Historical Understanding of the Canterbury Tales Chaucers Canterbury Tales contains many different types of individuals that exist in the Middle Ages, therefore the work is quite important from the historical standpoint. Although these characters lived in the fourteenth century, people similar to them still exist in todays society. Three pilgrims from Canterbury Tales who parallel people from today are the Merchant, who is closely related to the middle-class businessmen of today; the Nonne, who is much like modern day upper class women; and the Pardoner, who can be compared to a devious salesman or con artist from todays society. The first character, the Merchant, is very much like an average; middle-income businessman that exists in the world of today. The Merchant from the tales feels that he must brag and show off for people to recognize the wealth he wishes he had. (Kendrick, p. 121) Although he has a sufficient amount of money, which his wearing of posh clothing proves, he does not have as much money as he sees fit of himself or for anybody that falls under his job description.
That means that the Merchant, because of a preconceived notion that all merchants should be filthy rich, is insecure due to his financial situation, so he feels the need to deceive people because of his insecurity. Chaucer hints at the Merchants tendency to brag as well when he mentions that the Merchant is Souning alway th encrees of his winning (Chaucer 277) meaning that the Merchant is always able to include implications of his success when he speaks. These types of people still exist today and one can tell who they are because they tend to spend the money they do have on material things such as cars, and clothes, just as the Merchant chose to spend his money on expensive clothing and a nice horse, simply to convince people that they have money and can afford expensive things. Another character from Chaucers Canterbury Tales that reflects an individual from modern society is the Nonne. The Nonne compares easily to an upper class, posh woman of today. The Nonne portrays one of these women because she obsesses over manners and being dainty.
The Essay on Great Depression People Money Pay
The Great Depression This report is about the economic hard time of the 1930's. The great depression is a time when the people of the United States and the government's spending was out of control. You " ll learn that the great depression didn't just happen over night but accumulated over a period of time. It's a common misconception that the stock market crash in October 1929 was called by the ...
These types of women are incredibly nice, such as the Nonne, She was so charitable and so pitous (Chaucer 143), but sometimes you cannot tell if they are for real or being overly polite because it is what they feel obligated to do. The Nonne wears highly expensive and beautiful jewelry, and is seemingly flawless in her social behavior. Although she is a nun, the women of today like her have important men as husbands or, as heirs, receive a large amount of money. These women are stereotypically titled snobby because they expect the same type of manners from everyone else and look down upon these people if they are not extremely polite (but of course would not tell someone that to their face because that too would be considered rude).
The Nonne and the aristocratic women of today are alike also in that they seem incredibly giving and pleasant to people, but this saintly appearance can also be taken as condescending to one because they seem as if they are giving you charity because they feel they are above you. The third pilgrim that distinguishes easily in present day society is that of the Pardoner. A pardoners job in the Middle Ages would be to sell pardons for the sins of regretful people.
(Kendrick, p. 144) At the time people were actually gullible enough to buy these pardons, and people like the Pardoner would take advantage of them to make a good bit of money. The Pardoner from Canterbury Tales could be compared to a con artist of today because both of them make their money by taking advantage of people ignorant enough to fall for the devious scheme. One similarity between con artists and the Pardoner lies in their ability to come across as if they have really befriended a person but actually trick them out of your money. The Pardoner from the story used peoples faith in the Church as a way of cheating people so desperate to get into heaven by making them believe that their sins have been forgiven and they have come to terms with god. A con artist of today would do the same thing by offering something that one sees as an absolute necessity to have but ends up a waste because the object has no worth, and the con artist would make off with that persons money.
The Essay on Stock Market People Money Computers
Y 2 K is also called a bug. Y 2 K is one of the big problems for everyone. Y 2 K means many computer systems use software that tracks dates with only the last two numbers of years such as 97 instead of 1997. When 00 comes up for the year 2000, many computers will view it as 1900 instead, potentially leading to failures in business, transportation, utilities and other services. Many people are ...
The Pardoners Tale sheds much light on the conduct and thought of people in the dark ages, especially the menaces of society. This story reveals much about the morals, laws, and conventions in place during the dark ages. Even though the focus is on three drunken criminals, their encounters and conduct give clues as to what their society was up to. The story told is historically significant; it is based on the dark ages, and it is made to seem as true as possible. The events said to have happened were most likely there to make the reader believe that it has actually occurred. This tells us that what they were saying was most likely true or commonly believed.
The beginning of the story shows us that there are a great number of deaths in the town, and each time a death occurred it was indicated by a hand-bell clink from the church. This shows that something was killing off the citizens, and since most deaths back then occurred because of the Black Death, that was what it probably was. Later on in the story the rioters speak of being hung if they took the large sum of money home, because People would call us robbersa strong gang. (Boenig, p. 77) This shows how easily it was to get killed back then, one false accusation or claim that was believed by some would lead to death. Also represented in the tale are the moral codes of conduct that were followed during the time. Since the main characters were drunken rioters, we would presume that almost all the moves they made were evil in a sense.
The Essay on Truman Capote’s “Miriam”: The Theme Of Death In The Story
“Miriam” is a short story written by Truman Capote, originally published in June 1945 in Mademoiselle magazine. First edition in solo book form was published in 1981 under the title Miriam: A Classic Story of Loneliness. It is a story about an old lady, Mrs. Miller. One day, she meets a girl who is also called Miriam and this girl starts to invade Mrs. Miller’s stereotypic life. Mrs. ...
They were constantly drinking and cursing at each other, disrespecting their elders, being extremely greedy, and then eventually murdering each other in cold blood. The old man they had met, however, was a symbol of what was right, of the good in society. He was wise and had abandoned his money, because he knew that he did not have the power to control it, and it would have took control of him instead. After running into the three rioters and being insulted repeatedly for no apparent reason, the old man finally answers their question as to where death is, and points them to the gold he had left under a tree. Of course, not too soon after the three drunks caught site of the gold coins, they were controlled by it and had already begun plotting the death of their friends for their own benefit. Eventually they all died due to the evil in their hearts, and the greed for all the money they had found.
(Strohm, p. 59) Much light is shed on medieval thought and conduct, and there is also a great moral to this story, since it was intended to be a sermon. This tale teaches us that we should always respect our elders, and even the strong at heart are usually not strong enough to control the greed for money that leads to a better life. It may be quick to strike, or it may be a long gradual process; but eventually it will get to us, and in the end it will only lead to the destruction of ourselves, and those whom we love. Words Count: 1,299.
Bibliography:
Boenig, Robert. Chaucer and the mystics: the Canterbury tales and the genre of devotional prose. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1995.
Chaucer, G. The Canterbury Tales. New York: Harper Perennial, 1999. Kendrick, Laura. Chaucerian play: comedy and control in the Canterbury Tales. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.
Strohm, Paul. Social Chaucer. Bloomington: U. Indiana Press, 1989..
