Essay on the Middle Ages The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer Explores Chaucer's use of parody by referring to at least two tales. Chaucer's book "The Canterbury Tales" features a plot written in the late 14th century and set through the participation of a group of pilgrims in a story-telling contest that they invent to entertain each other on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket in the cathedral of Canterbury. For this reason, some stories become particularly attractive because they are written within a framework of parody which, as a style that mocks the genre, is usually achieved through the deliberate exaggeration of some of its aspects for comic effect. Indeed, as a branch of satirical mimicry, its purpose can be both corrective and derisive. (Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms) Chaucer, therefore, uses parody to highlight - satirise - some aspects of medieval society that should be reevaluated. He uses the stories and behaviors of his characters to paint an ironic and critical portrait of English society at the time, so the stories become satirical, elevated, ironic, earthly, obscene and comical. By analyzing the Knight's Tale and the Miller's Tale, one can realize how Chaucer makes fun of the conventions of courtly love and other social codes of behavior typical of the Middle Ages. The Knight's Tale, for example, uses the concept of the knight not only to parody the concept of the hero, but also to question the established convention of courtly love. This concept refers to a set of ideas about love that had an enormous influence on the literature and culture of the Middle Ages because it gave men the opportunity to feel free; and women, the opportunity to be an important element in the story - not only decorates...... middle of paper ...... complex stories, so Chaucer, the author, can use these parodies to satirize about medieval society in an innocent but ingenious way “Be forewarned therefore, and keep me free from guilt; / Men should not be too serious at play." (Prologue to Miller's tale.) It is through the eyes of Chaucer the pilgrim, and through his tendency to use long words, double-rowed adjectives, long sentences and paragraphs, and complicated, attractive mannerisms of expression that parodistic characteristics can be identified and then exploited Chaucer, the poet, is therefore a man who takes it upon himself to correct the censorship and to ridicule the follies and vices of society and thus to bring contempt and derision. about aberrations from a desirable and civilized norm Chaucer's parodies actually convey a protest, a sublimation and refinement of the anger and indignation – a satire – of the medieval period...