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ENGL 203 / 252 / 330 / 430 / 512
Dr. Debora B. Schwartz
English Department, California Polytechnic State Academy

The Three Estates

When a text is geared toward a item form of people, information technology is said to exist written advert status , Latin for "to the manor," that is, to everyone in a item social category (or "estate"). The thought of the "estates" is of import to the social structure of the Middle Ages.

Feudal society was traditionally divided into three "estates" (roughly equivalent to social classes). The "First Estate" was the Church (clergy = those who prayed). The "2d Manor" was the Nobility (those who fought = knights). Information technology was mutual for aristocrats to enter the Church and thus shift from the second to the first estate. The "Third Estate" was the Peasantry (anybody else, at least under feudalism: those who produced the food which supported those who prayed and those who fought, the members of the First and Second Estates).  Notation that the categories defined by these traditional "estates" are gender specific:  they are defined by what a man does for a living every bit much every bit by the social class into which he was born.

Women were classified differently. Similar men, medieval women were built-in into the second or third estate, and might eventually become members of the kickoff (by entering the Church, willingly or not). But women were likewise categorized co-ordinate to three specifically "feminine estates": virgin, wife and widow. It is interesting to note that a woman's estate was determined not by her profession but by her sexual activity: she is defined in relationship to the men with whom she sleeps, used to sleep, or never has slept.

The rigid partitioning of society into the iii traditional "estates" begins to interruption downward in the later Middle Ages. Past the fourth dimension of Chaucer (mid-fourteenth century), we come across the ascent of a mercantile class (mercantile = merchants) in the cities, i.e. an urban middle-course, equally well as a new subdivision of the clergy: intellectuals trained in literature and writing (and thus "clerics" similar Chaucer'due south Clerk), but who were not destined to a professional career within the Church building. Chaucer arguably belonged to both of these new categories. What biographical details may have made him particularly sensitive to issues of social course? (Review the lyric poem "Gentilesse"; what does the line repeated at the finish of each poesy have to say about this issue?)

In the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer is highly conscious of the social divisions known as the "Estates." While the genre of the Canterbury Tales as a whole is a "frame narrative," the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales is an instance of "Estates Satire," a genre which satirizes the abuses that occur within the iii traditional Estates (in detail, the Clergy).  In her personal Prologue, the Wife of Bath argues forcefully that the feminine estates of "wife" and "widow" should be valued equally much as that of "virgin."

The characters described by Chaucer in the General Prologue have gathered at the Inn in Southwark prior to departing on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. What is the usefulness of this state of affairs to Chaucer? (What sort of people went on pilgrimages?) From what walks of life do the pilgrims come up? Note that Chaucer takes intendance to include representatives of all three traditional "male person"and "female person" estates (the Wife of Bath represents both "married woman" and "widow," while the Prioress, a nun, is presumably a virgin). Look for an arcadian portrait of each of the traditional (male) "estates." Which portraits are satirical? Annotation also the portraits representing two new groups that were gaining prominence in the fourteenth century: the middle class and intellectuals (people trained as "clerks" -- i.e."clerics" -- only who are non destined to a career within the church). Which pilgrims represent these new classes?

Pay attending to the pilgrim portraits. As you lot read the various portraits, selection out a fundamental word or phrase to describe each pilgrim. Note that physical details frequently provide insight into graphic symbol (in medieval times, physiognomy was believed to exist revealing of graphic symbol -- see too the concept of the 4 humors). What do the descriptions reveal nigh the pilgrims' characters? Which figures are painted in a positive or in a negative calorie-free?

Pay particular attention to the portraits of religious figures (Prioress, Monk, Friar, Parson, Pardoner); to those representing the other ii "official" estates (the aristocrats: Knight and Squire; the peasantry: the Plowman); to the "new" manor of Intellectuals (the Clerk); and to the representatives of the "centre class" (e.thousand. Miller, Reeve, Cook, Wife of Bath, Franklin, Merchant, and Shipman). Note that the Nun's Priest lacks a portrait (which is provided elsewhere, in the "epilogue" to the Nun'southward Priest's Tale), although he is mentioned equally one of three priests accompanying the Prioress. What is Chaucer'south mental attitude toward the Church? Is he anti-religious? What if annihilation is being satirized? Contrast the portraits of the two women, the Wife of Bath and the Prioress. Beloved is mentioned in both portraits. Is the sort of love which interests each woman the aforementioned? How might each define this "dearest"? Is it appropriate to her station in life? (What sort of dearest might 1 expect a Prioress to be concerned with?)

Contents of this and linked pages Copyright Debora B. Schwartz, 1996-2009

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Source: http://cola.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl430/estates.html

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