The Prologueto the Canterbury Tales
The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales A satire is the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. Satires are used in the piece of writing named “The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.” In the story, Chaucer, the narrator uses satirical speech to describe a few characters. These characters are: The Prioress (the nun), The Monk, The Summoner, The Pardoner and The Friar. One of the many characters that Chaucer uses satirical speech for is The Prioress. The Prioress is a nun who heads a convent. Chaucer describes her as a woman who is pleasant, and friendly in her own ways. The prioress is plump and Chaucer describes her as being indeed no means under grown. One of the characters that Chaucer describes with great use of satire is The Prioress. Nuns are supposed to live plain and simple lives, but the nun that Chaucer describes is characterized by her excessive concern about her appearance. For example her lips are always rosy pink. This is considered irony because nuns really shouldn’t care about their appearance. Another use of satire that was used against the Prioress was that she would feed her little dogs roasted meat, thin slices of white bread and fine wine. This is a satire because she feeds her dogs better food than most people in the poor community. This was very disrespectful to many people and she thought that she was way above everyone class wise, when she really wasn’t. She cared about animals more than she did about people. This was wrong because as a nun you should set an example for people to follow and you should care for everyone equally. Another example is how she speaks. She speaks through her nose with a French accent. She appears to be very fake to many people. This is bad because you should be true to yourself and not lie about how you are to get attention. Another character that