Chaucers Retraction in The Canterbury Tales Essay

Chaucers Retraction in The Canterbury Tales Chaucers ability to characterize people from all walks of life in explicit detail, as is so wonderfully displayed in The Canterbury Tales, is just one factor that allowed him to be known as one of historys finest literary artists. At the end of a career that would be considered by most artists as an extremely successful one, what could have caused Chaucer to apologize for any of the works which defined literary success? In Chaucers Retraction, which appears at the end of The Canterbury Tales (Norton 311), Chaucer not only apologizes for several of his secular works, he also goes so far as to revoke them, and ask for forgiveness for such works which tended toward sin (313), as he puts it.†¦show more content†¦It was believed, and still is by some, that doing so brought one closer to God. The journey itself was all about penance; the more difficult the journey, the better the chance of forgiveness of past sins, as Peter Speed points out in Those Who Prayed, an Anthology of Med ieval Sources (Speed 178). Christian belief is largely based on the assumption that all humans are born into original sin, and only through repentance for even this inherited original sin are they deemed worthy of an everlasting heavenly afterlife. Given this belief, Chaucer may have been justified in asking for forgiveness for any sins he may have inadvertently committed. However, it does not seem to fully justify a complete retraction of works, unless those works displayed some grave sin for which repentance was necessary. It is now necessary to consider what might constitute a grave sin. Certainly any action contrary to Christian teaching of the time would constitute sin. Heresy was taken very seriously by the Church in those days. Early in the eleventh century, the Fourth Lateran Council described procedures for dealing with heresy: We excommunicate and anathematize [pronounce as a thing devoted to evil] every heresy that contradicts this holy, orthodox, catholic faith, and condemn all heretics, no matter what they may call themselves ... Those who are accused of heresy, mustShow MoreRelatedEssay on Chaucers The Canterbury Tales927 Words   |  4 PagesChaucers The Canterbury Tales In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer comments on moral corruption within the Roman Catholic Church. He criticizes many high-ranking members of the Church and describes a lack of morality in medieval society; yet in the â€Å"Retraction,† Chaucer recants much of his work and pledges to be true to Christianity. Seemingly opposite views exist within the â€Å"Retraction† and The Canterbury Tales. 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Chaucer uses an abundance of sarcasm, as opposed to seriousness, to describe h is characters in â€Å"The Canterbury Tales.† nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Read MoreGeoffrey Chaucers Use of Sarcasm to Describe His Characters1779 Words   |  8 Pagescharacters in The Canterbury Tales. It will point out details that are seen in the book that help explain how he used this sarcasm to prove a point and to teach life lessons sometimes. I will also point out how this sarcasm was aimed at telling the reader his point of view about how corrupt the Catholic Church was. Chaucer uses an abundance of sarcasm, as opposed to seriousness, to describe his characters in The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer did not begin working on The Canterbury Tales until he was