Geoffrey Chaucer is considered one of the best writers in English literature, but his writings are not commonly taught in school classes. Geoffrey Chaucer humor can be found throughout The Canterbury Tales . Geoffrey Chaucer’s humor is often based on wordplay and irony, as well as satire.
Geoffrey Chaucer also used his writing to criticize trends, people, political situations, and much more during his time period. Geoffrey Chaucer humor may be hard for modern readers to understand sometimes because it includes medieval literary conventions, but Geoffrey Chaucer’s humor continues to entertain many modern readers today just like Geoffrey Chaucer’s stories entertained Medieval Englanders.
When Geoffrey Chaucer began writing The Canterbury Tales , he wanted each storyteller to contribute a different tale type that would be popular with the other storytellers. Geoffrey Chaucer humor can be found in some of these story types that Geoffrey Chaucer included. Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Miller’s Tale, for example, prominently features Geoffrey Chaucer humor in Absolom’s trick against John the carpenter. Geoffrey Chaucer’s humor is also apparent when Nicholas tries to outsmart Alison by lying about untying her girdle string. Geoffrey Chaucer even adds his own Geoffrey Chaucer humor to his The Knight’s Tale through Theseus’ speech to Hippolyta and Egeus.
Geoffrey Chaucer humor is prominent throughout Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales; however, it often takes an educated reader to truly understand Geoffrey Chaucer humor contained within Geoffrey Chaucer’s writing. Geoffrey Chaucer humor is just one of the many reasons Geoffrey Chaucer has continued to be considered a great writer throughout history.
Geoffrey Chaucer humor in The Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer’s humor is found throughout his work, but especially in The Canterbury Tales. Many of the tales place humorous events or remarks in a serious context. For example, Geoffrey Chaucer humor is found in the Miller’s Tale when Nicholas tricks Absolon into kissing Alisoun and even more so when he has sexual intercourse with her right there in front of him (Chaucer 944-945).
Geoffrey Chaucer’s humor was also evident when he wrote that “the frere lough whan he hadde songe” (Chaucer 795); this is an example of Geoffrey Chaucer’s humor because it makes fun of people who cannot sing and laugh at them for it. Geoffrey Chaucer’s other works also contain Geoffrey Chaucer’s humor, such as The Legend of Good Women. Geoffrey Chaucer humor is found when he wrote “But she ne wolde nat do him swich plesaunce” (Chaucer 973). Geoffrey Chaucer’s humor was added to this line because the author made the woman sound unfriendly and unapproachable. Geoffrey Chaucer’s humor can also be seen in Troilus and Criseyde where Geoffrey Chaucer wrote: “For if thou darst, thon art a Venus YES.” (Chaucer 203-4).
Geoffrey Chaucer used Geoffrey Chaucer humor to create irony here because even though the speaker believes that Criseyde is actually a goddess, Geoffrey Chaucer humor is found when Geoffrey Chaucer puts the word “yes” at the end of his statement. Geoffrey Chaucer’s humor can be found in The Poet’s Tale where Geoffrey Chaucer wrote, “For though thou prikest lyk a cherl bihynde” (Chaucer 635-6). Geoffrey Chaucer’s humor was added to this line because it makes fun of people with low intelligence. Geoffrey Chaucer used Geoffrey Chaucer humor in Troilus and Criseyde when he said, “Thow hast compleyned ofte er this of mi release!” (Chaucer 543)
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.
The rooster is boastful and proud. Chaucer makes fun of Chaunticleer’s talking and his use of language in The Nun’s Priest Tale. In The Miller’s Tale, Geoffrey Chaucer uses humor to describe Nicholas, the main character by using common medieval ideas about priests. For example, Geoffrey Chaucer calls him a “jolly” man who likes to drink wine and have a good time. This creates an image that he is not suited for his job as a priest because you weren’t supposed to do these things if your were a priest in the Medieval time period.
Geoffrey Chaucer also used humor in The Miller’s tale when Absolon kisses Alisoun’s bums during the night and Geoffrey Chaucer makes the description of this event very humorous. Geoffrey Chaucer uses Absolon’s feelings to make this scene comical: “A thousand times have I thought on that! ” In The Miller’s Tale Geoffrey Chaucer also describes John by saying that he was a stout carl, a strong man with a big stomach. In literature, this creates an image of someone who doesn’t care about what happens around him because he is too busy taking care of himself and not everyone else or their affairs.
It gives you the idea that he has different priorities than most people in the medieval time period did which is a sharp contrast from Knight who cared more about others than himself in Geoffrey Chaucer The Knight’s Tale . Geoffrey Chaucer also uses these ideas about the carl to show how he does not care what happens to Absolon during the night when John gets angry at him for kissing Alison. Geoffrey Chaucer used humor in The Prioress’ Tale by describing a little child who was killed and said that he had rosy lips, white teeth and a small body. This creates an image of something so innocent and pure it is almost angelic.
It also reminds us of Jesus when we think of images like this. Geoffrey Chaucer also wrote different types of humor in The Canterbury Tales. One example would be when Geoffrey Chaucer describes Chanticleer in The Nun’s Priest Tale by saying: “So neigh we were out of that forest y-passed”. Geoffrey Chaucer makes a horse sound like a man in The Nun’s Priest Tale. This is Geoffrey Chaucer’s humor because Geoffrey Chaucer created the idea that a rooster sounds just like a human being and they have this conversation which is very funny if you think about it.
In The Miller’s Tale, Geoffrey Chaucer uses irony when Absolon asks Alisoun to let him kiss her bum after he sees John do it before she goes inside of her house. Absolon says, “I pray thee by thy golue-dropping dew, And by thine own seinte, lovely mayde…” Geoffrey Chaucer creates a word picture of what a girl would want to hear from someone who wants to kiss her because Geoffrey Chaucer uses words like “golue-dropping dew” and his use of alliteration adds to this image.
Geoffrey Chaucer makes it sound like Absolon is so sweet even though he says these things because he wants to see if John really loves Alisoun or not by kissing her bum. This creates irony because Geoffrey Chaucer didn’t think that Absolon would actually do something this ridiculous but he proved him wrong when Geoffrey Chaucer writes about how Absolon ends up kissing Alison’s bum after seeing John do the same thing. Geoffrey Chaucer also makes fun of love in The Millers Tale.
