Chaucer and Medieval Estates Satire
The Literature of Social Classes and the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales
By Jill Mann
1973
First Published
3.70
Average Rating
342
Number of Pages
This book is an attempt to discover the origins and significance of the General Prologue-to the Canterbury Tales. The interest of such an inquiry is many-sided. On the one hand, it throws light on the question of whether
life' or 'literature' was Chaucer's model in this work, on the relationship between Chaucer's twenty-odd pilgrims and the structure of medieval society, and on the role of their estate' in determining the elements of which Chaucer composes their portraits. On the other hand, it makes suggestions about the ways in which Chaucer convinces us of the individuality of his pilgrims, about the nature of his irony, and the kind of moral standards implicit in the Prologue. This book suggests that Chaucer is ironically substituting for the traditional moral view of social structure a vision of a world where morality becomes as specialised to the individual as his work-life.Avg Rating
3.70
Number of Ratings
23
5 STARS
17%
4 STARS
43%
3 STARS
30%
2 STARS
9%
1 STARS
0%
goodreads
Author
Jill Mann
Author · 3 books
Jill Mann is a Fellow of the British Academy, an Honorary Fellow of St. Anne’s College, Oxford, and a Life Fellow of Girton College, Cambridge.
