How did Geoffrey Chaucer influence Shakespeare?

Question

Looking at the Canterbury Tales and Hamlet, what similiarities in the texts do you see. These could be writing styles or themes. Whatever.

Answer 1

Actually, I think you will find more direct influences on Shakespeare’s plays from Continental writers, particularly Italians, and from British history, than from Chaucer. I think it may be more justifiable to talk about parallels and similarities than direct influences or allusions. I think, however, as your read the two carefully, you might consider some of the following points:

1. Language. If Chaucer had not popularized vernacular English as a legitimate literary language, Shakespeare’s dramatic texts might have been written in Latin or French or might not have been preserved in written form. They almost certainly would not have used the language of commoners as well as of courtiers, bawdy and officious, simple and profound. Chaucer also was a pioneer in the use of the iambic pentameter line, which Shakespeare adopted in his blank verse.

2. Comic characters. Though Hamlet, of course, is a tragedy, it often makes use of some of the comic traditions popularized by Chaucer; for example, wise fools, prissy pretenders, ironic or satiric comments, sexual innuendo, and the like. Polonius could easily have been one of Chaucer’s pilgrims; so could Osric. Hamlet’s playing the madman or instructing the players is not unlike some of the more sharp-witted pilgrims.

3. The hero. One of the themes that Chaucer plays around with is the defining of an ideal “hero.” Especially through the Knight and his tale, he is holding up for examination the role of courtly behavior as a requirement for heroism. Shakespeare does the same thing, especially in such plays as the Henry IV and V histories, Coriolanus, Antony and Cleopatra, and Troilus and Cressida (which Chaucer also adapted); but in Hamlet he gives perhaps his most realistic and problematic study of the treacherous path to heroism. Hamlet’s final words on the nature of the hero certainly move well beyond traditional courtliness: “The readiness is all”; “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends / Rough hew them how we will.”

4. Plot twists. Good stories in Chaucer or in Shakespeare rarely turn out the way you expect them to, or at least they go through many twists and turns to arrive at their denouement. For example, consider the Chaucerian twists and turns in Hamlet’s faking madness, Ophelia’s genuine madness, the fate of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, the unintended victims of poison in the final scene, and the like.

5. Contrasts between characters. Chaucer’s pilgrims tend to become foils for one another; e.g., the poor parson and the corrupt pardoner, the prioress and the wife of Bath, the miller and the reeve, the friar and the summoner, the merchant and the franklin, and the like. In Hamlet notice the continuing contrasts; for example, the hot-headed Laertes and the thoughtful Hamlet, the ghost of Hamlet’s father and Claudius, the good friend Horatio and the false friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, the foolish courtier Osric and the wise fool Yorick (“Alas, poor Yorick!”), and finally the fallen leader Hamlet and the strong survivor Fortinbras.

6. Even more important, the contrasts within characters. The wife of Bath of her Prologue (bawdy, self centered, untrustworthy) and revealed in the nature of her Tale (sensitive, eloquent, perceptive). Likewise, there is the impetuous Hamlet and the indecisive Hamlet, the sarcastic Hamlet of the dialogue and the emotional Hamlet of the soliloquies, the vengeful Hamlet in Act IV and the resigned Hamlet of Act V, and the list goes on. In the Wife of Bath and Hamlet we have two of the most cleverly realized characters in all British literature, both witty and wise, bawdy and sensitive, domineering and ultimately submissive, wordy (“words, words, words”) and eloquent.

Answer 2

Hey, this is homework!

First, read both works by yourself. Of course there are influences from Chaucer to Shakespeare; Chaucer was the most popular writer of Brith Middle Ages, and of course he was read in Shakespeare's era, There are more influences than you think, but don't believe you'll fin full citations from The Tales in Hamlet!.

Answer 3

In addition to the qualitative ways that we might assess the influence of Chaucer on Shakespeare, we can also apply quantitative techniques to ascertain influence. Here are some statistical text comparisons of their works, which demonstrates a fairly low level of syntactical influence, surely reflecting the evolution of English, but also seemingly indicating a weaker influence than some suppose.

https://discerner.co/library/geoffrey-chaucer/william-shakespeare

https://discerner.co/library/william-shakespeare/geoffrey-chaucer