Geoffrey Chaucer: Art of Characterization
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Q-1 Chaucer's technique of Characterization in The Prologue differ from character to character. Discuss?
1- The different pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales represent different professions. For example, the Doctor, the Sergeant of Law, the Oxford Clerk and the Friar embody certain traits which characterize their respective professions.
The war- like element is represented by the Knight, the Squire and the Yeoman. The Ploughman, the Miller, the Reeve and the Franklin typify agriculture. The Sergeant of Law, the Doctor, the Oxford Clerk and the Poet himself represent the liberal professions. The Wife of Bath, the Weaver, the Dyer and the Tapicer embody industry and trade; the Merchant and the Shipman personate commerce. The Manciple of a college of law, a Cook tavern- keeper and the Host typify the provisional trade. The poor village Parson, and Summoner who join the Pilgrims on the road, represent the secular clergy, while the monastic orders are represented by the Monk, the Prioress and the Pardoner. Thus, the characters in The Canterbury Tales are types in as much as each of them represents a definite profession or class of society and betrays certain characteristics, which distinguish that particular profession.
2- We can easily get a vivid picture of the fourteen century in The Prologue because of its representative nature. So, Chaucer has been called an outstanding representative poet of his age.
Firstly, the prevalent corruption and unscrupulousness of the Church is mirrored in most of this ecclesiastical figures, like the Friar, the Monk and the Pardoner.
Secondly, the greed of the doctors is typified in his Doctor of Physic, who loves gold.
Thirdly, his Sergeant of Law is as shrewd, hard- boiled and unscrupulous as other members of his professions. Fourthly, the dishonesty of the Reeve and the Miller is also typical of the age.
Thus, it is evident that the typical element in his characterization makes him an out standing representative poet of his age.
3- Chaucer's characters are individuals as well as types. They are introduced to us with all their idiosyncrasies of dress and speech. He describes them in the most natural genial, and humorous manner.
Chaucer is a man of keen observation. Because of his faculty of observation, he imparts individual traits of his characters. Such details are not the features of their respective professions. He distinguish these people as individuals. For example, the Shipman has a beard, the Wife of Bath is "som- del- deef " and ' gat -toothed', the Reeve has long and lean legs; the Miller has a wart surmmounted by a taft of hair on the top of his nose and the Summoner's face is full of pimples.
4- Chaucer has breathed the spirit of the Renaissance to a large extent, though he is born in the Middle Ages. In his characterization, as in other fields of his poetry, we find a confluence of the medieval and the modern elements.
5- The science that he taught was indeed new to the poetry of his country; it was psychology, the knowledge of men and woman, which he revealed with an insight into the heart. It is a great credit to Chaucer that in an age when the majority of poets wandered in the dreamland of allegories and romances, he took interest in life's daily prospects and made the study of human nature the chief object of his artistic endeavor. Thus, Chaucer was not only the prince of story- tellers, but also one of the "mighty poet of human heart".
6- Chaucer reveals his characters by their colors, dresses and appearances. We are captivated by the embroidered gown of the Squire, the green coat and hood of the Yeoman, the Prioress's rosary made of green beads. We also see colorful appearances of several characters. The summoner had ' brows black, and piled beard. The Pardoner had hair as yellow as wax." The Reeve wore a "long surcote pers".
7- Chaucer utilizes the technique of contrast in drawing the portraits of the pilgrims. The good and the bad rub shoulders together. With we have paragons of virtue in the characters of the Parson and the Ploughman, we have monsters of vice in the characters of the Reeve, the Miller and the Summoner. The Knight is a foil to his son, the lusty Squire; the Oxford Clerk is the opposite of the Merry making Monk.
8- Like Shakespeare, Chaucer's characters are three dimensional i.e, having length, breathe and depth. For example, the Wife of Bath and the Monk are complex figures. In the fourteenth century, that Chaucer portrayed such a woman whose deep-rooted idiosyncrasies, is really a matter of great surprise. The portrait of the Monk is equally interesting because of his complex nature. For example, he is a man of dignity who keeps away from vulgar people but not hypocrite.
9- Chaucer follows a simple method of characterization in order to make it appear natural and spontaneous. Like a painter, he adds line after line gradually till the image takes clear shape. He does not give all the details at one stretch. The Wife of Bath, is an example of the character step by step. As she is slightly deaf, she thinks that others are also like her. That is why she talks very loudly. Further, she has a taste for good dresses. Chaucer, then, describes her dress including her handkerchief. Then he passes on to her experience of married life, and mentions her expertise in the game of love.
10- Chaucer's art of characterization is free from personal bias. He portrays his characters objectively, impartially and disinterestedly. Legouis rightly says," Of all writers of genius, Chaucer is the one with whom it is easiest to have a sense of comradeship".
Critical remarks:
"The characters of Chaucer's Pilgrims are the characters which compose all ages and nations. As one age falls, another rises different to moral sight, but to immortals only the same; for we see the same characters repeated again and again in animals, vegetables, minerals, and in men. Nothing new occurs in identical existence..." (William Blake)
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Geoffrey Chaucer: Prologue to the Canterbury Tales: As A Humorist