THE PROLOGUE TO THE CANTERBURY TALES: CHAUCER’S HUMOUR

Chaucer was a born humorist. He was the master of humour and irony. He was the first true humorist
in English Literature, and it is by his humour that Chaucer has won a permanent place in the hearts of his
readers. Mansfield calls him, a great Renaissance gentleman mocking the Middle Ages. Humour was the
stuff and substance of his entire mental constitution and the essence of his art. It was the colour of humour
that gave the lively touch of his poetry and made it a fountain of liveliness and joy. It was his humour that
strengthened him against all misfortunes and enabled him to retain the freshness of his youth in spite of
many miseries. He was a great master of humour and all his writings abound in it in all its rich variety. He
belongs to great humorists of English literature.

Chaucer’s humour is essentially English in character. Just as Chaucer’s personality was English, the
ring of his humour is equally English. Lowell gives expression to the humour of Chaucer in the following
words: “Chaucer’s is essentially an English humour. It is not the wit of the Frenchman. His humour is born
of a strong commonsense and a generous sympathy and these are the qualities of the great English humorists
like Shakespeare and Fielding.

To grasp the secret of Chaucer’s humour it is well to remember that Chaucer with all his wide
learning was a great humanist. He was essentially the poet of man intensely interested in man and his affairs.
He had large humanity and good humoured tolerance. He had no disliking for fools and no hate for rascals.
While gently unmasking the evil of the rogues, he was grateful of them for the pleasure they gave. Thus his
humour was the offspring of large humanity and catholicity of temper without a grain of ill-will. His
understanding sympathy with the unpleasant side of life, his genial temperament which made him observe
with delight the frailties of mankind--- all these made him a great humorist. His imagination could raise
bubbles of fun out of unexpected places. It brightens whatever it touches. This geniality separates Chaucer
from such later humorists as Addison and Jane Austin who can be cruel. Cruelty and Chaucer are strangers.
Every object was viewed by him with humour.

Chaucer’s humour is of the finest type. It bears a close similarity to Shakespeare’s humour. Like
Shakespeare’s humour it is marked with a freshness of outlook, charity, tolerance and forgiveness. There is
the tone of sympathy for its victim. Humour takes many forms in literature. It can be used both in broad and
limited sense. In the narrow sense it means a little jolly good natured mirth. In its broader sense it stands for
noisy humour (Fun), intellectual humour (wit), gentle humour and bitter humour (satire). Chaucer’s work
reflects all these forms and shapes of humour. Chaucer raises humour at his own cost as at the cost of his
pilgrims. He spares not even himself and cracks many a jest at his own expense. He refers to himself as a
simple unlettered man. The satirical tone of Chaucer’s humour is well presented in the characters of the
Monk, the Friar, the Franklyn, the Pardoner and the summoner. There is the presence of ironic humour when
the poet gives the description of Madame Eglantyne’s French. There is ironic love in the ridicule of the
Knight’s achievements and the distant places visited by him in the course of the holy wars as in Alexandria,
Prussia and Russia.

There is humour also in the general plan and setting of the Canterbury Tales. The set of pilgrims on the way
are like the members of the crew of Comus than the holy pilgrims. They provide a humorous spectacle of
humanity on the move as we meet them in their journey. Chaucer shows them calling to each other,
criticizing each other and quarreling with each other. They shout and swear, laugh and weep, interrupt the
story teller, pass compliments and thus keep alive the spirit of life. In this way a comedy of action goes
through the whole poem.
Prof. M. Shafique Anjum Dk Page 1
Govt. Post Graduate College, Gojra