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Luca Bonini
Ms. Thompson
Honors Brit Lit, Skinny A
February 28, 2015
Geoffrey Chaucer: Irony in the Canterbury Tales
Known as the Father of English Literature, Geoffrey Chaucer influenced writing in the
past, the present, and will continue to do so in the future. Even though he was born into an
opulent life, Chaucer faced many difficult adversaries in his quest to write The Canterbury Tales.
Chaucer was a poet and one of his most well-known works was The Canterbury Tales, a
storytelling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark to
the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. The tales constitutes perhaps the
richest fullest portrayal of a world and its people ever achieved by any writer, (Howard 14). The
reason for this is that Chaucer has family connections that allowed him to experience various
perspectives of medieval life. (Howard 14). Using his vast experiences, Chaucer wrote the
Canterbury Tales using a mix of satirical and actual versions of all the various trades of the
medieval ages, with characters such as the Knight, Pardoner, and Monk.
Firstly, knights are often known as being valiant, virtuous heroes whom ride into battle
with fortitude to defend their countries, masters, and ideals even at the cost of their lives, and in
The Canterbury Tales the Knight character is depicted as being such a man, which is what we
know as the classic knight, but knights were not typically like that in the medieval ages. The
Knight in the story was not loyal to anybody and At the time and for some time to come the
armies of Christendom were feudal in character, (Rowling 66). In feudalism a knight pledges
his life to serving a master which was typically a lord or lady at this time. The Knight in the story

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was what was known as a free company, a knight without a master, which was actually quite
common and quite infamous at this time. Free companies were more often than not known for
their cruelness and ruthlessness because they would do almost anything for money. (Rowling
71). The knight however did not have the qualities of the typical free company, he instead was
satirized to be the quintessence of a true knight. Chaucers portrayal of the knight is an example
of one of the characters he depicted in a satirical way.
Secondly, in a time where religion was such a matter of contention, it is very ironic how
little people actually took up a religious trade fully with their hearts in their religion. There were
a total of four men who took up a religious trade in The Canterbury Tales, the most prominent of
the four being the pardoner who, ironically, might need a couple of pardons himself. As the name
states, the Pardoners job was to give out pardons from sins, for a small fee of course. (Rowling
164) The idea of the trade was actually well intentioned but the pardoners were always almost
never the same, most, such as the Pardoner in the story, were in it only for the money. Abuse of
ones position, especially with religious hands, was a common occurrence during the medieval
ages and the pardoner was no different, Although a church official, the Pardoner is one of the
most churlish and unsavory characters taking part in the pilgrimage to Canterbury; he describes
himself as one who would take money from a widow even if it meant her children would starve,
so that he might continue his life of debauchery, (Sollars 1490). This description of the pardoner
further shows how cruel of a person he was and how far he was willing to go to satisfy his own
desires. But one must remember that the pardoner in the story was not an exception, almost all, if
not all, pardoners were also like this. The pardoner is a perfect example of a character in The
Canterbury Tales illustrated as he actually was in the medieval ages even though it might seem
like irony.

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Thirdly, when someone thinks of a monk they dont often think of a belligerent fellow
akin to a drunkard who lies in bars drinking ale all day. Besides the pardoner, another prominent
religious person in The Canterbury Tales is the Monk, but he is anything, but he is anything but
what you would expect from a monk. Monks were supposed to live according to the Rule of
Saint Benedict but due to the legislation of Charlemagne, allowing monasteries to be free from
taxes and tolls, many monasteries ended up forgetting their faith and just becoming traders for
the immense wealth they could get (Rowling 182) The monk in The Canterbury Tales although
not a merchant certainly is not a monk we see today. He is loud obnoxious and is more akin to
bear than he is a monk. The monk ignores all the rules of a monks lifestyle because he enjoys
hunting and riding horses rather praying and studying. The whole character of the monk is ironic
seeing as he absolutely no traits of a monk and Chaucer mostly likely created his character
knowing how ironic it was. This whole satirical way of depicting the monk just shows how
adroit Chaucer was at being an author.
In conclusion, Geoffrey Chaucer is a phenomenal author who utilized literary devices far
before they were known as literary devices. Irony and satire is a literary tool that has been used
throughout the ages and Geoffrey Chaucer used it quite often in his story The Canterbury Tales,
through his characters such as the Knight, Pardoner, and Monk. Chaucer has left a lasting effect
on literature with his tale, and he will be revered for now and for many years to come.