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Canterbury Tales - Humour - School Essays

Canterbury Tales - Humour

Humor was used in the medieval time period to express one's ideas and thoughts. Geoffrey Chaucer also used humor in The Canterbury Tales in different instances. In "The Nun's Priest Tale" and "The Miller's Tale" I will show you how he uses humor to describe characters, his use of language and the actual events that take place. In the "Nun's Priest Tale" there is a rooster named Chaunticleer. His name suggests a fine knight or noble prince. The description of a rooster as a noble prince in courtly love romances is ridiculas and maybe this is what keeps us from taking him to seriously in this story. Nicholas, a clerk or scholar, from "The Miller's Tale" also has a ironic name. His name ...

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effect. With Nicholas, a lowly clerk, portraying a higher class gentleman when in essence he just wants a sexual pursuit and the meaning of his name uses an ironic humor to show he is an idiot. With John, the carpenter, Alison, his wife, and Absalom, the priest, in "The Miller's Tale" they also put on "airs" of being an upper class citizen.. They also bring you back to the basic idea they are common people just putting on a show for each other. The humor in description is very plentiful and Chaucer uses it to interest you in the story. Another way Chaucer uses humor in these tales is his choice of language. In "The Miller's Tale" Chaucer uses the word "pivetee" for God's secret affairs when John talks to Nicholas in his room. "Men sholde nat knowe of Goddes privetee" (Oxford, line 346). It appears again in reference not to God but to the affair of Nicholas and Alison. This is a very ironic and funny usage of the language since one is holy and the other is evil. Chaucer uses the ...

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Canterbury Tales - Humour. (2004, September 28). Retrieved February 16, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Canterbury-Tales-Humour/15066

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 9/28/2004 02:28:41 PM
Category: English
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 875
Pages: 4

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