EN 2250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Fabliau, Geoffrey Chaucer, Thesis Statement
Document Summary
Kings do not fall under the ranks, they are an ethos. The higher the priest, the closer to god; considered to be at the top rank. The knight is the top-ranked person in the tales. The host is also an important person, one of the ones who work. If you were born into the ones who worked, you could not move up in society; you would be bound to your estate. When you enlist farmers into the military they are armed with shovels and picks: not real soldiers. When you are a wealthy merchant you could buy your sons a military position. After a few generations, you could hope that your children could mingle with the lesser nobility. Chaucer has these three ranks operating in the general prologue. An external play that contains the rest of the tales. Arabian nights example: a larger story that gives way to many smaller stories.
