Does “Canterbury Tales” And Stories Like It Connect Us To Our Historic Ancestors?
Stories are important because they connect us together. In the General Prologue of the Canterbury Tales, the narrator describes each individual in the group of people that they are about to travel with for a long period of time. The descriptions of their companions could be used to describe many characters or people that we are familiar with today, which makes the reader feel connected not only to the story, but to our ancestors in the past which the characters are meant to represent.
To this end, the characters in the Canterbury Tales come from all different classes, educations, and economic status, giving all readers at least one character that has a similar background to themselves or someone they know for easy relatability. This was the goal of the author, Geoffrey Chaucer, as he intended the Canterbury Tales to be a satire on the church during the fourteenth century. Chaucer was a Christian and believed in spreading Christianity, but he also recognized the rampant corruption in the church and wanted to highlight it without endangering his position in society. He was often involved with the highest classes of England including the nobility and high ranking church officials since childhood and only began writing the controversial Canterbury Tales once he was middle aged with a secure position.
Initially, the first character that the narrator introduces is the Knight. He is described as being a “gentleman” that loves “chivalry, truth, honour, freedom, and all courtesy” and a great warrior who has fought in many battles for his country and won. (43–46) This character is easily comparable to our modern day superheroes, such as Captain America. Both the Knight and Captain America fight with honor, have “widespread fame” for their heroic battles, and are simply dressed, kind-spoken men. This character type of the noble hero gives a moral reference point for the other characters in the story to live up to. In Canterbury Tales, we already know that the Friar is a foil to the Knight as he abuses his position in the church to con people out of their money and Captain America has the Red Skull who abuses his position in the government to try and achieve immortality at the cost of others lives. They both provide the measure that everyone else in their story has to meet up with or be considered morally foul.
In real life, people like this cannot exist as all humans are flawed, but some come close. The moral guides usually are respected members of your local community such as the elderly, teachers, doctors, and/or religious leaders. These aren’t always accurate, but the existence of noble heroes (real or fictional) invokes pride in our ancestors and hope for the future. The Knight illustrates how there have always been good people in the world and our real life moral guides inspire us to be better versions of ourselves everyday. The fact that the noble hero has been found in stories based on our ancestors for as long as stories have been told, proves that humans are good and capable of doing the right thing, even when it’s hard, providing hope for the future in times of uncertainty.
Furthermore, Chaucer introduces the Clerk who is a starving student that many college students can relate to. He is described as young and very thin as he spends his money on books above all else in a futile goal to learn everything. Plenty of modern day college students also fall into the trap of disregarding their basic needs, such as food, in order to pay for their education above everything else. In the fourteenth century, this wasn’t necessary as the Clerk did not need an education to live a comfortable life, but in modern times, it is an unfortunate reality that many college students live in poverty. Both the Clerk and modern students should however be admired for their dedication to their education. Currently, humanity values dedication and commitment very highly, so the Clerk makes the reader feel understood, especially since there is a growing dissatisfaction with this “grind” mentality because some claim it is unhealthy. It can be as in the case of the Clerk being malnourished or college students being unable to afford basic necessities, but that is the capitalist society we live in and have to work with to be successful.
Finally, Chaucer later introduces the character the Wife of Bath. She represents the character that gets around both literally and figuratively as she is well traveled and has had many marriages. Both of these are common character tropes, but they aren’t usually seen together. Due to the time this was written, we can assume that the Wife of Bath has been married so many times due to the deaths of her previous husbands and it states that she has travelled mostly for religious pilgrimages indicating that she has lived an honorable, pious life. A real life example would be Elizabeth Taylor who was married eight times, though most ended in divorce, and who traveled all over the world doing charity work (AIDS/HIV activism, supporting Jewish causes). Both Taylor and the Wife of Bath are considered honorable women due to their contributions to society and are pitied for their multiple relationships.
They illustrate the infantilization of women common in sexist patriarchal societies. Both of these women were strong and independent, but are painted as pitiful because of their loss of men in their lives to lead them. Chaucer, along with many other writers today, showcase this misogynistic view of women in a story where all other characters are generally considered progressive for the time. This is ironic and should make the reader angry that comparisons can still be drawn between his work and modern pieces of literature. Though it also makes women feel connected to their female ancestors due to the common struggle for equal rights within patriarchal society.
In conclusion, the General Prologue of the Canterbury Tales provides a narrators description of most of his traveling companions, which gives an insight into what people were like in the fourteenth century. As the saying goes, “people have always been people” thus the characters bare striking similarities to ourselves and modern day characters and celebrities. Chaucer’s stories make the people of the far past feel like people the reader could know now in modern times creating connections within the reader to the characters, the story, and our ancestors from history.
