9/27/04

Characterizations

In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer constructs the characteristics of his characters in various ways. He demonstrates the character acting or speaking, gives a physical description of the character, reveals the character's thoughts, reveals what other characters think about this character, or comments directly on the character. The corrupt ecclesiast group, consisting mainly of the Prioress, the Monk, and the Friar, exemplifies several forms of characterization, mainly physical description and commenting directly on the character. This combination of description types works effectively because the prioress, monk, and friar are the most well described characters throughout the work.

The Prioress is one of the most interesting characters in The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer describes her as trying to convince people that she is charitable to the poor, but is later described pampering her dogs: "And she had little dogs she would be feeding/With roasted flesh, or...