Humour in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales"

Fiche de lecture Philosophie & littérature Littérature

Date de publication :

14/03/2008

Langue :

Anglais

Format :

.doc

Nombre de pages :

5 pages

Niveau :

expert

Consulté :

1 fois

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Sommaire :

Sommaire

Examination of the building blocks of laughter
Demonstrate that the humour used by Chaucer is multifaceted
Definition of ?humour? in the Middle Ages
The presence of irony and satire

Résumé :

the English Middle Ages are often thought of as bright times, when, except for a few brief periods of discontent, people were satisfied life, wore bright clothes, drank beer and sang in cosy pubs. In short, England was merry. It is very easy to paint such a glamorous picture of the times and it is equally easy to draw a different one. In 1348 and 1349, the Black Death killed hundreds. In 1381, the Peasants' Revolt caused major social and political disturbances. the wickedness, stupidity, cruelty, ignorance and filth of the men of the age are as notorious as the colourful religious processions and gay maypole dances that were held. In such a situation, humour and comedy seem bound to play a complex, if not ambiguous, role.
the powerful ambivalence of humour during the late Middle Ages surfaces frequently upon reading geoffrey chaucer's the canterbury tales into which various kinds of humorous episodes are incorporated. Many tales (especially of the "fabliau" kind) are often associated with laughter and rude, slapstick comedy. But apart from the frequent burlesque episodes and straightforward parodies, we can also find examples of wit or more subtle irony and of satire. In that sense, certain tales can be read as mixtures of bawdy and moral comedy and consequently, differences of interpretation might occur over time. In addition, since the understanding of a text depends on its readers, contemporary readers might not share chaucer's perception of 14th century reality.
Our study of humour in the canterbury tales will begin with an examination of the building blocks of laughter in some of the narratives and we will attempt to demonstrate that the humour used by chaucer is multifaceted and sometimes equivocal. On the second place, we will turn to the definition of "humour" in the Middle Ages and we will pay specific attention to instances of slapstick comedy, parody and burlesque within the tales. Finally, in the third part of our study, we will tackle the subtleties of humour within the tales, we will provide some reflections on the presence of irony and satire, and we will address the ambiguity that springs up from the numerous variations in the interpretation both.