For some reason, I really enjoyed the story The Canterbury Tales. Out of all that we read in British Literature, while it may not have been my favorite, it was definitely the most interesting. I especially enjoyed the fact that while there was a lot of different information and description of all of the characters, it was not overwhelming, like it was in The Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare.
All of the characters were so different from one another, and it shows in their little bickering that they all did not get along, especially the Miller and the Reeve. I really liked the fact that everyone wasn't automatically friendly because that is honestly not the way the world works. Not everyone will like one another all the time. I sure don't, even though I try.
I really liked the assignment we were given the option of doing, with us making up our own character and the tale that they would tell if given the chance. I ended up choosing the character of a Southern farmer on his way to Disneyland, who decided to go there to show his ex-wife he could. I decided the moral of his tale would be that one "shouldn't count their chickens before they hatch." This tale was something I really enjoyed writing, because I was given the chance to look through someone's perspective that was completely different from my own.
I hadn't given it much thought until I read this post, but I have to agree that all the detailed information on the characters was helpful. It seemed to be almost too much when I first read it, but looking back on it now, after reading The Taming of the Shrew and The Beggar's Opera, it was actually a great way to make sure the reader knew what needed to be known about all of the separate characters. As you said, the information was almost overwhelming in The Taming of the Shrew, and I thought it was difficult to keep track of all the different characters in the Beggar's Opera. For a story with so many involved characters, The Canterbury Tales did a good job with that.
ReplyDeleteOh, I definitely agree with the idea of the details being a bit overwhelming in The Taming of the Shrew. Though I've had it explained to me numerous times, I'm still not sure as far as the whole identity thing went in that story.
ReplyDeleteThe Canterbury Tales was realistic in how it painted pictures of really varied and different characters. The bickering between the characters just made it seem believable.