The Canterbury Tales and The Importance of Representation

Geofry Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is one of the finest examples of vernacular literature (written in middle English) to come from the 14^th century, in my opinion. His story follows a group of a couple dozen people going on a pilgrimage to St. Thomas Becket’s shrine. The host of the group goes around to have each pilgrim talk about themselves and proceed to tell stories.

The meticulously crafted style of rhyming couplets, and each line being exactly ten syllables long, certainly places this work as a good piece of literature, but that aspect coupled with what Chaucer offers in the message of his Canterbury Tales makes it a great piece of literature. The narrative device, as well as writing in a more common language (not latin), allowed Chaucer to represent many facets of life and many different kinds of people. The Miller’s prologue and tale are very bawdy, and incorporate a lot of bodily humor (see: fart jokes). The Wife of Bath’s section deals with matters of fidelity and feminine power. The Pardoner’s tale touches on themes of greed and death. The Knight’s tale follows a man learning to respect women in a more meaningful way (that one should be taken with a grain of salt. The fictional Knight in that story sexually abuses a woman to start his journey to respect women, and Chaucer himself had a history of sexual abuse). However, these stories are all about everyday people you could find while walking through a city in Chaucer's time. These are all authentic people with authentic concerns represented in their words. 

All of these stories are presented with a lot of irony and there is a great deal of humor mixed in, so they do not feel as dated as one might expect. Chaucer also interweaves a lot of social commentary into this narrative. His writing can be very pointed at times, especially those who hold the vices of greed or corruption.

Chaucer presents a wide range of different people that have not always been presented in literature, and therefore offers different underrepresented viewpoints or concerns. There are no epic heroes in these stories, no one of great fame or power. Instead, these are common people and the tales chronicle their every day concerns. This is one of the great strengths of vernacular literature, in that it can offer perspectives of real people. Rather than only presenting narratives about the elite and powerful, Chaucer adds to the tradition of telling stories about everyday folk. He shows us that this kind of representation is incredibly important, because it allows for broader narratives and more encompassing reflection of life.