, and his story has the moral complexity tolead to a discussion, whereas the Reeve's tale is structured to have itsown conclusion. The Franklin's tale is more complexmorally, and the Franklin recognizes this and does not try to draw a directmoral from his story. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1966.----------------------- 6 (lines 4 46-4 5 )All their learning will not prevent the miller from fooling them, andindeed he does just that, as he boasts he will do: "The moore queyntecrekes that they make,/ The moore wol I stele whan I take" (lines 4 51-4 52). He achieved unityfirst by means of his central premise--that these varied pilgrims wereunited on the road by their intention to reach Canterbury in the prescribedtime and for a religious purpose. . [He] was a man of worshipe and honour. He describes the young knight inways that shows that he is an honorable man as well as a well-educated one. In the end, they beat him up after hiswife has accidentally knocked him unconscious. The Knight's Tale, for instance, provokes a response fromthe Miller, who does not like the sort of world depicted in it and whotakes exception with its moral position. Thereis a knight and his squire, a physician, a man of law, a shipowner, a cook,and a miller, and with the Wife if Bath, they are set against the clericalgroup--a nun, a prioress, a pardoner, a manciple, a parson, and a summoner. The Tales of Canterbury (Robert A. Indeed, he sees it as a story of sacrifice, and heasks the question at the end: Which was the mooste fre, as thynketh yow? In both these tales, a tension is created between the physical andthe mental. The reeve sees his story as a simple moral fable,and in the end he describes the action as punishing the guilty millerthrough the offices of the clerks. (lines 11 2-11 5) Through this brother, Aurelius seeks out a young scholar supposedlyversed in magic. They can be hypocritical and they can be saintly.They are sensual women pursued by and often pursuing men, and they can alsobe both as base as or nobler than the men. The way Chaucer treats women in his workand the views expressed in the poem regarding women and marriage could beanalyzed with a close reading of the Prologue to "The Wife of Bath's Tale"and "The Wife of Bath's Tale" and the "Nun's Priest's Tale," with referenceto some of the women in other of the tales as they relate to the ideasexpressed in these chapters to the larger saga. He loves Dorigen from afar for a period of two years before he speaks hislove to her: It may wel be that he looked on hir face In swich a wise as man that asketh grace; But nothing wiste she of his entente. Now telleth me, er that ye ferther wende. OTHER PAIRINGS Other characters are paired and contrasted in the course of the work,with interactions taking place in the prologues and comparisons possiblebetween stories. The attitude of the miller shows more than that he is a man certainof his abilities. . His turnabout iseasier to comprehend than is that of the young clerk, who has shown nomoral sense up to this time.

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