by Holle Abee

Created on: January 23, 2008

The most important work from the medieval period is Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. A frame story, the tales contain several excellent examples of literary genre from the period and are also wonderfully entertaining. Also, the author's use of irony adds to the humor and often to the theme itself.

One of the most famous tales is "The Pardoner's Tale," which is an exemplum, a story told to illustrate the truthfullness of a moral. Of course, the lesson taught by the pardoner is the evils of avarice. Chaucer's use of irony is somewhat amusing here, since the pardoner himself is perhaps the greediest member of the entourage.

An example of a beast fable is seen in "The Nun's Priest's Tale." In this story, a lesson is taught through speaking animals, who seem wiser than most humans and even quote the great philosophers. Chanticlere learns a lesson about bragging - the hard way. Then he uses his wits to save his neck - literally.

A fableau, popular in France during the Middle Ages, serves as the inspiration for the raucous "Miller's Tale." Fableaux are often amusing stories, full of sexual allusions, crude behavior, and foul language, and "The Miller's Tale," about a lusty young wench, her lovers, and flatulence, is a perfect example.

"The Carpenter's Tale" (or the Reeve's tale) is another fableau and is told as a direct rebuttal to the miller's story. Since the miller made fun of a carpenter in his tale, the carpenter tells a story to make the miller look foolish.

Chaucer uses irony throught his tales, including verbal, dramatic, and situational irony. the fact that most of the group are going on a religious pilgrimage is in itself ironic, since the majority of the characters are anything but religious. He also exposes many truths from the use of irony, especially regarding the corruption of the church group.

Even though Chaucer wrote his tales in the 1300s, they remain today as a wonderful insight into medieval society. They also serve as honest exposes of human nature and frailty and are relevent to modern readers. After all, no matter how much progress mankind has made, human nature has not changed at all in 700 years since Chaucer's time.

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