Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and the Covid Epidemic
I think there are some similarities in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and what we are going through as a result of the Covid epidemic.
Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales as a backdrop to the very real Bubonic Plague that had decimated Europe in the 14th and early 15th centuries. Approximately 45% of the continent’s population died in less than a decade.
One of Chaucer’s stories has an eerie similarity to what we are seeing today. In the “Pardoners Tale ( the only story that makes mention of the plague) ” greedy, self interested revelers are brashly seeking out death. It is largely a negative portrayal of people behaving at their worst during a time of plague; a reflection of the widespread pressure people were under during Chaucer’s ( and our times). It is a sobering reminder of man’s vulnerability and deficiency when faced with events he cannot control.
The plague created a crisis of confidence in the institutions of society, specifically the government and the Church. The government, i.e. the king and the Church’s holy men could not prevent or end the deaths caused by the plague and they were just as susceptible to the disease.
Chaucer’s world is not our world. I don’t know if our institutions will be as ravaged as they were in his time. But there is still a feeling of helplessness, sorrow and a sharing of our common humanity that cannot be denied when we see the daily number of deaths in our country and across the world.
In the end the pilgrim’s journey to Canterbury is about self-discovery as much as it is about penance and salvation. However our own journey to Canterbury ends none of us will ever be the same.
Ed Cardon
EPC Search International LLC
470-345-0846