During the Middle Ages in England there existed a tripartite society, composed of three estates: the nobility, the clergy and the workers. This tripartite system is often referred to as “those who fight, those who pray, and those who work” because of the duties of each section which provides the protection and governance of the kingdom, the holiness of the church to save souls, and the food and material for everyone. A very small percentage of people belonged to the aristocracy, a larger group were the clergy, and a huge population were the workers before the Black Death. The form of this inequality-based society was accepted because of its attempt to reflect the celestial hierarchy of the celestial hosts. Following the Black Death, the kingdom's population would be reduced by at least a third, sparking social unrest. The Canterbury Tales allows readers to see that Chaucer is aware of social unrest, and although he recognizes the honest lives of some peasants and believes that much of the church was corrupt, he professes faith in the hierarchy because of his loyalty to the aristocracy.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer reflects the general awareness of the tension between social hierarchy through his use of a story cycle composed of both fabliaux and romance. It highlights the fact that there is now more inherited money being passed down, because the entire population was reduced so drastically by the Black Death, which is creating greater social ascension. This new social mobility is not only creating a middle class, for the first time, but is also giving the lower class a reason to demand higher pay due to their heavier workload. To combat this attempt to make farmers earn better wages, the Workers' Ordinance, the Workers' Statute, and high taxation were implemented. Such measures show the fear that the nobility has of a social change in the hierarchy; one of the end results was the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. Within the prologue of the tales, Chaucer uses subtle word choices and actions implied in the plot to symbolize the lower class spiraling out of control when it comes to hierarchy. Although the narrator is supposed to be different from the author himself, readers can see that many of the characters are observed and written in ways that indicate Chaucer's actual opinions. In “The General Prologue,” the narrator tells the audience: “It seems to me that it is appropriate to resound / Tell you to the condicioun / Of each of them, as it seemed to me, / And what they were and of what degree / And look in what order they were in, / And to a knight I wanted first bigynne” (37-42 In his plan to describe all the pilgrims, the narrator states that he will also take note of their ranks, demonstrating not only that he relates rank). of a person based on his social class, but also that he knows that he should be classified according to the existing hierarchy. In another scene of the “General Prologue”, the host of the tales decides that the pilgrims will all draw straws for. choose the order of people to tell their stories. The knight is the pilgrim who chooses the straw that requires him to go first, the narrator makes the comment: "If it were by adventure or fate or chance, / The sothe it is this: the cut fil to the Knight" (845-846). This repetition of the idea that chance is responsible makes the remark sound sarcastic and shows his doubt that the knight drew this straw because of chance. Therefore, this incident proves that even in what it shouldbe the case, the aristocracy will take precedence because this is the natural order of the kingdom. The fact that it was the guest who distributed the straws confirms the idea that he symbolizes the king. As a king would do, the host establishes the rules of the bet, he is the one who organizes them, tries to enforce order, and also the one who, thanks to his ability to tell stories, can choose who wins the bet. The master of the house over the order is challenged by the miller, who pretends to be the one to tell the next story, even though the master of the house knows that the miller does not follow the order of society in his jokes: "Some better man he will tell us another first./ Abyde, e lat us werken parsimoniously” (3130-3131), However, due to the miller's threats of “speke or ells go” (3133), the host grants him the next tale, too. if this goes against the rules of the game. This deliberate change in the plot emphasizes the fear that the peasant revolt of 1381 caused to much of the nobility, including the king. Chaucer is well aware of the implicit actions and symbols he applies to the text, and which make the hierarchy of the kingdom present in the prologues of the Canterbury Tales. The nobility in this period was not the only authority to be challenged by the working class. The Black Death reduced much of the population, despite the religious prayers of the Church. the common people began to question the righteousness of the clergy. With the lavish lifestyle of the pope and the higher clergy, the constant need for money by the common people, and the corruption of many clergy and church officials, the Church began to lose some of its hold on the lower classes. This is where the creation of the Lollard religion allowed people to read the Bible in English and follow a church that remained rooted in simple lifestyles, without worldly luxuries. This English translation allowed the Bible to be interpreted by more than the clergy; a relevant reference is found in the “Prologue of the Wife of Bath”, when she provides her answer on the number of husbands a woman can have in her life. Antifraternal works in literature also become more popular, with The Canterbury Tales emerging as one such work. Chaucer describes both corrupt and honest religious figures in his work, suggesting that although he was aware of the corruption of many in the Church, he still believed that there were people of honesty and true piety. These religious characters of corruption can be seen in “The Friar's Tale” and “The Summoner's Tale”, as both characters (ironically) tell anti-fraternal stories even though both are associated with the church. In “The Friar's Tale,” the conjurer of the tale works alongside the devil and is fully aware of this reality after Satan's lines: “I am feend. My home is in Elle” (1448). Not only does the summoner (the pilgrim) tell a story during the prologue of his tale about 20,000 friars dwelling in Satan's ass in Hell, but he also follows that story with the story of a friar who lies upon seeing a soul rise to Heaven when asked about a woman's dead son. Through these tales, we can see that Chaucer believes in the possibility of this corruption, and perhaps became aware of such corruption in specific examples throughout his life. In addition to the corruption of the Church and the individuals associated with it, the collapse of the Church and the social authority of the Church is made evident by the curiosity implicit in the science behind the miraculous events. In "The Miller's Tale", the carpenter believes that Nicholas has discovered the coming of the next great flood through his use of astrology, although the carpenter also believes that it is a sin to discover the "secrets" of God. The Squire tells.