"The Canterbury Tales"

Analytical Essay # 5972

English > Analysis
Literature > English

This paper discusses Chaucer's use of sex in "The Canterbury Tales."

1,280 words () | 4 sources | MLA | 2002 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper studies the following thesis that Chaucer used sex only for comedy despite the suggestions that he was a voyeur in his book "The Canterbury Tales." It studies Chaucer's personality, diction and medieval customs that do not support the idea that he was a voyeur and because of that included sex in his stories. Finally, it concludes that Chaucer was not a voyeur.

From the Paper:

"Sex is a word that easily gains attention in today's society. Today, marketing strategists will tell you that sex sells. Movies, sitcoms, commercials all employ sex to gain the attention of an audience. How much of a role, though did sex play in selling or gaining attention in the late 1300s when The Canterbury Tales were written? Did Chaucer use sex within The Canterbury Tales to add humor and intrigue his audience, or was he just a lonely man expressing his sexual desires within his work? The idea that sex was so proliferate within the Tales because Chaucer was a voyeur has long been debated. There seems to have been no conclusion over the years as to whether Chaucer really was a voyeur or whether or not he included sex within the tales for comedic purposes. Two of Chaucer's pilgrims, the Miller and the Reeve, both tell stories that center around sex. According to Root, "the point of strongest resemblance between the tales of the Miller and the Reeve is their extreme indecency?" (175). When one examines Chaucer's personality, his diction within these two tales, and how sex was viewed in Chaucer's time, it is clear that Chaucer's indecency was only for comedic purposes."