Canterbury Tales

Canterbury Tales

  • Submitted By: ravi08
  • Date Submitted: 11/09/2008 11:00 AM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 1492
  • Page: 6
  • Views: 2

One’s personality can be described by their behaviour and emotions. A person’s values can originate from their parents and from the way they are raised. Chaucer uses a different manner to describe his pilgrims in “Canterbury Tales”. The author Geoffrey Chaucer attempts to define the pilgrims in more symbolic methods than anything. He uses physical features, item of clothing and demeanour of the pilgrims to describe them for who they are. This type of representation gives the reader the opportunity to “read in between the lines” And allows the reader to make assumptions rather than directly being told what type of person the character is. It is quite evident with the Miller, Monk and Knight that their physical appearance, garments and demeanour describe more than just their preferences and attitudes. Chaucer indirectly reflects on the pilgrims admirable or appalling morals by remarking on their physical features, item of clothing and demeanour.
For instance one’s physical features described by Chaucer refer to more than their exterior look. As for the Miller’s physical features, “His berd as any sowe or fox was reed, And therto brood, as though it were a spade, Upon the cop right of his nose he hade A werte, and theron stood a toft of herys.”(Chaucer, line 552-555) Besides the obvious description of an unattractive man with facial irregularities, Chaucer is trys to comment on the Miller’s shamelessness and deceitful character. Who does not care how he may look and present himself, however he continues to be a dishonest man and displays his immoral values to fraud others, in this regard, Chaucer uses unpleasant features to symbolize a person who lacks integrity and is a beacon of corruption. The Monk is another pilgrim whose physical features depict the morals he displays, “His heed was balled, that shoon as any glas, And eek his face, as he hadde been enoynt.” (Chaucer, line 198-202, 205-206) Even though he is a Monk, he concerns himself more about appearances...

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