As the prologue to Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales unfolds and the gentle ebbs of spring rush in, so too do a small band of pilgrims on their way to honor the resting place of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury. As each of the pilgrims sits, journey worn, in the Tabard Inn tavern, Chaucer takes the opportunity to provide a unique glimpse at this particular caste of characters. What makes this glimpse unique is not the variety of characters, but the setting itself. Each pilgrim, though of different social classes and backgrounds, seems devoid of rank. As pilgrims, a lowly Miller sits with as much distinction as a respected Clergyman, or so Chaucer makes it seem. This lack of class division and distinction allows the reader to carefully analyze each character; casting aside any social pretense or stereotypes and allowing said reader to see these characters in new lights. For instance, amongst the group is a Pardoner, a man of the church, and as such readers of Chaucer’s time would expect him to be virtuous, however, he is described as one of the most dishonest characters of the group. Among them there is also a Monk, who, despite his holy vows, is one of the most gluttonous, secular characters in the party. Though Chaucer does take the time to establish characters both entertaining and familiar, such as the promiscuous Wife of Bath or the foul-mouthed Miller, even in those characters, Chaucer utilizes them to present new ideas to the reader, such as sovereignty and the presence of vulgarity. Thus, as Chaucer utilizes the setting of a pilgrimage as a tool to strip social pretense from his characters, The Canterbury Tales functions as a social commentary for its time, using the guise of a pilgrimage to provide the reader with a unique observation of each of the main characters, who represent new looks at the old stereotypes of Chaucer’s time.
Thus, with Chaucer’s use of setting as a means to take a fresh look at society, this project intends to follow to do the same. This resetting of the Canterbury Tales takes place during one of the great contemporary American pilgrimages…holiday traveling. This new take starts in an airport terminal in the wake of an unrelenting blizzard. As a result, many flights are delayed indefinitely; however leaving the airport in this weather is not an option. Thus a flight of passengers, stranded in the airport, band together in the local terminal pub to kill the time with drinks and merriment. While there, the captain, not drinking of course, proposes that they all go around telling jokes and that the passenger with the best joke gets a drink and a meal paid by all. The setting chosen for this project correlates closely to Chaucer’s setting in that it follows a group of weary travelers however puts an obviously modern twist on an old story. Either way, the setting will effectively strip the characters of their pretense, as all of them will be trapped in a similar, tiresome situation. So, the setting of an airport, and bar therein, will effectively mimic Chaucer’s tactic of placing a large amount of various people in a similar, precarious situation, forcing them to ignore distinctions and join together and provide news takes on old stereotypes. Thus, in the end, Chaucer’s basic tool for bringing a story like this to an audience is just as effective, as seen in this reincarnation and contemporary readings of the Canterbury Tales.
Citations:
Minus the Bear. "Absinthe Party in the Fly Honey Warehouse." Highly Refined Pirates. Suicide Squeeze, 2002.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
In terms of mechanics, this seems just slightly rushed and a bit disorganized. That is, there are some areas where certain wording could be improved or diversified; you used the verb cast in close proximity with the noun caste which can be confusing and you used thus in consecutive sentences. I mentioned organization because I cannot clearly see where you introductory ideas shift toward your supporting ideas and it is hard to distinctly pick out your thesis. Also, it doesn't come to a logical close, so in general the flow needs some tweaking.
ReplyDeleteMoving on to content, I like your ideas. I like the way the correlation fits so well. The similar challenge is a nice touch. Your description of holiday travelling as a migration is very effective. I can see how you achieve Chaucer's original goal through an updated setting. The examples you provided from the original text are nice, but it would enhance your work to provide and example or two of interactions that might hypothetically happen in your new location.
The images and sound work well together with your written part, as they are interwoven with the proposed situation. I think you could have made two improvements, however. Your images are effective, but could be made more effective with a little more detail (I understand you are not an artist), and also I think the transitions could be more purposeful and/or synchronized with the music. Besides that, music choice is good and the choices of images are also helpful to your premise.