In The Canterbury Tales

1
Satire

• In The Canterbury Tales
• AND
• Current Political Cartoons

2
What is SATIRE?

• the use of humor and wit with a critical
  attitude, irony, sarcasm, or ridicule for
  exposing or denouncing the faults of mankinds
  activities and institutions (such as folly,
  stupidity, or vice).
• It usually involves a moral judgment
• It uses comedy or humor
• It has an intended target
• It describes a folly or vice in detail

3
SATIRE in The Canterbury Tales

• First, you have to understand that The Canterbury
  Tales (esp the Prologue) describes the classes of
  medieval society. It illustrates individuals from
  the three main estates (or social categories).
• The first estate The Church (the people who
  prayedFriar, Monk, Pardoner, Parson)
• The second estate- The nobility (the people who
  foughtKnight, Squire)
• The third estate- The peasantry (everyone
  elsethose who provided food for the people who
  fought or prayed).

4
FYI

• By later Middle Ages, the division of the
  traditional estates was breaking down, and there
  is the rise of the mercantile class
  (merchants/upper middle class) and a new
  subdivision of the clergy, the intellectuals
  who were trained in literature and writing (The
  Clerk).

5
ESTATES SATIRE

• The Tales is an example of Estates Satire
  (satirize the abuses that occur within the three
  traditional estatesESPECIALLY the clergy).
• Refer back to our Pilgrim chart to see which
  characters were described SARCASTICALLY.
• Question What is Chaucers attitude toward the
  church? What is being satirized? What is Chaucer
  speaking out against?