Geoffrey Chaucer
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Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London, the son of a successful wine merchant. After
probably spending many of his childhood days in Londons Vintry, his father did not send him to apprenticeship school, but rather to the aristocratic house of the countess of Ulster. There he trained as a page and learned the mannerisms and skills of the ruling class. “After that in1359-60 Chaucer serves in the war in France.1360 Chaucer, captured by the French, is ransomed (for 16 pounds).” (Benson, L.D pg 1).Chaucer then married Philippa Roet in 1366. Also in the same year Chaucers father died. The next year was a great time in any mans life, Chaucer had his son Thomas. In 1380, Lewis, Chaucers second son was born. “Twenty years later the great Geoffrey Chaucer dies leaving behind his wife and kids.” (Thomas, Joseph P pg 2) Before his death Chaucer was gaged in English politics, serving people such as King Edward III and the county of Kent. He was involved in many diplomatic assignments to Spain, France and Italy.
Works by Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch affected much of Chaucers writings. In addition to these famous writers, “Chaucer was also influenced by other French, Italian, and Latin writers as well as philosophy, comedy, religion, astrology and other sciences.”
(Thomas, Joseph P 2) Chaucer used a variety of genres, styles, tones, and subject matters in this poems and his prose. He wrote Beowulf. Chaucer addressed issues ranging from adultery to unity with God in his poems. You can even look at some of his characters:
The Wife of Bath: The most ostentatious of the travelers, the Wife of Bath has been married five times and is currently searching for another man to marry. The Wife of Bath is opinionated and boisterous, and her tale, which centers around the question “what do women want?” promotes her view that women wish to have authority over men.
The Pardoner: An effeminate and shamelessly immoral man, the Pardoner is intensely self-loathing yet devoted to his task of defrauding people of their money by making them believe that they have sinned and need to buy pardons. His tale is an allegory about three rioters who find death through their avarice. The Pardoner uses this tale as an attempt to sell false relics to the travelers.
The Miller: A large man with an imposing physique, the Miller is rude and contemptuous of his fellow travelers. His tale is a comic story of a devious student who contrives to have an affair with the wife of a dimwitted carpenter.
As you can see his characters are or sound like real people. There has been a major debate on if Chaucer wrote about real people and real things going on at his time. If you
take the Wife of the Bath Tale; “First, she argues from scripture and experience that marriage is no bad thing, and that successive marriages for those who are widowed are perfectly in order. Arguments against marriage can be countered, the Wife shows, by demonstrating how Biblical teaching is far from clear in some places, while others give support for polygamy. She shows how St. Paul, in I Corinthians, claims only to advise his
readers and expressly states that this advice is no binding commandment. Elsewhere the Wife notes Biblical precedent for polygamy, beginning with the obscure Lamech,
continuing with Abraham and Jacob, and, reaching ridiculous proportions with Solomon, who had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines”(Jokinen, Anniina pg 3). Also The Pardoners Tale is about how greed leads to death. The story begins with these three men who meet an old man, who tells them about this treasure around this tree. During the course of this tale the three men all die. “The irony is that the old man in this story can be looked at as Death, because he told the men about the treasure which lead to their greed causing death to these men.”(Chaucer,