3 Interesting Lessons from the Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales is one of the most celebrated works of literature especially for the incredible setting, the storytelling narrative within a story and the choice of language. It was written by Geoffrey Chaucer back in 14th century and Chaucer used Middle English as his language which created history because it was the first book ever written in the English language.
Chaucer included 29 characters in his book with 4 different tales narrated through another story and it is assumed that he wanted to write furthermore, had he not suffered from an unfortunate death. Did you know that during the 14th century, England was experiencing a lot of upheaval due to class wars, political tension, and the Black Death, a plague that was killing a lot of the population? Well, while these events were transpiring, Chaucer wrote the Tales to reflect on it and the ways in which the characters document social tensions impact the themes of this book.
The Canterbury Tales, as mentioned above, consists of 4 tales and delivers a powerful message or lesson to learn in the end. Let’s take a look at some of those lessons that make this book relevant to even this age.
The universality of love
Chaucer reflects on the country love that was oh, so widely popular at the time and how it affected the individuals through the characters like the Squire in the General Prologue, Prioress, a nun who supports a “Love Conquers All” brooch and Custance in the Man of Law’s Tale. The squire represents a rather sarcastic comment on the entire notion whereas Custance in The Man of Law showcases the “love conquers all” with a pinch of reality.
During the time, love was considered as an idea that could only provide torment and as Chaucer reflected on that, he did not fail to appreciate the beauty of country love either. For example in the Man of Law’s Tale, Custance meets and falls in love with Alla. And although many, including his mother, try to break them apart, they eventually find each other again reflecting on the power of it. Unfortunately, Alla dies, here Chaucer is reiterating what many of the tales do, life is short and however uncertainties are the harsh reality, you shouldn’t stop living it the way you want to.
The destructive nature of lust
While Chaucer managed to reflect some pretty lights on love, he did not shy away from claiming that lust will do you no good. Many of the stories in The Canterbury Tales tell of men who act like fools while lusting after beautiful women. However, the moral seems to be that lust only gets you in trouble, so you must not seduce other men’s wives or daughters. In the Merchant’s Tale, we get to learn about May, a beautiful young woman who lusts after a young man that is not her husband. Magic intervenes and shows the husband the crimes of his wife. The beautiful illusion is broken leading to heartache. In the book it is definitely looked down upon.
Religion and morality
The earlier century literature featured a lot of criticism against religion and lessons on morality. If you read the earlier 17th and 18th century literature, you will see such criticisms and snarky comments on religion and morality which is all started by the first ever English language book, The Canterbury Tales. During his time, the amount of discrimination against women was at it’s peak and many used their power for the wrong reasons. Chaucer commented on it back then, through the first notable character, the Friar. As a man belonging to the church, it is easy to believe that he would be a righteous character in Chaucer’s story. But due to his high position within the church, the friar has the ability to determine whether one goes to heaven or hell, Chaucer here criticises the concept of religious beliefs as, Friar abuses his power to influence young, innocent girls to have sex with him. Other than him, Chaucer also introduces Pardoner and the Parson as a take on the misuse of religion and loss of genuine morality among people.
There are other themes in the book that talk about deceit and the importance of company in life. It truly is an exceptional piece of literary work that is still very relevant, making it timeless.
It gives moral lessons as to how a person should conduct oneself in life with the unique technique of storytelling as in a story is being told within another story, Chaucer truly created the base of classical literature!
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