Dec 31, 2009

The Canterbury Tales | The Canterbury Tales: A Critical Analysis

In the following essay, Roger Moore discusses the extraordinary diversity of The Canterbury Tales, arguing that although many critics think the text should be approached as a collection of distinct pieces, there are certain unifying components.

Comprised of two dozen stories along with various prologues and epilogues, Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales displays extraordinary diversity in genre, source materials, and themes. Although some critics have argued that the resultant text should be approached as a collection of distinct pieces, most would agree that there are unifying components and that these include certain thematic strands. At the very least, the specific tales told by the pilgrims as they wend their way to Canterbury generally reflect their respective positions within medieval society as...