English literature Notes

Chaucer: Realism 

Literature is the mirror of its age. Supreme literary artist is one who becomes a mouthpiece and provides a real picture of his age with its minute details. Chaucer is a perfect representative of his age. He is in true sense a social chronicler of England. His poetry reflects the 14th century not in fragment but as a complete whole.

Realism of Chaucer in “The Canterbury Tales” not gives us the impression that whatever has been described is real in the ordinary sense of the word. Realism is not reality; it is a collective term for the devices that give the effect of reality. 

Chaucer represented life in its nakedness.

“What he has given is a direct transpiration of daily life.”

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Chaucer's principle object of writing poetry was to portray men and women truthfully without any exaggeration and to present an exact picture of average humanity. He painted life as he saw it, and he saw it with so observant eye that it seems that he was viewing all the events as well as characters through a kaleidoscope. Because of his this quality his epoch, “The Prologue of the Canterbury Tales” has become one of the vivid epoch of history. Moreover he is a man of the world so he mixes with all types of mankind and he observes the minute peculiarities of human nature. “The Canterbury Tales” is not only a long poetical piece but a social history of England. He exposes almost all the aspects of his age as well as of the people along with the detail of their appearance, sex profession, attire and conduct. 

Chaucer shed off the influence of the French and Italian models based on fantasies and dreams, upon which he had worked for so long and entered the abundance of his own real self. He worked like a true interpreter or chronicler, relating in a most realistic manner, the stories he had heard, without change of wording or tone.

The setting of “The Canterbury Tales” is highly realistic. A pilgrimage was one of the most common sights in the fourteenth century England. To relate the stories of these pilgrims, Chaucer gives the illusion, not of an imaginary world, but of real one. The more real the world of his setting is, the more his tales by contrast seems like tales, even though some to them deal with real everyday life. Unlike Boccaccio, who in his tales quickly slips back into frank artificiality, Chaucer held consistently to realism throughout “The Canterbury Tales”.

Gifted with an acute power of observation Chaucer sees things as they are, and he possesses the art of printing them as he sees them. He does not project the tint of his likes and dislikes, views and prejudices on what he paints.

“Chaucer sees what is and paints it as he sees it.”

In the portrayal of characters in “The Prologue” he gives us his minute and delicate records of details in dress, behaviour, which makes it a mime of observation as from the portrait of Prioress:

“She leet no morsel from hir lippes falle,
Ne wette hir fyngres in hir sauce depe,
Wel koude she carie a morsel, and wel kepe
That no drope no fille upon hir brest.”

In “The Canterbury Tales” Chaucer has blended laughter and tears, the comic and tragic as is found in life with such case and grace, that his story-telling seems like a veracious picture of real life. Though his pilgrimage is remote form our experience, yet we feel that this is what we might see if we could turn the clock back few centuries.

Chaucer as a realist presents before us in The Canterbury Tales the pulsating life of the common people. Chaucer’s pilgrims talk of “their purse, their love affairs or their private fends”. Their vision is confirmed to the occurrences within their parish. This is the typical vision of the common people which is realistically presented by Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales.

Chaucer’s depiction of the Shipman represents the salient features of the trade. The Merchant is another important figure who signifies the changed conditions of Chaucerian society.

Chaucer has introduced a number of artificial elements, but he does it so skillfully and artistically that the impression of realism he creates, makes us forget them. He is “devilishly” sly, and deceives us as he should with the most innocent air in the world.

In the words of Hazlitt:

“There is not artificial, pompous display, but a strict parsimony of the poet’s material like the rude simplicity of the age in which he lived.”

It would be quite justifiable to call Chaucer as a realist of high rank because his principle object has been to portray men and women trustfully without an acute power of observation. He sees things as they are and describes them as he really sees them. 

Chaucer: A Humorist 

Humour is an essential ingredient of Chaucer's poetry and the back-bone of “The Prologue and The Canterbury Tales”. All the characters in The Prologue have been humorously described. Humour, infact, makes Chaucer’s characterization distinct. A humorist is one who is quick to perceive the funny side of the things and who has the capacity to laugh and makes other laugh at what is absurd or ridiculous or incongruous.

Chaucer is called the first humorist of English literature. No English literary work before him reveals humour in the modern sense. And Chaucer is a greater humorist than Boccaccio. Chaucer’s humour is consistent all pervasive and intense as we find in Shakespeare’s plays. He paints all the characters in “The Prologue” in a humorous manner. The Knight is as gentle as a maid; the Squire is too sentimental in his love to sleep at night; the Friar has relations with the bar-maids instead of the poor; the Parson is too innocent and Clerk is too studious. Chaucer even does not spare himself and says:

“My wit is short, ye may well understonde”

His humour has refined and sophisticated touches and it does not offend anybody. For example, when he tells us that Prioress is so amiable and pleasant in her manners that she takes paints to imitate the manners of the court we cannot know whether he is praising her or laughing at her affection:

And full pleasant and amiable of port;
And peyned hire to counterfete cheere
Of court, and been es’attich of manere,

But his humour is of the finest type. It is pleasant and sympathetic because he is a man of pleasant temperament. He knows that every human being has one type of defect or others. He pinpoints the defect in a light manner with a view to cure them, not for degrading the victim. His attitude is positive. So, when he says that the Friar lisps a little out of affection and when he plays on a harp, his eyes twinkles in his head like sparkling stars on the frosty night, we do not hate him or his affection, rather we just laugh at him at this weakness.

Chaucer’s humour is also tinged with pity. It makes us thoughtful of the weakness of his victim and we start pitying him. For example, when he tells us that the Monk is more interested in riding, hunting and other worldly pursuits than in religious activities we pity him and wish him better. It means that his humour carries a sound message.

Chaucer’s humour is, of course, satirical but it is sugar coated. Hs purpose is to awake the people against realities of life. His age is of romantic idealism and people are blind to the realities of life. His satire is not corrosive but gentle and mild. Secondly, he is not a zealous reformer. He satirizes only these characters that cannot be reformed at any cost, e.g. the Summoner, and the Pardoner who are extremely corrupt. Here he openly passes remarks about their dishonesty and corruption.

Most of the time, Chaucer’s humour takes the form of irony because it relieves the bitterness of satire. For example, the use of the world “Worthy” for the most unworthy characters brings a tickling irony except for the “Worthy” Knight. Chaucer employs different sorts of irony. He has made an ample use of irony by contract in “The Prologue”. For example, after talking about the bravery, skill, experience and grandeur of the Knight, he tells us that in his behaviour he is as gentle as a maid and cannot harm anyone.

“And of his port as meeke as is a mayde”

He also employs irony be exaggeration when he says the Prioress has all the manners of eating because she knows how to carry a morsel and how to keep. She does not let any morsel fall from her mouth and she does not dip her fingers deep in the sauce. This is all exaggeration because these things do not account for manner and everyone knows them well.

He creates irony by situation too. For example, he describes those qualities of the Monk, which are not worth of his religious rank i.e. he is a good rider and brave man.

A monk there was, a fair for the maistrie,
An outridere, that lovede venerie;
A manly man, to been an abbot able.

In this way, he creates an ironical situation, which makes us think since he is a Monk, he should not do this. His actions are set in contrast with is situation as a Monk.

Chaucer’s humour is wide in range. It covers all kinds of humour from downright jokes to good-natured strokes when he paints the physical appearances of characters. For example, he describes Reeve:

Ful longe were his legges and ful lene,
Y-lyk a staf, ther was no calf y-sene

Then, he says, that the Doctor of Physic is the greatest physician because he has the knowledge of astronomy.

In the description of the Shipman, he creates humour by incongruity when he says that he is a good fellow because he steals wine and has no prick of conscience.

In conclusion, we can say that critics may be divided in opinion as to Chaucer’s right to be called the father of the English poetry, but there can be no question that he is the first great English humorist. 

Chaucer: Art of Characterization 

On the aisle of English poetry, Chaucer flourishes the fantastic colours of his words and paints different characters of his age with minute observation. Indeed, he is a great painter who paints not with colours but with words. Undoubtedly, he has:

“The Seeing Eye, the retentive memory, the judgment to select and the ability to expound.”

His keen analysis of the minutest detail of his characters, their dresses, looks and manners enable him to present his characters lifelike and not mere bloodless abstractions.

His poetical piece, “The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales” is a real picture gallery in which thirty portraits are hanging on the wall with all of their details and peculiarities. Rather it is a grand procession with all the life and movement, the colour and sound. Indeed, 

“His characters represent English society, morally and socially, in the real and recognizable types”.

And still more representative of humanity in general. So, the characters in Chaucer's “The Prologue” are for all ages and for all lands.

Chaucer is the first great painter of character in English literature. Infact, next to Shakespeare he is the greatest in this field. In “The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales” the thirty portraits traced by Chaucer give us an excellent idea of the society at that time. Except for royalty and aristocracy, on one hand and the robbers or out casts on the other, he has painted in brief practically the whole English nation.

The thirty pilgrims, including the host, belong to the most varied professions. The Knight and the Squire presents the warlike element of the society. The learned and liberal vocations are signified by the Man of Law, the Doctor, the Oxford Clerk and the Poet himself. The Merchant and the Shipman stand for the higher commercial community while the Wife of Bath, an expert Cloth maker represents the traders and manufacturers. Agriculture is represented by the Ploughman, the Miller and the Franklin. The upper servants like Manciple and the Reeve and the lower servant like Yeoman and the Cook represent the town and Country between them. The Monk from his monastery, the Prioress from her convent, her attendant priests, the village Parson, the roaming Friar, the Pardoner and the Summoner sufficiently cover the casual categories of the religious order in those days.

To preserve the distinctions among these typical characters, Chaucer has indicated the differences in their clothes, manner of speech, habits and tendencies representing the common traits and the average characteristics of each profession. These personages, therefore, are not mere phantasms of the brain but real human begins.

These characters represent various types of contemporary society. They are no longer mere dummies or types but owing to their various peculiarities, their arguments and agreement and their likes and dislikes we recognize them as real living beings, true to the mould in which all human nature is cast.

His world is almost freak-free and his characters are perfectly lifelike. Some of them are so modern that they seem to be living today. The old Knight is an example of the chivalrous character which is found in every generation. The Squire is just the typical man of any day.

“He was as fresshe as is the monthe of May”

The Merchant has all the vanity which comes from the growing of wealth, while the Man of Law like lawyers of all times, is pilling up fees and buying land. We recognize in him the typical lawyer of our own day:

“Nowhere so bisy a man as he ther was”
And yet he seemed bisier than he was. 

There are characters like the Prioress, the Monk, the Franklin, the Reeve, the Summoner, the Pardoner, and the Wife of Bath whom we do not identify at first. But none of them is really extinct. They have changed their name and profession but their chief part is an element of humanity. That is why when we accompany the Pilgrims on their way we feel quite at home and have no feeling of being among aliens. 

Chaucer’s art of characterization is superb. He looks at his characters objectively and delineates each of the men and women sharply and caressingly. His impression of casualness, economy, significance and variety of every detail are examples of that supreme art which conceals art.

Infact, there is a different method of almost every pilgrim. He varies his presentation from the full length portrait to the thumb-nail sketch, but even in the brief sketches, Chaucer conveys a strong sense of individuality and depth of portraiture. 

Chaucer’s method of portraying characters is a scientific manner by differentiating them by means of their obvious distinctions. It was for the first time in European literature that a writer proved himself clearly conscious of the relation between individuals and ideas. Moreover, Chaucer’s characters are consistent and instead of being static, they grow and develop in the course of the tale, like living human beings. They give their opinions on the stories that have been told and these comments reveal their dominant thoughts, their feelings and the objects of their interests.

Thus Chaucer is the master in the art of characterization. for more email us