Prologue To The Canterbury Tales As Picture Gallery Of 14th Century

Prologue To The Canterbury Tales As Picture Gallery Of 14th Century

The Prologue as the Picture Gallery Of 14^th Century

Coghill in his book on Chaucer says; “He has painted the real picture of England of the 14^th century “. Another critic Campton Rickett says; “Like Shakespeare, Chaucer makes it his business to paint life as he sees it and paves others to say the morals. Another famous critic Legouis says; “Chaucer’s pilgrims belongs to his own age. They are as they were in reality. They are true to life and form the very background of that history which is the history of 14^th century. From the opinions of famous critics it becomes clear that the prologue is an important social document, a great social chronicle in which Chaucer presents with great fidelity the body and the soul of the society of his own times. It is the full-blooded and full-flooded view of the variegated panorama of the 14^th century. In other words he holds a mirror to his age. It has been rightly said that Prologue evinces the true color and aroma of the 14^th century England. In fact, the twenty nine pilgrims encompass the whole range of the English society of Chaucer’s time excluding of course the highest and the lowest. In the words of Dryden; “There is God’s plenty”. Chaucer’s view is humanistic view. He was writing from a worldly and secular angle which include in its range both the good and the bad because he knows that the warp and woof of life is made up of both the angels and the devils. That is why there is an unprejudiced acceptance of everything. This is what makes him the impartial and objective in his presentation of the life of his age. If we have the noble person like the Poor Parson of the town on the one hand we have also the rogues like the Pardoner and the Friar on the other hand.

Chaucer’s world was the Medieval world. It was the age of chivalry and ecclesiastics. The knight is the symbol of Medieval world of chivalry in the traditional sews. With him his son The Squire who represents the new trends which were making in road in the old system. The knight of Chaucer belongs to that order in which the sword was combined with the cross that is why all the wars in which knight participated were the religious wars or The Crusades fought against the infidels. The prologue began with the knight and the stories also began with the story of the knight. This is the indication that the knight was the most respectable person of the social hierarchy of the Medieval Times.

The second aspect of the 14^th century that’s reflected in the Prologue is that Chaucer’s world was basically the religious world. That is why the ecclesiastical group has such a large representation. Now the ecclesiast in general reflect the wide spread decadence that has come in the religious ranks. Although the majority is irreligious and corrupt and there is all-pervading profligacy yet all wars not lost. There were some noble and really devoted ecclesiast like poor Parson of the town who acted upon the Christian principles in latter and spirit. Chaucer has portrayed the religious characters like the Monk and the Prioress as strongly leaning toward the worldliness. That is why they evince the glamour and glory of this world. in spite of living a religious piety and purity they are indulging in this world’s grandeur and aristocratic showiness by showing courtly manners.

The Prologue also reflects the 14^th century in another way. The very framework of the poem is symptomatic of Chaucer’s age and pilgrims were familiar figures. Thus Chaucer says that he met 29 persons in the Tabard Inn who were going to the shrine of the Saint Thomas A. Backet and “Pilgrims were they all”. In fact people from all walks of life would assemble as we have the modern Haj companionships. Only Chaucer’s caravans were much larger and more kaleidoscopic and thus more socially representatives. The pilgrims were in there holiday moods were relaxed and self-revealing. The journey was undertaken on horses and the pilgrims forgetting all social formalities, distinction, prohibitions and prejudices of daily life.

Thus Chaucer was provided with simple opportunity to peep onto their souls and bring out their true personalities. On the external side Chaucer described their dresses, their manner, their weapons, their jokes and their pleasantries and thus gave a vivid picture of these merry persons. From the knight to the ploughman we have the highest and the lowest position respectively of the Medieval social hierarchy. In this way we have evince the color and temperament of this grand social pageant internally, we have their real thinking and attitudes. For example, the knight is noble and serious, the squire is fresh and youthful, the wife of bath is formally religious but informally lascivious, the friar, the pardoner and the summoner are real rogues under the veneer (disguise) of religion, the Monk and the Prioress are worldly  minded and away from religion though the members of the ecclesiast system. In the poor Parson and his brother Ploughman Chaucer has presented the pristine portraits of true Christianity. Thus the pictures are perfect and complete externally as well as externally. It is the all-ranging variegated vista of the 14^th century. And Dryden’s observation is very opt when he says that “Here is God’s plenty.”

There is another dimension (aspect) from which Chaucer parse the social chronicle of the 14^th century. He presents his characters as types i.e. the type of people as they were found in his century. But he has shown them individuals also. Moreover, he has also pointed out disperse between the ideal and the real because a decadence and disintegration was appearing. Chaucer was realistic and he presented what he saw and observed around him. He was no reformer or preacher. He was a painter, an artist and a social historian. So he could not close his eyes to the great difference between the real and the ideal, the corrupt and the pure. Thus when he presented the profligacy (corruption) of the ecclesiast in the persons of the Monk, the Friar, the Summoner and the Pardoner, along with them he also presents the noble spirituality of the poor Parson of the town who practiced what he preached. He satirizes the corrupt and idealizes the pure. But this satire is not bitter or scathing. It is rather gentle, tolerate, sympathetic and genial. It springs from his love of humanity. It reflects his broad humanitarianism in which angels and devils go together.

Chaucer is also representative poet of his century. His age was Medieval and Modern. Although 14^th century was basically age of transition. The old order was changing giving place to new. The age of chivalry and religion was waning and almost vanishing and the new off shoots of modernity (later on known as Renaissance) were appearing. Thus as an individual’s their humanistic or modern sides are emphasized. Chaucer emphasizes this transitional aspect of his century. In fact the tinge (taint) of the Medieval religiosity is disintegrating and secular outlook is gaining ground. This is epitomized by their worldliness of the Prioress and the Monk who are indulging in every worldly activity which they were not suppo0sed to do religiously. In the words of Campton Rickett; “There was the leaven of the Renaissance, beneath Medievalism.” That is why Chaucer has been righty called as “The Morning Star of Renaissance” and “The Evening Star of the Medievalism.” Thus we find a fine juxtaposition of the old and the new, the Renaissance and the medievalism. Regarding Choker’s position as the representative poet of 14^th century. The final judgment comes “Chaucer symbolizes as no other poet does the Middle Ages"