In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer presents a complex social structure in his imaginative world. It was during feudal and Medieval England when Chaucer was writing The Canterbury Tales. The author successfully satirizes the English society by carefully ranking his characters using “degree” to classify people (Chaucer 55). The book revolves around the three main social classes, noblemen, clergy, and peasants, to which all the main characters fit.
The first social class was noblemen, which was the most prestigious of all three. According to Chaucer, the people belonging to this category ate fancy foods, were covered in seasonings, and wore clothes made from fine materials (147). The examples of the characters in this class include the Knight, dukes, and other aristocratic families, such as the Knight and his son, the Squire. All these people owned such luxurious possessions as horses, which signified wealth in Medieval England (Chaucer 132). For example, the knights’ financial status is indicated by how the author describes the Knight’s son, a squire. He could read and write, draw, and ride a horse, which was the attributes of noblemen.
The second class was the clergy, which included some members of the church. The examples of the characters belonging to this social category are the Pardoner, Prioress, Friar, Monk, and Parson (Chaucer 3). All of them chose to commit their lives to the church. They were expected to be morally upright and behave piously, without any attachment to material things. However, these characters were only able to meet the mentioned criteria to varying degrees.
The third class is the peasants, who had difficult times during the period of Medieval and feudal England. They produced clothing and food for the two higher classes. In The Canterbury Tales, the examples of the characters in this group are the Plowman, oxford cleric, and the parson, whose tale is the last (Chaucer 637). Most of them had a strong belief in religion, did not wear under clothing, and their meals contained vegetables and porridge.
In conclusion, all the characters in The Canterbury Tales fall in one of the three social classes: nobility, clergy, and peasants, implying that England was structured during the feudal and medieval periods. The peasants belonged to the lowest class and lived under poor conditions. The clergy were the middle class, and they dedicated their lives to the church. Lastly, the noblemen were the first class, and they were the richest of all.
Work Cited
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Wordsworth Editions, 2002.