To understand exactly how Chaucer used his narrative techniques, one must first understand the context in which it would be performed. The 14th century was hardly a time of perfect literacy rates, and with no printing press books would be costly and almost impossible to reproduce, so most of the entertainment of the time was aural, and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is no different.
Chaucer was presenting this as entertainment to the royal court, which would have been filled with high ranking nobles and (more importantly) equally-high-ranking members of the clergy. This was Chaucer's audience, and he would find himself in seriously hot water if he were to openly insult the most powerful men in the land.
Chaucer's Views Expressed in The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer was not, however, one to toe the line. Chaucer had important criticisms to make of the Church, complaints mostly featuring money and exploitation of the people, summed in characters such as the Friar, or the Pardoner. Chaucer could not openly lambast the Church, it would have been exceptionally dangerous for his position, his freedom, and probably his life, if he were to make these powerful enemies, at this point in medieval Britain, the Church was dominant, and no man was exempt from its power.
Chaucer's Narrative in The Canterbury Tales
So what did Chaucer do? He created a character to do it for him, To understand the points made in the Canterbury Tales we need to think of Chaucer as two, or even three separate entities. Most importantly:
- Chaucer the Author – the man himself, who wrote the piece and is vulnerable to the power of the Church
- Chaucer the Pilgrim – a narrative device created by the previous Chaucer to narrate the fictional pilgrimage, it is most important to remember that this man is a character and not Chaucer himself, though he claims to be. This man, being fictional, is unable to be attacked or punished by the Church. The perfect disguise.
And then, less importantly:
- Chaucer the orator – Subtle differences between authorial and orative techniques are the subjects of discussion for die-hard Chaucer scholars, which we will not burden ourselves with on this occasion.
The Implications of Chaucer's Narratorial Choices
Chaucer was now free to say whatsoever he liked about the Church, without directly attacking it. The beauty of his created persona 'Chaucer-the-pilgrim', is that he is naive and blind to the faults of his companions, and as a result is perfect for the job. Chaucer the pilgrim openly reveals the flaws of the Friar and the Pardoner, with a simple naievity which only the most unresponsive of the audience could not pick up on.
Through his multiple personas, Chaucer could say what he liked about the Church through subtle (and generally not-so-subtle) sub-text, protected by the sheepskin of verisimilitude.
 |
