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Chaucer’s Retraction: The Canterbury Tales
Chaucer’s Retraction
The Canterbury Tales
Chaucer’s retraction is a cover to get away with writing the Canterbury Tales. On paper, the apology to the church does exist but his whole tone reminds you of some one saying “I’m sorry,” and “Kiss my ass” at the same time.
Chaucer was a working man, a civil servant and park ranger who spent a lot of time working on or near the docks He was familiar with all kinds of people and had a very realistic viewpoint toward the world. He wrote his stories to let others get a chance to see lives they might not even get the chance to touch; to see how other people lived. Chaucer also provided that mirror to allow everyone to see how others lived as well.
In his work, he gave us versions of the knight, squires, and businessmen side by side with religious and lower class persons, much like Chaucer himself.
He allows the wife of Bath to tell us about how women are viewed in his time, and how the church had affected that viewpoint. Her last husband beat her. He was a born again Christian. According to the church, women are at fault for everything that happens. But it becomes a man’s duty to keep that evil, that chaos, under control so she won’t destroy the (male) world.
