Violation of the God’s Commandments in the Age of Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer was born in the reign of Edward Third and lived through that of Richard Second and died in reign of Henry Fourth. His life covers as period of glaring and social contrasts and rapid political changes. Trade was on the peak and the commercial classes were rich than the subjects. People were in bad condition and pestilence after pestilence destroyed the whole state’s people. In 1348-1349, Black Death killed more than one third population of the country and reappeared in 1362, 1367 and 1370.

Famine follows plague and vagrants and thieves multiplied their money and in such condition strict laws were passed and thus all matter went worse to the worst. The French Revolution that brought happiness changed into destruction due to Edward’s wrong policies as heavy taxation, and on the other hand there started a political rift between despotic rulers and subjects including political parties and its result appeared in the utter destruction in every field of life.

The main cause of disturbance in the country was the corruption of the whole churches of England. There was no spiritual energy in the country and the priests were making money and violating the God’s Commandments openly. In such condition Chaucer showed his interest and started thing to reform his country at any cost.

Social unrest and the beginning of a new religious movement were the chief two factors that played an important role in destroying England in the later fourteenth century. All types of scholarships came for churches and the priests. And churches controlled the country. Soon Italian Movement entered into England that changed the spirit of England and the Movement was started by Petrarch and Boccaccio and it left a greater effect on the literature of fourteenth century.

In such condition Chaucer was born in 1349, son of a merchant and he had a direct contact with Italian culture in days of Renaissance and met personally Petrarch and Boccaccio.

Studying Chaucer’s poetry we must remember that he used two forces in his poetry; first he used his literary knowledge and second he used his practical observation of his life of the fourteenth century.

But we may divide his literary career into three periods; his early work is on the French model and he translated the popular Roman De La Rose. He also wrote an elegy on the death of Blanche, and called it The Book of Duchess. Now French influence disappeared and appeared Italian influence in his literature. It was a new style of Chaucer of writing literature.

In the second period he followed Dante and wrote The House of Fame and then he wrote The Troylus and Crysayda and Legend of Good Women. Both hid poems are famous in the history of English literature.

Finally, he stopped writing in Italian and French and now became a complete English poet and wrote in his national language.

The first poem he wrote in English was The Canterbury Tales. According to Chaucer, a lot of pilgrims met Chaucer’s at the Tabard Inn in Southward where Chaucer was already staying there to go for pilgrimage. Chaucer persuaded them to join him for this auspicious pilgrimage. At this the owner of the Tabard Inn gives the, the best welcome-Dinner.

After this the pilgrims were proposed that every pilgrim will tell two tales, one on-going and other on-coming from Canterbury to pass time of the long way. Harry Bailey will be the judge of the told-stories and the pilgrim who will tell the best tale of his life belonging to any walk of life; good or bad, all the pilgrims will be free to use every type of words as they liked. The pilgrim who will be the best tale winner will be given the best supper on coming back from the Canterbury reaching at the Tabard Inn.

In the Canterbury Tales military class is represented by the Knight, a Squire and a Yeoman. The Prioress, the Nun, the Monk, the Friar, the Sommoner and the Pardoner, the Parson and the Oxford Clerk (the student of divinity) represent the ecclesiastical class. The Lawyer represents the lawyer profession and the Physician represents the medical profession. Each character represents of his profession as the Franklin, the Shipman, the Miller, the Reeve, the Manciple, the Haberdasher, the Ploughman and the Wife of Bath…

Among all these characters the most important characters are the church men who had all powers of confession on earth after God. The Prologue is a fine description of Chaucer’s insight that exposes humor in a satirical way but the tone is light in all respect. Chaucer’s individualizes all the characters showing typical traits in their nature and manners.

The stories remained incomplete due to fighting on the way and only 22 tales will be told by different characters and all the tales are original in theme and manners and most of tales are vulgar. Chaucer uses all type of literature Italian, French and Latin but his art of characterization is his own designed.

Among all the tales the tale of the Knight is best which exposes Chaucer’s power of descriptive art, heroic in subject-wise and the situation-wise is dramatic. But we must study the Prologue from the historical point of view to understand the true nature of the age of Chaucer.

Now let us discuss some general characteristic of Chaucer’s poetry. AS we see that he was not in any sense the poet of people, but the poet of the court and wrote for the cultured readers and refined societies of all times. The events of his lie did not inspire him to write poetry but his own sense and keen eyes watched the upper class, their manner, style and some typical traits shown by Chaucer in the Prologue in fine way for the coming generation.

It was a fact that he watched keenly the corruption the churches and made prominent in the tales and Prologue. He makes prominent the poor Parson in his dealing and having sympathy with the people representing the Wycliffe’s ideas for all times in the history if churches.

To sum up, he was a realist and painted in words for the coming generation what he saw in his age. He did not want to reform the religious world but he wanted to make their corruption prominent. All classes male or female making corruption in their way and violating God’s decrees openly.

We may Wycliffe the morning star of the Reformation; Chaucer was the morning star of Renaissance. His special art is to describe his all characters’ mental realism, physical realism and manner realism in a fine way with a humorous touch so that the readers could not feel boredom in any way.