...Geoffrey Chaucer’s 489-page anthology book, The Canterbury Tales, describes a tale in which characters of different social classes embark on a pilgrimage to Canterbury to visit the shrine of St. Thomas Becket. The Host proposes that each person tell two tales on the way to and from Canterbury in order to make the journey more pleasant, and the person who tells the best story will receive a free dinner at the Tabard Inn. Geoffrey, one of the pilgrims on the journey, narrates the character descriptions from the prologue and the stories of each person bringing many aspects of late medieval society to life. Among the story-tellers who reveal themselves are the Knight and the Parson. Although both characters live out similar virtues and possess...
Words: 803 - Pages: 4
...The Knight: Pilgrim Analysis In the general prologue of the Canterbury Tales, the Knight is the first of the pilgrims to be described because he is of the highest rank. Therefore, it is only fitting that he goes first. In Chaucer’s work, he “. . . creates his knight in such a historical detail that we can easily explore the specific kind of knight he might have been . . .” (Calabrese 3). Chaucer describes his knight as “. . . a most distinguished man . . .” (Coghill 4). The narrator illustrates the Knight to be a man who “followed chivalry, truth, honor, generousness and courtesy” (4). Furthermore, the Knight presents himself in a polite fashion, never speaking insensitive words about anyone. Through Chaucer’s words and descriptions, it...
Words: 731 - Pages: 3
...century’s obsolete standards through the use of his characters by criticizing the utopian view of a married life and the role of women in it. The Canterbury Tales reveal his view of behaviors and manners of people of the late Middle Ages. He depicts two contrasting women through the personages like May and Dorigen. By the use of the description of her gestures, words and actions in the Merchant’s Tale, May serves as an illustration of a dissenter female, that most fully acts on her desire. On the contrary, we see Dorigen, who is a finer model of womanhood of that period; she is virtuous and of a moral high ground. These Chaucer’s opposing characters demonstrate how women behave in society, both the correct and incorrect ways. In The Merchant's Tale, Chaucer depicts January, who lives “in great prosperity” as a bachelor for “sixty years”, who one day decides to be a “wedded man”. He believes that a wife is a “gift of God”, who is going to obey him and make him live like in “paradise” on earth. After “clever and prudent negotiations” he marries a beautiful girl, named May. Therefore, we assume that this is an arranged marriage between an aging man and a young maiden. Subsequently, one can undertake that, a younger, more handsome male would cuckold the old man. Chaucer pictures May as a less passive personage than many other women in his tales. Her desire for sexual pleasure is as strong as the desire of any man. Chaucer doesn’t reveal how May feels about her marriage and old husband;...
Words: 2336 - Pages: 10
...Narrative A narrative is a sequence of events that a narrator tells in story form. A narrator is a storyteller of any kind, whether the authorial voice in a novel or a friend telling you about last night’s party. Point of View The point of view is the perspective that a narrative takes toward the events it describes. First-person narration: A narrative in which the narrator tells the story from his/her own point of view and refers to him/herself as “I.” The narrator may be an active participant in the story or just an observer. When the point of view represented is specifically the author’s, and not a fictional narrator’s, the story is autobiographical and may be nonfictional (see Common Literary Forms and Genres below). Third-person narration: The narrator remains outside the story and describes the characters in the story using proper names and the third-person pronouns “he,” “she,” “it,” and “they.” • Omniscient narration: The narrator knows all of the actions, feelings, and motivations of all of the characters. For example, the narrator of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina seems to know everything about all the characters and events in the story. • Limited omniscient narration: The narrator knows the actions, feelings, and motivations of only one or a handful of characters. For example, the narrator of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has full knowledge of only Alice. • Free indirect discourse: The narrator conveys a character’s inner thoughts...
Words: 12257 - Pages: 50
...THE ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE This page intentionally left blank THE ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE SIXTH EDITION ± ± John Algeo ± ± ± ± ± Based on the original work of ± ± ± ± ± Thomas Pyles Australia • Brazil • Japan • Korea • Mexico • Singapore • Spain • United Kingdom • United States The Origins and Development of the English Language: Sixth Edition John Algeo Publisher: Michael Rosenberg Development Editor: Joan Flaherty Assistant Editor: Megan Garvey Editorial Assistant: Rebekah Matthews Senior Media Editor: Cara Douglass-Graff Marketing Manager: Christina Shea Marketing Communications Manager: Beth Rodio Content Project Manager: Corinna Dibble Senior Art Director: Cate Rickard Barr Production Technology Analyst: Jamie MacLachlan Senior Print Buyer: Betsy Donaghey Rights Acquisitions Manager Text: Tim Sisler Production Service: Pre-Press PMG Rights Acquisitions Manager Image: Mandy Groszko Cover Designer: Susan Shapiro Cover Image: Kobal Collection Art Archive collection Dagli Orti Prayer with illuminated border, from c. 1480 Flemish manuscript Book of Hours of Philippe de Conrault, The Art Archive/ Bodleian Library Oxford © 2010, 2005 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including...
Words: 164520 - Pages: 659
...Bloom’s Classic Critical Views W i l l ia m Sha k e Sp e a r e Bloom's Classic Critical Views alfred, lord Tennyson Benjamin Franklin The Brontës Charles Dickens edgar allan poe Geoffrey Chaucer George eliot George Gordon, lord Byron henry David Thoreau herman melville Jane austen John Donne and the metaphysical poets John milton Jonathan Swift mark Twain mary Shelley Nathaniel hawthorne Oscar Wilde percy Shelley ralph Waldo emerson robert Browning Samuel Taylor Coleridge Stephen Crane Walt Whitman William Blake William Shakespeare William Wordsworth Bloom’s Classic Critical Views W i l l ia m Sha k e Sp e a r e Edited and with an Introduction by Sterling professor of the humanities Yale University harold Bloom Bloom’s Classic Critical Views: William Shakespeare Copyright © 2010 Infobase Publishing Introduction © 2010 by Harold Bloom All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For more information contact: Bloom’s Literary Criticism An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data William Shakespeare / edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom : Neil Heims, volume editor. p. cm. — (Bloom’s classic critical views) Includes bibliographical references...
Words: 239932 - Pages: 960
