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The Canterbury Tales Critical Essay #15
In the following essay, David examines various interpretations of the old man in "The Pardoner's Tale."
Probably
the main trend in contemporary Chaucer criticism is to look for a symbolic
level of meaning in a poet whom most of us were taught to regard as a
supremely realistic recorder of medieval life. Of course, realism and
symbolism are not necessarily antithetical modes of expression, and a lot of
misunderstanding will be avoided if we recognize that the choice is not one of
either-or, a realistic Chaucer or an allegorical one. It is rather that we are
beginning to see another dimension in Chaucer, something that should not
surprise us in a great poet. It goes without saying that...
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This section contains 3,428 words (approx. 12 pages at 300 words per page) |
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