Canterbury Tales Essay
... condemned for: “She’d had five husbands, all at the church door, / Apart from other company in youth” (470-471). Although the sophisticated narrator finds all of these flaws, the naïve pilgrim still sees the good in the Wife of Bath. The naïve pilgrim thinks she is good because she wears finely woven clothes to Mass: “Her kerchiefs were of finely woven ground” (463). Even though the Wife of Bath tries to hide her flaws, the sophisticated narrator brings to life the sins she has committed. A Reeve is “a minor official on a country estate who served as an intermediary between the lord of the manor and his serfs” (McDonnell, 84). The Reeve was very successful because he expected lots out of his employees. He kept everything neat and clean: “He kept his bins and garners very trim” (609). He had a very good understanding of his trade: “And he could judge by watching drought and rain/ The yield he might expect from seed and grain” (611-612). The Reeve’s employees feared him because his longing for success led him to lose trust in his workers: “Feared like the plague he was, by those beneath” (621). The Reeve was not condemned for any serious sins, but he did possess certain human flaws that are revealed by the sophisticated narrator. Throughout “The General Prologue” the sophisticated narrator finds flaws in every character except a few. One of those characters is the Parson. The Parson shows his good traits through his actions. Few clergymen acted as proper as the Parson did: “I think there never was a better priest” (532). The naïve pilgrim admires the Parson, like any other character; but the sophisticated narrator also admires this character because he is honest, holy, and non-judgmental: “Hol...