The Genres of the Canterbury Tales

The Nun’s Priest.

Genre: Fable

A fable is a story that has talking animals, a moral at the end. Animals are given human characteristics and are normally the main characters. Morals are things that seek to explain things about life. The Nun’s Priest tale contains all of the features of a fable. Firstly this story applies the use of talking animals. One animal is Sir Russell Fox and he says "Again! Again! What a tasty voice". This is a clear example that there are talking animals and that they have human characteristics. But perhaps the surest sign that this is a fable is when the Priest tells the audience directly that it has a moral,"To be on your guard against flatterers. This moral means to know and to be on your guard against flatterers and not to be flattered. Both Chaunticleer and Sir Russell Fox use flattery to deceive each other. Chaunticleer is flattered when the fox says to Chaunticleer he is really good at singing and Chaunticleer thinks that the fox is here to hear him and not eat him. Sir Russell Fox is fooled when Chaunticleer says for him to shout to the farmers following him to move away because they have no chance to catch him. While he is shouting Chaunticleer gets out of his mouth and flies up and away. These examples prove beyond doubt that the Nun’s Priest tale is fable. Another feature to be considered is the shortness of fables compared to other stories like The Wife of Bath's folk tale.

The Wife of Bath.

A folk tale has normal characters and events and seeks to explain things about life and the human condition. They also have make believe elements but overall the story is realistic. The Wife of Bath is a perfect example of a folk tale. Firstly the story uses normal characters like the Sir Codsbrain who is a low ranking knight. He is a archetype and so a normal and simple character. This is a crystal clear example of a normal character. The story also wants to explain about Sir Codsbrain's condition of always annoying women and flirting with them. Sir Codsbrain's condition is that he keeps flirting with women even when the Queen says he can't and this gets him into trouble. Also he thinks that he has control over women and expect them to like and follow him. But at the end he learns from the Old Woman that for women to like him he must let them have power over him. Finally at the end Sir Codsbrain marries the Old Woman and then later they are in bed and the Old Woman turns to a young and beautiful girl and then everybody is happy. This means that this is magical but the rest of the story is realistic. Over all I have given enough to say that the Wife of Bath's Tale is a folk tale beyond doubt.

The Pardoner's Tale.

A morality tale only contains a moral and otherwise is a normal story. The Pardoner's Tale is a morality tale. It has a clear moral that the Pardoner says to the audience"If you go looking for Death don't be surprised if you find him".This moral happens when 3 people go looking for Death because Death took their friend. An old man told them that he saw Death at a oak tree. At the oak tree they find a bag of gold. They decide that 2 people will guard the gold and the third will go and buy some food. The 2 guards also decide when the third goes away that they will kill him and have all the gold. The third one decides to but a poison and give it to the others. One he gets back the 2 guards kill him and then they drink the wine with the poison and they also die. By looking for Death and finding the gold they do in fact find Death, thus proving the Pardoner's Tale's clear moral which makes it a morality tale.

The Knights Tale.

A chivalric romance story is a tale that contains chivalry and romance. Chivalric is the rules of fighting that knights used. Romance is love between 2 people. The Knights Tale is a perfect example of chivalric romance. The romance is between 3 people: 2 men and 1 women. The 2 boys names are Palamon and Arcite. They both love the women Emily. Both Palamon and Arcite are in a prison and then they look out of the window and see Emily. They both immediately fall in love with her. Later they decide to joust to decide who will marry Emily. This is a chivalric example because they both take up the rules of fighting by saying the winner will marry Emily and they both abide by these rules. In the end Palamon wins and he marries Emily. Taking all this evidence into account it is clear that the Knights Tale is undoubtedly a chivalric romance.