The Canterbury Tales Literary Analysis - Essay Example

rough the eye of the narrator, who is a pilgrim himself, apparently ready to appreciate his companions for their worthiness, and also record their condition, their array, and their social degree: “To telle yow al the condicioun/Of ech of hem, so as it semed me,/And whiche they weren, and of what degree,/And eek in what array that they were inne;” The narrator took his “tyme and space” to relate his story which means that that he has considered his subjects for a period before putting their descriptions on paper, and his portrayals derive as much from his observation as his individual perceptions and opinions regarding the characters.

The characters are described in order of their social rank: the military estate represented by the Knight and the Squire is followed by the clerical estates depicted through the Prioress, the Monk, the Friar and the Parson; and then by the laity represented by the wealthy Franklin to the poor Plowman; the upper middle class is followed by a lower one and the rascals at the end. The pilgrims include: a knight, a squire, a yeoman, a prioress, a second nun, the nuns priest, a monk, a friar, a merchant, a clerk, a sergeant of law, a franklin, a haberdasher, a carpenter, a weaver, a dyer, a tapestry weaver, a cook, a shipman, a doctor of physic, a wife of Bath, a parson, a plowman, a miller, a manciple, a reeve, a summoner, a pardoner, the host and the narrator himself.

The number of professions depicted are representative of various sections of the society, and Chaucer presents a rich tableau of his times. The narrator is conscious of the social differences.He respects them, and in his description of the clothing, the accessories, and glimpses of behavior conjures up a wide array of characters. The Canterbury Tales was Chaucers attempt at realism in an era when most of the writers of his time were still engaged with larger-than life heroes; his character live, breathe drink and crack jokes as in real life, and Chaucer