Chaucer: Realism
Literature is the mirror of its age. Supreme literary artist is one who becomes a mouthpiece and provides a real picture of his age with its minute details. Chaucer is a perfect representative of his age. He is in true sense a social chronicler of England. His poetry reflects the 14th century not in fragment but as a complete whole. Realism of Chaucer in !he Canterbury !ales" not gives us the impression that whatever has been described is real in the ordinary sense of the word. Realism is not reality# it is a collective term for the devices that give the effect of reality. Chaucer represented life in its na$edness. “What he has given is a direct transpiration of daily life.” Chaucer%s principle ob&ect of writing poetry was to portray men and women truthfully without any e'aggeration and to present an e'act picture of average humanity. He painted life as he saw it( and he saw it with so observant eye that it seems that he was viewing all the events as well as characters through a $aleidoscope. )ecause of his this *uality his epoch( !he +rologue of the Canterbury !ales !ales"" has become one of the vivid epoch of history. ,oreover he is a man of the world so he mi'es with all types of man$ind and he observes the minute peculiarities of human nature. !he Canterbury !ales" !ales" is not only a long poetical piece but a social history of England. He e'poses almost all the aspects of his age as well as of the people along with the detail of their appearance( se' profession( attire and conduct. Chaucer shed off the influence of the -rench and talian models based on fantasies and dreams( upon which he had wor$ed for so long and entered the abundance of his own real self. He wor$ed li$e a true interpreter or chronicler( relating in a most realistic manner( the stories he had heard( without change of wording or tone. !he setting of !he Canterbury !ales" !ales" is highly realistic. / pilgrimage was one of the most common sights in the fourteenth century England. !o relate relate the stories of these pilgrims( Chaucer gives the illusion( not of an imaginary world( but of real one. !he more real the world of his setting is( the more his tales by contrast seems li$e tales( even though some to them deal with real everyday life. 0nli$e )occaccio( who in his tales *uic$ly slips bac$ into fran$ artificiality( Chaucer held consistently to realism throughout !he Canterbury !ales". ifted with an acute power of observation Chaucer sees things as they are( and he possesses the art of printing them as he sees them. He does not pro&ect the tint of his li$es and disli$es( views and pre&udices on what he paints. “Chaucer sees what is and paints it as he sees it.” n the portrayal of characters in !he +rologue" he gives us his minute and delicate records of details in dress( behaviour( behaviour( which ma$es it a mime of observation as from the portrait of +rioress2 “She leet no morsel from hir lippes falle, Ne wette hir fyngres in hir sauce depe, Wel oude she carie a morsel, and wel epe !hat no drope no fille upon hir "rest.” n !he Canterbury !ales" Chaucer has blended laughter and tears( the comic and tragic as
is found in life with such case and grace( that his story3telling seems li$e a veracious picture of real life. !hough his pilgrimage is remote form our e'perience( yet we feel that this is what we might see if we could turn the cloc$ bac$ few centuries. Chaucer as a realist presents before us in !he Canterbury !ales the pulsating life of the common people. Chaucers pilgrims tal$ of their purse( their love affairs or their private fends". !heir vision is confirmed to the occurrences within their parish. !his is the typical vision of the common people which is realistically presented by Chaucer in the Canterbury !ales. Chaucers depiction of the Shipman represents the salient features of the trade. !he ,erchant is another important figure who signifies the changed conditions of Chaucerian society. Chaucer has introduced a number of artificial elements( but he does it so s$illfully and artistically that the impression of realism he creates( ma$es us forget them. He is devilishly" sly( and deceives us as he should with the most innocent air in the world. n the words of Ha5litt2 “!here is not artificial, pompous display, "ut a strict parsimony of the poet#s material lie the rude simplicity of the age in which he lived.” t would be *uite &ustifiable to call Chaucer as a realist of high ran$ because his principle ob&ect has been to portray men and women trustfully without an acute power of observation. He sees things as they are and describes them as he really sees them.
NEXT
With Realism as a representation of details from contemporary life, Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales is, indeed, realistic. •
Chaucer's unprecedented use of the vernacular rather than Latin or French, as was hitherto employed in literature, provides much realistic detail and reflects the life of the pilgrims of the time.
•
Moreover, his presentation of an extensive view of society is a veritale taleau of fourteenth!century "ngland.
•
#n the $%eneral &rologue,$ Chaucer's very suect matter!!a pilgrimage!! is certainly realistic as religious pilgrimages were customary.
(hen do fol) long to go on pilgrimage, *nd palmers to go see)ing out strange strands, •
+etails appertaining to the historical setting of the time are present as, for example, there is an allusion to the lac) &lague and (homas a ec)et, who was martyred at Canterury...they to Canterurywend, (he holy lessed martyr there to see) Who helped them when they lay so ill and wea)
•
Finally, Chaucer promises to provide realistic descriptions of the pilgrims. (o inform you of the state of every one.... *nd who they were, and what was their degree, *nd also what array they all were in
Survey of English Literature, Online
Lecture 5: Medieval Culture with some notes on Realism and Romance, Introduction to Geoffrey Chaucer's General Prologue to theCanterbury Tales
/ello and welcome ac) to "nglish 0urvey on line. (oday we're going to egin the literature of Medievalism in "nglish, that is, literature written etween aout 1122 and 1322 C" in ritain. #'ll egin y spea)ing aout Medieval culture, and continue y focusing one of the great wor)s of Medieval literature, The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales y one of the greatest writers in the history of "ngland, %eoffrey
Chaucer. The Norton Anthology of English Literature prints Chaucer's text in Middle
"nglish and is therefore somewhat difficult. (hus you will e re4uired to read only parts 5selected portraits6 of The General Prologue. We will e reading The General Prologue over two wee)s and concentrate our readings in the following wayFirst week 5today6 we will focus on our Introduction to the Literature and Culture
of the Middle *ges. We will also discuss the &rologue on ll. 1!37. 8ou will also receive some online lin)s for further wor) on Medievalism, Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales and some 4uestions to answer in your online log .
9ext wee) we will focus on some of the colorful and representative characters in The General Prologue, choosing from the portraits of the following charactersthe ni!ht, ll. 3:!;< the "#uire, ll. ;=!122 the $rioresse, ll. 117 the Monk, ll. 1>?!72; the Friar , ll. 72!3;< the $arson, 3;=!?:2 the $lowman, ll. ?:1!?3: the 0ummoner, ll.
>7?!>;2, and the &ardoner, ll. >;1!;1>, and the ending 5which includes a self!portrait of the narrator, a portrait of the host, and the suggestion of the frame!tale scheme6, ll. ;1;! <>2.
n!lish Medieval (istory
We'll egin with a historical fact, an event that is of singular importance in the history of ritish culture. #n )*++ %illiam of ormandy 5$William the Con4ueror$6 invaded "ngland, defeating the *nglo!0axons and ta)ing over the )ingship of the con4uered land. /is people were French!spea)ing ormans who came from $9ormandy$ a province in 9orthern France. 5(hey were originally $9orthmen$ who con4uered part of France from 0candinavia hundreds of years earlier.6 (hese were a more sophisticated and elegant people than the *nglo!0axons. (he more isolated %ermanic culture was consideraly less cultivated than the civili@ation of the continental 9ormans. 0use4uently "ngland ecame a somewhat divided land full of conflicts etween the generally lower!class 0axons and the generally upper!class 9ormans. 5* 9ovel li)e 0ir Walter 0cott's Ivanhoe, sympathetic to the stout!hearted "a-ons and derisive of the overly!refined 9ormans, puts this struggle into the popular form y which most people )now it.6 #n any case, the orman invasion had an enormous influence on n!lish literature and lan!ua!e. #t led to the creation of the richest vocaulary of any
language on earth. (he reason is that the very rich %ermanic vocaulary of the *nglo! 0axons was now increased y the addition of the French vocaulary rought y the 9ormans. What this means is that a good deal of the asic vocaulary units of the two great language groups of "urope, the German 5including %erman, +utch, and the 0candinavian languages6, and the Latin 5French, #talian, 0panish, &ortuguese and others6 united in the one enormously rich "nglish language. (his is why writing "nglish is oth very challenging and very exciting, there are usually many ways to say the same thing. Aften one can distinguish etween a %erman 5plainer, more down to earth6 and French register 5fancier, more elegant or, perhaps, pretentious6 of speech. We may say, luntly, $# want to go home,$ 5this is %ermanic6, or, more elaorately, $# desire to return to my residence$ 5French6. (here are, indeed, many ways to say ust aout anything in "nglish. (he 9ormans also rought the more elaorate literatures of "urope, the Romances of #taly and France, with them. (hey introduced into "ngland, for example, the device of rhyme 5un)nown to the *nglo!0axons who preferred, as you may rememer from The Seafarer, alliteration and a steady four!eat rhythm6. Medieval Reli!ion and Culture .he Medieval culture was deeply religious, following the Catholic, or as it was
sometimes called $/igh Catholic$ view of life 5# say /igh Catholic y the way ecause this is the period efore the great split or schism opened in Christianity etween Catholics and &rotestants6 . Medieval literature written efore that split, ta)es the point!of!view of a society united in its religious eliefs. Let us egin y pointing to the most fundamental and organi@ing point in all Catholic thin)ing # am suggesting that we would focus on a/hiloso/hical division , a s/lit or dichotomy, that is at the asis of the Medieval0Catholic value!system. # am referring to the distinction etween thisworld and the ne-t, the mortal and immortal realms, etween the 1ody and soul . We may understand this difference as the
distinction etween the natural and the spiritual, the temporal and the eternal. (he deeply!held conviction in the existence of two different levels of eing is at the asis of Catholic thought. 9or are the two world e4uivalent at all- the world of the spirit or the soul, where one will eventually oin %od in the spiritual afterlife, is far higher, purer and more worthy than the temporal 5time!ound6 world of the ody, of society, of the everyday 5sometimes called in Medieval thought, $the world, the flesh, and the devil$6. (he elief in such a dichotomy creates a 1inary or dualistic life that ta)es place on two planes of reality simultaneously. (he inary divisions may e understood in
many ways, in many areas of life. For example, in terms of Religious and Moral Balues, we may divide Charity 5Latin Caritas, /erew Chessed :234 love of God 5living y the soul,
the spiritual self eing the part of the human that can transcend the world6 is distinguished from Cu/idity 5Latin Cu/iditas, /erew Chemdah -5637 love of the world 5living y
the ody, the ody eing the part of the human that lives within the world6. #n a philosophical sense we could say that Charity from a reli!ious view is connected to Idealism from a &hilosophical view. #dealism is the system of elief, that egins with the great %ree) philosopher, &lato, that finds a world of spiritual reality 5a reality ased on an idea or vision in the mind6 that exists eyond and aove the world of physical reality. (he invisile world, the $idea$ world, the idos, in %ree), is higher, purer, more perfected than the physical world. #n the tradition of the Western, udeo!Christian culture, elief in one %od in religion goes together with idealism in philosophy. * strict moral system usually goes together with a strict religious elief. From a socioeconomic point of view Catholicism was Feudal, it elieved in the old *ristocratic system where there were only : legitimate classes, the Cler!y, the 8ristocracy, and the $easantry. #t was an austere, narrow way of loo)ing at the
world. *t the same time Cu/iditas, the love of this world, the placing of value on the pleasures and profits of this world, is connected to Realism or Materialism in philosophy. (he worldly philosophy, the elief in the primacy of the surrounding physical world goes together with a less religious world!view. Morality tends to e less strict and rigid, more individual and lieral if not downright dishonest, when religious elief is less present. $rotestantism was more open to newer economic and social trends partly
ecause it elieved less in the officers of the church as mediators etween man and %od. 5Martin Luther the originator of &rotestantism found much corruption among the leaders of the Catholic church.6 0o &rotestantism went together with a more realistic world view , with the rise of the Middle Class , and with a more open
view. (he strict Christian interpretation of the two worlds, of the higher world of charity and the lower world of cupidity, sees %od's world as infinitely superior to man's world. (he strict eliever, the devoted worshipper, shows disdain and even contempt
for the actual physical world of man. (his is sometimes called the $auline view , named after 0t. &aul, one of the earliest fathers or the Christian church, who was very devoted to Christian ideals and eliefs. 0trict Catholicism was idealistic and elieved in Charity. &rotestantism, which could also e very strict, still seemed to leave more room for an open view of life. .he Ideal and the 8ctual %orlds Reflected in Literature, Realism and Romance in the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales
0o we can say that Medievalism examines two different groups of values. We have the ideal world, the world of love and sacrifice, which we call Caritas, Charity, love of God, and we have the actual world, the world of appetites and
desires, Cu/iditas, Cu/idity , where love of /leasure and /rofit, what we might call love of self , dominates. #ndeed we can now design or dichotomy or dualistic way of organi@ing the world in the following way(he world 5that is, the experience of human eings in the world6 may e divided intoCharity
Cupidity
#deal Love of %od
*ctual Love of 0elf
0acrifice
&rofit
We also said recogni@ing that this is only a scheme and reality is more complicated than this, that Catholicism is more oriented toward the #deal and &rotestantism more oriented toward the actual. /ence we can also say that the old *grarian Feudalism is associated more, on the whole, with Catholicism, while the newer Mercantile Capitalism is more connected to &rotestantism. #f we turn to Chaucer we find that there are traditions of Realism and Romance in literature that reflect the two worlds of the #deal and the *ctual. Romance 99 Ideal
Realism 99 8ctual
Medieval Romance is a genre that emphasi@es the faith of the Christian as he
underta)es a 4uest in search of the #deal. (he hero, a young )night li)e 0ir %awain in Gawain and the Green Knight is one who has to prove his love of %od, y proving himself superior to the temptations of the flesh, as %awain does, in a threatening
world. (he romance is altogether stylied, with special formulas showing the proper ehavior of the hero, and showing he different )inds of dragons, monsters, witches, and giants he will encounter. (he romance also involves the convention )nown as Courtly or Chivalric Love; *ccording to this view of love, inspired y early romances from
&rovence, an area of 0outhern France, and developed y the great #talian sonneteer, Francisco &etrarch, the woman is an idealied fi!ure , infinitely aove the man, who aases 5lowers6 himself, feels he is infinitely eneath the woman. #n the Christian Courtly love tradition, the man transfers his love of %od to love of woman. ut his love for her is pure and spiritual 5this is the love )nown as 8!a/<6 not physical and worldly 5the love )nown as ros6. (he romantic 4uest for the ideal may e interpreted as the motive ehind the $il!rima!e 5*liyah 'Regel 5 =>?@ 6A=B which provides the plot and story of many Medieval wor)s. Chaucer's General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales tells the story of a &ilgrimage and it that sense it has a romance element and is part of the world of Charitas. *ll of these people are see)ing out the tom of 0ir (homas * ec)et, a man of the Church who died a martyr having put %od aove his )ing. 0o we have an element of Christian romance in the way Chaucer uilds his poem. *t the same time, the &rologue to (he Canterury (ales introduces a whole series of other narratives, a great many stories. (here are 7= pilgrims and Chaucer tells us that each of them was meant to tell two going and two returning(hat eech of you, to shorte with our waye #n this viage, shal tellen tales twayeD
Dtwo
(o Canteruryward, # mene it so, *nd hoomward he shal tellen othere two 0o there should have een 5how good are you at mathE6 11> tales altogether. Well, actually Chaucer wrote D 5it's interesting how many great wor)s are unfinished 0huert's famous symphony is only one of many cases6. *nd those 7= covered many of the genres )now to Medieval literature, from romance to sermon to fale to satirical and riald wor)s. ut the frame tale itself gathers a whole unch of Medieval people, from the good to the ad, the well!red to the rowdy, the devoted clergyman to the delierate swindler, the drun)ard and the the thief. #n that way the Medieval frame!tale structure is in the genre of Realism, it is aout the actual world and seems to e leaving the highly styli@ed, formal world of /igh Catholic #dealism.
Chaucer, an incredile genius of letters if there ever was one 5personally # would place him as the second greatest of "nglish writers, greater than Milton or Wordsworth or +ic)ens, although of course, no one can 4uite match 0ha)espeare6 creates a gigantic Medieval literary structure, .he Canter1ury .ales, which has everything, realism, romance, satire, lyricism, Catholic motifs and pre!&rotestant themes, an ama@ing wor). &erhaps that's enough for today. What # want you to do in your online!log as you prepare for next wee)'s lecture is answer a few study 4uestions1. What are the different reasons the narrator gives for the decision, y the various people he meets, to go on a $&ilgrimage.$ +o the pilgrims live more according to the values of the ideal world or the actual worldE /ow do we )now thisE ;
Choose ? from among the pilgrims we will focus on 5chec) list aove, p. 3>6. For each pilgrim choose one detail aout them their clothes, their speech, their horses, their possessions reproduce it and say what you aout its significance. #s this a positive or a negative figure for ChaucerE
E; ;
Which &ilgrim do you li)e the estE Which do you li)e the leastE Why *re these real people or some sort of styli@ed types of people. /ow do these two categories go together with the notion that there are two different worlds in Chaucer, the ideal and the actual.
