Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Class and Rank and Social Positioning
Chaucer's pilgrims are a motley crew, coming from a number of ranks in medieval society. If you select this line of discussion, I'd like you to comment on how Chaucer suggests rank (or how the pilgrims themselves suggest their social position). How do you know who is high and who low? Who's a poser and who's the real thing? Alternatively, you may comment more broadly on the social vision that you see at work so far in The Canterbury Tales.
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Chaucer suggests rank in a variety of ways. One way is how he describes how other people relate to this character. For instance in describing the knight he states "often he took the highest place at table", suggesting a higher place. Some characters are also initially mentioned in conjunction with other characters, which hints at a lower station. For instance the "freedman landowner" is merely the companion of the "franklin". He also designates rank through dress and action. The more put together an individual appears, the higher their rank. For example, the "business woman" had "handkerchiefs of the finest weave" etc., which signals her higher class. The posers are evident through contradictions between their clothing, action and others perceptions of them, while "the real thing" individuals are consistent across the board.
ReplyDeleteAnother way that rank is suggested is by the peoples ethical character. The knight, a person of high class, is described by saying, "Almost beyond price was his prestige. Through eminent, he'd never been foul-spoken in his life." By contrast the miller, a lower class person, is described as "well versed in stealing corn." The merchant it seems trying to show himself to be a high class person by his dress but the ambiguous description of his ethical character and financial state make the reader suspicious that he may not really belong in a high class.
DeleteI believe that another way that Chaucer suggests rank within the society he is describing is in which the order he lists the characters in the prologue, with power decreasing in descending order. He begins by telling us about the knight first, who should be the most powerful out of all the characters as he was a leader in the military who had seen many battles ("15 mortal combats") and was successful in them. It would also make sense then to list his servant, the yeoman next, and the nun after them, as the church was also a very powerful institution back in the day. Also, it makes sense that the characters of the ordinary, citizen-level class, like the miller, reeve, and summoner, are listed later on in the prologue.
ReplyDeleteChaucer suggests rank by the order he puts them in for the reader also. Depending on the juxtaposition, he presents certain pilgrims as higher than another. For example, he describes the nun first, and then contrasts her with the monk. The nun is described as very proper, and "her greatest pleasure was in etiquette." He also describes her reaction to a mouse in a trap in great detail, almost as though she is weak. He describes her eyes as blue-grey, which, in conjunction with the rest of her description, portray her as more serious and dull. In contrast, Chaucer juxtaposes the monk right after her. He is described as "a manly man." His eyes "danced in his head", portraying him as alive and passionate. He continues to say that the monk is "not pale and wan like some tormented spirit." Placing the monk right after the nun, this statement causes the reader to think of the nun, leaving a bad impression of her. Due to these descriptions and the juxtaposition of the nun and the monk, Chaucer suggests that the monk may rank higher than the nun.
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