Terms in Narratology

 Chaucer as a pilgrim from
Ellesmere Manuscript, 
Early Edition of "The Canterbury Tales"
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Peter Barry describes the terms involved in the study of narratology. Narratology is comprised of many elements culminating in great storytelling, some of which both Dante and Chaucer use in The Miller’s Tale and Vita Nuova.

For example, Barry  writes about the use of time in a story. Every story has a beginning, middle, and end, but, as Barry puts it, “stories tend to begin in the middle,” (235). That is not to say that stories to not have flash-backs, or even fast-forwards, but to begin at the true beginning of a story can be (at times) boring. The literary term for flash-back is analeptic, with a flash-forward being proleptic. Geoffry Chaucer’s The Miller’s Tale seems to begin in the middle; a drunken miller begins to tell the story of the jealous carpenter and his wife. The reader only knows this because the narrator sets up the backstory first, in analeptic fashion.

In the same way, the basic narrative mode of The Miller’s Tale is both diegetic and mimetic. Diegetic is when part of the story is summarized in a few sentences, while mimetic is the opposite. Mimetic storytelling is full of detail and conversation. The beginning of Vita Nuova is most certainly mimetic because of the detail in which the narrator describes the meeting of his love, Beatrice: “She appeared dressed in noblest colour, restrained and pure, in crimson, tied and adorned in the style that then suited her very tender age,” (Dante 5). Section 2 of Vita Nuova is proleptic because the narrator fast-forwards nine years later after meeting the girl of his dreams.

Works Cited

Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory. England: Manchester University Press. 2009. Print.

Alighier, Dante. Vita Nuova. 1295. Web.

The Lexicon of Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer was a British author born into the emerging middle class of Medieval England. He worked often for the aristocracy, thus his writing could have been biased when introducing characters of a higher social class. In his signature collection, "The Canterbury Tales", there are certain instances of diction that allude to the social status and moral nobility of each individual character.

In the General Prologue, there are three characters that are described at length: a knight, a nun, and an aristocrat. The knight is said to be "a worthy man/ [...who...] loved chivalrye/ trouthe and honour, freedom and curteisye," (Greenblatt et al, 2006, p. 219). Likewise, the nun is shown in a positive light when she is presented as a woman whose smile was, "ful simple and coy/ [...] Ful wel she soong the service divine," (Greenblatt et al, 2006, p. 221). However, when Chaucer goes into detail about an aristocrat (well, important churchman), his words are not flattering in the least; "His heed was balled, that shoon as any glas/ [...] He was a lord ful fat and in good point," (Greenblatt et al, 2006, p. 223). From these excerpts, one could assume that characters who served others or did not have much money held a greater regard than that of the aristocracy in parts of "The Canterbury Tales".

Greenblatt, et al. (Eds.). (2006). Teaching with the Norton Anthology of English Literature (8th ed.).New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company

Uses of Imagery in "The Wife of Bath"

While reading "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale", many instances of imagery are apparent. Geoffrey Chaucer uses the narration of the wife of Bath to describe how men marginalize women unfairly. When speaking of her fourth husband, the wife says, "By God on earth, I was his purgatory/ for which I hope his soul lives now in glory,".

Earlier, she told of how he kept a mistress, therefore her allusion to maintaining a purgatory on earth was most likely revenge for his unchaste ways. Later, she goes on to say, 

"There was no one, save God and he, that knew/ How, in so many ways, I'd twist the screw,". In these lines of prose, the wife means that only she, her husband and the Divine Creator knew how she punished him for his adultery. Perhaps she did subtle things to make him sorry for what he had done, but they were humiliating nonetheless.

Lines and imagery like the ones mentioned give insights into the character the wife of Bath. While being married to her fourth husband, she described herself as 'young and full of passion'. Her naivety faded once she discovered her lascivious husband, and she hardened herself to make him suffer for hurting her. Overall, the insights from imagery in the story develop a plot that negates the chauvinistic view of women in society at the time. As a reader, the imagery evokes feelings of humor at the wife's approach to life, marriage and even virginity.

Greenblatt, et al. (Eds.). (2006). Teaching with the Norton Anthology of English Literature (8th ed.).New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company