Wednesday, March 21, 2012
The narrator
When we read The Canterbury Tales, we often focus on the outrageous characters that Chaucer has created. But we do not hear directly from them: there's an intermediary--the narrator--who first reports on what they look and sound like and who, later, is responsible for transmitting the pilgrims' tales to us. What do you make of this narrator? Where does he fit into the social scheme of the "General Prologue." And how does he operate as a narrator--as an observer and recorder? Do we have any reason to be concerned about the authenticity of his records? And what do you think of his perspective?
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I find the narrator to be an interesting character. He is not an omniscient narrator, but rather is within the story as a pilgrim himself. He makes note of some odd things like what they wear. I am not quite sure, but the type and state of ones clothes in this time period could be a sign of social status. The authenticity of his records is a bit questionable because it rests on his observance of the company and what they have told him. He prefaces his descriptions with a bit of a warning by saying that he will give a full description "at any rate as they appeared to me". The narrator appears to be impressed by wealth and social status. There is a merchant who appears to be quite wealthy or at least successful and without even having learned his name the narrator feels free to make the claim that he is an "estimable man". This gives me some doubts about the character of the narrator.
ReplyDeleteI also find the narrator to be an interesting character. He seems to be someone of good nature. As Paul said he is not an omniscient narrator which means that we should take what he says with a grain of salt. He is a part of the story as a pilgrim himself which will influence the way he narrates. He is concerned with not only social status or rank but also of the nature of the person. He describes Pioress positively because of her great etiquette.
ReplyDeleteI think this narrator is a good choice for the situation. I don't think you can really rely on him very much though, as he brings a lot of subjectivity into his descriptions. One of the main ways he characterizes people is by their clothing and appearances. He even comments on someone's character because of the way her teeth look. It seems he does not know these people very well but still manages to come up with long winded descriptions of them. He also labeled a number of them as the best in their field, stating that no one could touch them in their respective trades. This exaggeration and jumping to conclusions seems to imply that the narrator will be very liberal in his story telling. Also, the main point of these stories is to have some fun. This doesn't seem like the time or place to be worried about accuracy, but instead to see who can have the most interesting story. For these reasons, we must be wary of what the narrator says and not necessarily treat it as fact.
ReplyDeleteThe Narrator is an interesting character in this book. He creates the other character for us and it is very evident that he has his opinions about them. His subjective and bias opinions on the characters leads me to question if he is honestly representing them. He is not an omniscient narrator but some times i sense that he wishes he was. He makes statements that he could not know for certain. For instance he should not be able to claim that the knight is noble from sight. He seems to make conclusions about people from their appearance without getting to know them. Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that the Narrator is on the pilgrimage with the rest of the characters. He is on their same level. He focuses on the characters social rank but in the end they are all on the same level on the pilgrimage.
ReplyDeleteThe narrator seems to be witty, easygoing, and to enjoy the people he is describing even with all their quirks. It is questionable whether or not the things the narrator is saying are authentic, because the narrator's tone seems gossipy as he describes the characters' reputations and actions and in short fragments of things he knows about them. He doesn't simply record what he observes, but uses his observations to judge the characters' thoughts and personalities. These are clearly his own thoughts, but they seem to be insightful as he bases it on what he knows of the guests and can see beyond the images they are trying to convey to what they are really like. For example, when he is describing the friar he describes "how sweetly he would hear confession!" but then explains that it is only "when sure of getting a substantial gift." The narrator understands that his real motives are not as the friar portrays them to be. I think that his comments even if they are not based on reliable stories are insightful into the true character of the people he describes. I also think it is interesting that his perspective is on equal with the people he is describing, and that he has his own insecurities (he has to ask not to be judged by how he describes people or by what he records them saying). This could also distort his perspective later on.
ReplyDeleteThe narrator within the story has a unique position because he has a limited and biased view of the characters. He focuses on the traveler's occupations and physical attributes and from those two things he basically delineates their entire character, which I believe he has no right to do. Sometimes I wonder if he is just trying to tell a good story or if he really is telling it the way it is. Nevertheless, I assume the Narrator falls in the "middle class" of the social structure from that time because I feel as though I can understand his point of view relatively well. For instance, he talks about the physician with great respect for his skills, which the Narrator probably doesn't have.
ReplyDeleteGrace MacKenzie
ReplyDeleteThis narrator is an interesting choice for this book. He is like another character that we can just see a bit deeper into his thoughts. He tells us about each of the characters but he clearly does not know everything about them, he can only describe what he has heard about them, and what they appear to look like.Because he doesn't have all the answers, as a narrator we cannot trust him entirely. He is merely an observer, like us, and we get no insight but his sometimes biased, speculative thoughts. That is not to say he does indeed provide good insight to the characters, as he seems to have a grasp on their characters. Though some conclusions are based merely on their appearance and may not have an ounce of truth to them, in fact some of his assumptions are based on the common social view on their occupations rather than the person themselves.
As we all have noted, the narrator of The Canerbury Tales is quite biased, but offers perspective. He says that "by the time the sun had gone to rest I'd talked with everyone, and soon became one of their company" (pg. 1) The narrator seems to be very sociable, charismatic, and likes observing others. A true people person. The narrator does seem to judge others and give descriptions on them based on their outward appearances, so although his reliability is reasonably in question, we all tend to base our first impressions based on what we see, and this is what the narrator is doing in some ways for us. In our own lives, although this is a sinful and destructive attitude, we tend to judge others based on what we see and initially know about them. Throughout the tale, there may be character development, but in the prologue, we are just given a baseline of what to expect and possibly outline the growth that is to come along the narrator's journey.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the narrator in The Canterbury Tales is biased, I like books with one perspective, rather than third person. Because of the narrators personality, we get a true taste of other characters personalities as well. If the narrator was quiet and reserved, the amount of detail and information we would gain about other characters would be limited. As easy as it is to say that the narrator judges other characters quickly, his ability to do this gives us a clearer description. It will be interesting to see how his development as narrator changes and also how his view and description of other characters change.
ReplyDelete