Canterbury Tales and Chaucer - Book Report/Review Example

Generally, the Prologue acts as the introduction to the different characters and their tales. However, it is obvious that the Prologue has a more important function of introducing the major themes of the work which are present in the various tales of the work. In other words, the poet introduces not only the major characters and tales in the Prologue, but also the various themes of the entire work which can be identified in the different tales. Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales which comprises of two dozen stories displays remarkable diversity in genre, source materials, characters and themes.

Such a diversity in the major themes of the work also contribute to the overall success of the work and most important themes that are present in the different tales in the Canterbury Tales are courtly love, treachery, and greed. There is essential connection among the major themes of the 'Franklin's Tale', the 'Wife of Bath's Tale' and the Prologue. A reflective analysis of the given passage from the 'Franklin's Tale' is most useful in comprehending this fundamental relationship among the various tales and the Canterbury Tales as a whole. . particular passage deals with the relationship among love, mastery and patience and these major themes are connected with the common themes of the Canterbury Tales, including the problem of governance and the problem of 'maistrie' discussed in the 'Wife of Bath's Tale' and Prologue.

This paper makes a profound analysis and a close reading of the specific passage from the 'Franklin's Tale' so as to identify various related images and ideas in the passage and to relate them to the larger themes of the 'Wife of Bath's Tale' and Canterbury Tales. It becomes apparent in a close reading of the given passage from 'Franklin's Tale' that Chaucer emphasizes certain important images and ideas in the passage which epitomize the general themes of the 'Wife of Bath's Tale' and Canterbury Tales as a whole.

The particular passage from 'The Franklin's Tale' deals, in detail, with the danger of conquering in love and how to conquer. The narrator also brings out the fundamental relationship among love, mastery and patience and these ideas are especially notable in the Canterbury Tales generally where the problem of governance is dealt with. The specific themes in this passage are also linked with the problem of 'maistrie' in the 'Wife of Bath's Tale' and Prologue. For example, the narrator deals with the concept of 'maistrie" in this passage when there is a mention about the courtship of the Breton knight Arviragus and Dorigen in the beginning of the tale.

Their marriage was one of equality which did not create a mood of a master-servant relationship among them. The connection between love and mastery is revealed through the lines. "Love will not be constrained by mastery; / when mastery comes the god of love anon / stretches his wings ans farwell! he is gone. / Love is a thing as any