Canterbury Tales
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"A romance takes you to different worlds, to different cultures and exotic places." Geoffrey Chaucer (1342/43-1400) was a master of taking us to different worlds and allowing us to experience different cultures. In his Canterbury Tales, he brings all strata of the different English sub-cultures together as a traveling band of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury Cathedral. This was a common pilgrimage undertaken to commemorate the death of Thomas ßBeckett at Canterbury Cathedral. While traveling, each of the pilgrims relates a tale about themselves and the world from which they come, albeit the same world on the outside (England) a very different view of existence within her is had by all. This work reminded me so much of similar vacation stories I've heard while making my way to various American tourist attractions. The people were from all lifestyles û clergy, miller, lawyer, cook, a housewife û and their tales draw equally on their own integral experiences. You could sort of imagine tourists (pilgrims) on their way to Grace land to visit the King in honor of his death û a trailer park housewife, a nun, a lawyer, a Bob's Big Boy chef, a steelworker û some lewd, some imposing their morals, some injecting political content yet all tales built upon the previous in one long stream of consciousness conversation. Joseph Campbell described the Hero's Journey similarly to one of the class definitions of love: "A hero or heroine with whom we can identify has a series of t
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servage.
795: Servage? nay, but in lordshipe above,
796: Sith he hath bothe his lady and his love;
797: His lady, certes, and his wyf also,
798: The which that lawe of love acordeth to.
The Franklin relates a tale similar to the common folk tale "The Damsel's Rash Promise". In the folk tale, a wife agrees to be unfaithful to her husband if a visiting suitor performs an impossible deed. The suitor clever and tricky is able to perform the deed. What Chaucer does to the tale is adds an element. He notes that Dorigen only promises to have the affair if it will save Arviragus and keep him safe. She never once doubts that her husband will be able to rid the shore of the rocks, she is only concerned that he is safe while he completes the task. In the tale, the rocks are representative of the magical qualities of love, something that Dorigen never doubts û her husband's love.
Each of the characters within the story acts in such a way as to know that if their contracts our broken; there will be significant moral implications externally. A similar modern day tale is the movie Indecent Proposal with Robert Redford, Woody Harrelson and Demi Moore. In the movie version, Woody and Demi's characters are married and face a dil
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1961
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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