Chaucer: Motive and Mask in the "General Prologue."

Description: Argues that in the GP Chaucer offers an "analysis of social rank in terms of economic behavior," consistently evident in the descriptions where a "pilgrim's characteristic behavior is defined in every case in terms of the acquisition and use of wealth" and the order of the descriptions is "a clear, socio-economic ranking based upon an analysis of the origins of income." Furthermore, the characters of the pilgrims are revealed ironically, not by "depiction of personality," but by "unmasking of self--the very inner self"--of individual pilgrims.