Chaucer the Reactionary : Ideology and The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Author / Editor
Blamires, Alcuin.

Title
Chaucer the Reactionary : Ideology and The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Published
Review of English Studies 51: 523-39, 2000.

Description
Chaucer responds to the uprising of 1381 by shifting blame for the underlying oppression from the ruling and judiciary figures to the Reeve, a rigorous despot over the lower classes. Chaucer does not write from a classless position; rather, he espouses aristocratic ideas and decries peasant aspiration. This attitude carries over from The General Prologue into the Tales, especially The Summoner's Tale.

Chaucer Subjects
General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.
Reeve and His Tale.
Summoner and His Tale.