1. Why does Chaucer include both positive and negative representations of people from different estates in The Canterbury Tales?
Give one example of a positive representation and one example of a negative representation. Explain how each character shows either positive or negative traits. Your answer should be at least one paragraph.
In the prologue of the "Canterbury Tales", peculiar characteristics of personality of the pilgrim characters, who are on their way to a shrine, are presented and described. The pilgrimage was a fine opportunity fro people from various social estates and ranks to intermingle and exchange in their tales the way of living of the class they belonged to. An example of a positive representation is the noble knight, who told a romance, "and he a worthy man / Who from the moment that he first began / To ride about the world, loved chivalry." A personification of courtly love and honor he was indeed. In contrast for instance with the Miller, who "was a janglere and a goliardeys, / And that was most of sinne and harlotryes." This coarse pilgrim told a fabliau, a genre about ordinary people opposite to the romance which depicted life at noble courts in fair kingdoms, to mock the Knight's story. Never in life would they have met, however, pilgrimage allowed their encountering and Chaucer was aware of the possibilities of the journey for people from different estates to interact.
