What did Chaucer want us to know through his writing of "The Canterbury Tales"?

Answer 1

Your best bet, assuming this is a question you're asking to help you in an British Lit course, is to make the argument that he was more of a commentator than subversive conveyor of symbolic meaning. "The Wife of Bath", for example, is hysterically funny. As other authors of the day were writing about royalty, courage, and conquest, Chaucer was more interested in developing a tongue-in-cheek analysis of life as a "peasant". He was not well-respected in his day; much like William Shakespeare, he was considered amateurish by many of his peers. While he isn't particularly introspective, I would equate him to a medieval J.D. Salinger in the sense that there is more to gain from assessing the situations the characters are placed in than looking for a "moral" to the story. I hope this helps, good luck.

Answer 2

This is a huge question but I will focus on what it teaches the student of 2006, rather than why Chaucer wrote the poem in the first place. Basically, it was Chaucer's answer to Boccacio's Decameron. Being a total loser, Chaucer never finished the Canterbury Tales, leaving scholars of Middle English poetry irate and mildly constipated. One of Chaucer's main points was that life is tough but you need to be honest and law-abiding, no matter what. Read "The Knight's Tale" if you want a really depressing example of what Chaucer considered ethically correct behaviour.

Answer 3

Writers write because they are inspired to do so, and believe that someone, somewhere, will be interested in reading what they have written. Chaucer was one among very few people of his time who committed his ideas to writing. Luckily for us they have survived. His "Canterbury Tales" are probably based on actual events and tales that were told by travellers to entertain others when they stopped at inns and hostels. Chaucer's work not only gives us amusing stories but also recounts the way of life of the time in which he lived, and is thus of historical as well as literary value.

Answer 4

Chaucer didn't care about us. He wrote it to help establish venacular English as a language and to give England an identity. However, we can learn what entertainment was during his time period, and he gives us a great idea of the common man/woman's interests.

Answer 5

How to read Middle English.