Satire in Geoffrey ChaucerÆs Canterbury Tales
A number of critics contend that Geoffrey Chaucer uses satire in The Canterbury Tales to make fun of the clergy, women, and members of the medical profession. He makes fun of medical professionals via astrological prophecy. He satirizes the wealthy burgherÆs Wife of Bath and the MillerÆs wife in The MillerÆs Tale. The only characters who appear to escape such satire in the ôPrologueö are the Clerk of Oxford, a poor student, and a religious clerk who is depicted a extremely respectful. Other than these, The Canterbury Tales is a ball field of satire against the religious men and women of ChaucerÆs era, according to critics of his work.
The physician in ChaucerÆs tales knew all the humors by which illnesses were diagnosed in his time; he knew all the Latin and Greek scientists, philosophers, astrologers, and alchemists. He dispensed medicine easily, for medicine sometimes had gold-powder in it. As Tatlock (pp. 33-34) maintains, he loved gold especially, ôFor gold in physic is a cordial, therefore he loved gold in special.ö
In the ôPrologue,ö Chaucer delights in satirizing his pilgrims, from the fat Monk and the Prioress to the Wife of Bath, Friar, Franklyn, and Miller. He satirizes them in all their knavish behavior. The characters come alive through his satirical depictions, with Chaucer drawing upon real types of his era that reflected various strata of English society and culture. As Marchette Chute (p. 249) maintains, Chaucer ôthrew the whole book of rules overboardö in the satires of his characters in the ôPrologue.ö
In conclusion, we see that ChaucerÆs satirizes his pilgrims not only to poke fun at the mores and manners of various social types of his era, but also to create characters who remain memorable to this day. As Rowland (p. 192) argues, what the ôPrologueö does with respect to each of these characters is to ôcreate a v
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