routledge+history+of+literature+in+english

38 Old and Middle English 600–1485
and her tale, set at the time of King Arthur, opens up the question of
what women really ‘most desire’ – again a challenge to courtly values.
Some said that women wanted wealth and treasure,
‘Honour,’ said some, some ‘Jollity and pleasure,’
Some ‘Gorgeous clothes’ and others ‘Fun in bed,’
‘To be oft widowed and remarried,’ said
Others again, and some that what most mattered
Was that we should be cossetted and flattered.
The friar is described not as a holy figure, but as ‘wanton and
merry’. He tells a teasing tale about an extortionate religious figure, a
summoner, who is carried off to Hell by the devil.
Ponder my words, reflect upon my story.
The lion’s always on the watch for prey
To kill the innocent, if so he may . . .
The summoner then answers this with a comic story of a greedy
friar, again using low humour to mock religious attitudes:
Fat as a whale and waddling like a swan,
They stink of wine like bottles in a bar;
How reverent their supplications are!
When they say prayers for souls their psalm of David
Is just a ‘Burp! Cor meum eructavit!’
This gentle mocking of heroic courtly values reveals that Chaucer’s
intention is more than just to describe the world in which he lived. Although
himself conservative, he examines, and wants the reader to see, the changes
that society is undergoing. There is a sense of shifting emphasis as older
values are questioned and new values affirmed. Throughout the Tales
there is also a joyful sense of humour, of enjoyment of sensual pleasures,
and of popular, earthy fun. Serious and comic intentions go hand in hand,
and give a new vision of a fast-developing and richly textured world.
Above all, individual self-interest is more important than social, shared
interests. Many of the characters are seen to be set in their ways. They are