Discuss Chaucer as a Humourist?
Chaucer
Humour.
Chaucer, the born humourist, is called a
first great multi-sided humourist of Europe. His humour does not only compel us
to laugh but actually he is a monarch of many-sided humour.
According to One Critic,
“Chaucer is a great
renaissance gentleman mocking the middle ages”
Chaucer’s humour can be used to a large
extent.
The first impressive trait of his humour
is his humanism because he loves mankind with their merits and demerits without
any sense of enmity. But his attitude displays kindness and tolerance. For
instance, We find his humanistic attitude towards The Doctor of Medicine who
cures his patient by natural magic. There is none like him expert in surgery
and medicine .
But he loves gold very much.
“For
gold in physics is cordial
So
he loved gold in special.”
We also analyse his humanistic approach
in the character of Parson who is very kind religious and compassionate. He
always keeps on the same string.
“If
gold ruste, what shal irone do?”
Another exceptional quality of his
humour is his spontaneity. He creates humour not by any planning. He simply
describe the characteristic of a character and then without planning he
describes the demerits of the character and in this way he create humour
spontaneously. He never becomes bitter at any stage but his main aim is to
produce entertainment t us . He does not indicate the institutions of his age
but he simply ridicules the follies of his age. For instance, he liberally
presents the character of The Knight who is brave and has fought many battles
but is shy and submissive like a bachelor girl. The wife of Bath is an
excellent cloth maker She is respectable
all her . She is gap-toothed and somewhat deaf. She has five husband at
church door.
“Husbandes
at church dore she had five.”
The third striking merits of Chaucer humour
is the presentation of kaleidoscopic humour. For example, we find light humour
when he patronizes The Oxford Clerk who has great love for logic and study. He
borrows money from his friends to buy books. We observe semi-farcical behaviour
towards Wife of Bath who is rude, deaf and gap-toothed. She wants to attract
men by heavy veils on Sunday.
We also analyse a surprising merit of
paradoxical humour in his humour. He says something but suggests just the
other. His appreciation is often criticism in disguise. For example, The Monk has
no respect for the rule of S.T Maure and S.T Benedictine who teach that hunting
is not good for the monk and he should lead a cloistered life. Chaucer remarks:
“And I said his opinion was good.”
The
Climax of Chaucer’s tolerance comes before us when he even laughs at
himself to give us delight. In the prologue, he refers himself as simple
unlettered man.
“My wit is short, ye may wel understand”
Chaucer has used the device of Satire to
create humour. For example, he has presented the character of the Monk and The
Friar Satirically. Though the Monk loves the worldly game of hunting , he is
able to be an abbot of a church. We find Satire when Chaucer mentions that the
Monk disregards the biblical rule that hunters are not holy men. The Friar’s
character is drawn with equal satire. The Friar’s tippet is full of pins for
wives. Chaucer has used the device of irony also to create humour. He fully
presents the appearance of the Prioress wearing a green rosary and a brooch .
She behaves like a royal princess. She is called Madam Eglantine. Chaucer ironically
says about her forehead,
“It
was almost a spane brood, I trowe.”
The Sergeant of Law looks busy but is
not actually busy. The Reeve uses to give money as a loan to his master
although the money belongs to the master.
To conclude we say that perhaps in the
history of English literature or of all literature Chaucer introduces humour as
the soul and essence of an artist’s work. Thus humour is the chief instrument
of his literary expression.
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