Chaucer's View of Christianity

Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales is a curious mix of ribaldry and Christian themes and values, made all the more intriguing by the plot twists he incorporates. At first blush, Chaucer's works are coarse even lewd and full of raucous entertainment. The reader cannot help but notice, however, that many of his characters are Christian figures a nun, a monk, a friar, and a parson, for example. These characters, along with earthier characters like the miller and the reeve, are on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas Becket, and each of them tells a tale to the reading audience. Chaucer uses the "odd bedfellows" concept to compare and contrast real Christianity with hypocrisy or spiritual ignorance throughout the tales, and each story brings out a different aspect of this analysis. Behind the crude jokes and somewhat slapstick humor that pervades many of the tales is a recognition that in spite of spiritual hypocrites, there is such a thing as a true and deep relationship with God. However, most people fail to develop such a relationship. They may have a passing familiarity with the Bible and Biblical principles, but their lives are not governed by them. As a consequence of their spiritual neglect, they suffer many difficulties. At the heart of The Canterbury Tales is Chaucer's profound conviction that the world operates according to God's Christian principles and that anyone who violates those principles will pay a price.

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Category: Literature - C