Humor in "Canterbury Tales"

Paper Summary:

The paper conveys how Chaucer, in a lighthearted manner, criticizes society and the roles that it has assigned to various people and occupations. The paper demonstrates how they draw attention to the flaws of societal expectations and so we find caricatured images of a wife, a nun, a knight or a monk. The paper is of the opinion that Chaucer's wit and humor are both entertaining and intelligent without being tactless or offensive.

From the Paper:

"Chaucer is a master humorist whose satire and wit is never meant to offend but is serious in nature. They draw attention to the flaws of societal expectations and hence we find caricatured images of a wife, a nun, a knight or a monk. For example the prioress is presented in an interesting manner with a nasal voice since "this mode of nasal intonation is traditional with the recitative portions of the church service." 29 In a very sly manner, the author reveals the affectations of prioress. The woman is given a dainty structure and extra feminine attributes to contrast with the common image of a nun."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Frank Hardy Long. "Seeing the Prioress Whole." Chaucer Review 25 ( 1991): 229-237.
• Friedman Albert B. "The Prioress's Tale and Chaucer's Anti-Semitism." Chaucer Review 9 (1974): 118-129.
• Ridley Florence H. The Prioress and the Critics. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1965.
• Bloomfield Morton W. "The Gloomy Chaucer." Veins of Humor Ed. Harry Levin. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ Press, 1972, 57-68.
• Brewer Derek S. "The International Medieval Popular Comic Tale in England." The Popular Literature of Medieval England. Ed. Thomas J. Heffernan. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1985, 131-147.

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