Good Thesis On The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury tales is an anthology of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer. The stories are written in verse and some in prose and are told by a group of pilgrims on their way to Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. They were contesting for a prize with the stories they tell. The prize of the winner was a free meal at the Tabard Inn at Southwark on their way back. They stopped at the Tabard Inn where they decided to tell stories on their way to Canterbury. The host of the Inn decided that, each pilgrim was to tell two stories, one on their way to the shrine and the other story, on their return from the trip. The pilgrims include a Pardoner, the Wife of Bath, a Haberdasher, a Knight and his son the Squire, the Knight's Yeoman, a Merchant, a Clerk, a Man of Law, a Weaver, a Carpenter, a Tapestry-Maker, a Cook, a Shipman, a Franklin, a Physician, a Prioress, a Second Nun, a Dyer, a Monk, a Friar, a Parson, a Miller, a Manciple, a Reeve, a Summoner and Chaucer himself.
All through literature, deep relationships can often be discovered between a story and the author who writes it or the stories and the narrator. In the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, there is a relationship between the identity of the story tellers and the stories they tell. The characters make this idea evident with the stories they tell. In the Pardoner’s Tale, there is a distinct relationship between the pardoner’s character and his tale of the three friends. All through the tale of the Pardoner, the main character in the story teaches about gambling, drinking, greed and desecration yet in the beginning, the Pardoner himself had admitted that he had committed these sins himself. The story portrays the Pardoner’s greed and he tells it through his characters in his tale. The greed in the Pardoner’s story is apparent in his characters. The story talks of three friends who discovered a treasure and decided to celebrate for finding it. In their celebration, they needed wine and so decided that one of them should go find wine and the youngest was sent to go find it. In his absence, the remaining schemed to kill him so that they could share the treasure amongst themselves. This is evidence of greediness in the pardoner’s tale yet he was also greedy initially. Later on their greediness led them to their deaths as the one in town also plotted to kill the other two.
In the Wife of Bath’s Tale, her story is consistent with her prologue. She was dominant on her husbands and in her tales the women were dominant of their husbands too. Also, the Wife in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” audaciously declares her relationship towards her husband. Furthermore, there is a relationship between the description of The Wife of Bath in the prologue and the description of the old hag. The Wife of Bath depicts herself as old and lethargic, on the other hand, the old woman is described by the knight as an old woman who also later quotes her as saying she was "foul and old". Owing to the similarities of the women; the Wife of Bath and her characters, one could lucratively argue that, The Wife of Bath, pictures herself someplace in the old hags personality as becoming the old hag, thus far hoping to change into the young and beautiful maiden. The Wife of Bath's story is created to echo her life, if not at least what she described of it in her prologue; it is a reflection of things that happened in her life. The most convincing fact that proves this point is the matching personalities and the lessons learnt by her husband, Jankyn and the knight. The wife of bath speaks directly about her own life and experience in marriage in her tales. In the Wife of Bath’s tale there is a very close relationship between the "moral" of the tale and the Wife of Bath’s own views, a closeness which Chaucer has clearly fixed. Her stories are a reflection of her own life and this creates a relationship between her and her characters in her stories.
Chaucer in his prologue describes the Knight as a most honorable and great man and, undoubtedly his sketch of the Knight is highly approving because it can be seen in his tales. The ideas in the Knight’s Tale are a reflection of his character. He tells a story of ideal love and chivalry and this fits his own character as a distinguished man whose tale has no vulgarity incidents. The love he talks about is a clean love on a platonic level. The Knight’s Tale fits his honorable and virtuous personality.
The Miller’s Tale is stereotypical of the Miller’s rude character and low situation. There is a relationship between the Miller and his tale. In the beginning, we see Chaucer at first giving an apology about the story The Miller is about to tell and blames the “ale of Southwerk” who is their host. As the Miller tells his story, the same is repeated as he repeats his apology by reminding his audience that is they find the tale offensive; they should blame it on the Miller. Moreover, the Miller’s story fits his uncouth physical stature as he uses obscene language in his narration. The Miller uses lower class people as his characters in his tale who are constantly caught up in adultery and deception. He is also a lower class guy and that is why he identifies with the low class people in his tale. The Miller’s characters take pleasure out of how they are hated and humiliated by the public to harm others which is a reflection of the Miler’s character. The Miller was frequently offending the other pilgrims even before he started to tell his story. He was telling a story about his life and how he enjoys hurting and humiliating people through the characters in his tale. Although he is inebriated, the Miller takes pride in his public mockery of the other guests and this is what the characters in his story do. This may be due to an inferiority complex, in which he feels like his is substandard to the other pilgrims. He therefore feels the need to focus everyone’s attention on himself through his own intoxication and insulting of others. The miller’s tale is a reflection of his character as a member of a low social class gifted with vulgar language and he has to use characters of his class in his story. His story has no moral teaching just like his description. It is said that his main aim was to entertain while drunk and has fun humiliating others while trying to prove his worth to his fellow travelers. His story is about lust and cunning which reflects what he considers and funny and interesting topics. There is a relationship between the Miller and his tale through his personal features and what he loves doing most. This can also be seen when he perverts the Knights tale just to retell it in a corrupt version and make fun of the carpenter.
Chaucer’s in Canterbury’s Tales chose to create a relationship between the story tellers and their stories. This was to make the readers to identify with the real lives of the characters and what happened in the society at that time. Moreover, it was to make the reader understand the lives of the pilgrims who are his characters. The stories the characters in The Canterbury Tale’s narrate is just a reflection of their life.