Brewer, Derek. An Introduction To Chaucer. Longman Group Limited, New York, 1984.

In his book An Introduction to Chaucer, Derek Brewer explores the life and work of Chaucer. From his schooling, family life and early work to his more famous text, The Canterbury Tales. Brewer analyzes Chaucer’s story and character development, his break down of formal patterns and his tendency to base characters on real people, to name a few. The development of the characters from Chaucer’s General Prologue, are referred to as static and brilliant, adding to what Brewer argues as the finest tale of all. “The characters…talk among themselves on the road between stories- and when people begin to talk in Chaucer we hear the very tones of living voices” (Brewer 166). Brewer leaves the reader with the question as to whether the character came before the creation of the story, or whether the story came before the creation of the character.

The story and character development of Chaucer’s prologue follows in a Gothic spirit. Chaucer used satire to gather serious subjects through the use of humor. This is similar to other writers of the Gothic style, such as Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron, however Chaucer goes further in his use of variety and how he develops the characters who tell the tales. “We may guess that his characters were first the product, so to speak, of the tales they were to tell. It is certain that Chaucer had some stories which were written before the Tales as a whole were conceived” (Brewer 165). Brewer argues that Chaucer created the characters before he wrote the tales, which accounts for the Tales tendency to take on a life of their own. Brewer refers to The Wife of Bath’s Tale, whose narrator is believed to originally be the narrator for another story, The Shipman’s Tale. “The change is apparent because the present Shipman’s Tale, although unquestionably attributed to him according to the manuscripts, is written for a woman to tell. It belongs to the period of the Tales, and could only fit the Wife of Bath” (Brewer 165). If the Wife of Bath was initially meant to tell The Shipman’s Tale, then it can be said that The Wife of Bath’s Tale is hers, in other words it is a result of the creation of her character.

Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales also differ in their structure and development through his use of irregular patterns or irregular descriptions of his characters. Brewer argues that this works in Chaucer’s favor because medieval literature is full of descriptions and portraits which do follow a regular pattern. The most obvious one is the description of the woman. All heroines of medieval literature follow the same type of description, “golden hair, dark eyebrows, teeth like pearls, slender shoulders, small breasts, broad hips etc.” (Brewer 169). Chaucer created the descriptions of his characters with this portrait in mind, however he used it as a guide of how not to describe his leading ladies. Although not all of his ladies strayed from this description (i.e. Criseyde), Chaucer stuck to avoiding this systematic portrait. “…And part of the pleasure of the vivid arbitrariness of the sequence of details derives from our underlying sense of the scheme which is broken. It is refreshing to see inconsequential ‘reality’, the apparently accidental event, break down pre-formulated rigid patterns, codes, ideals” (Brewer 169). An example of this is seen in the description of the Hag in The Wife of Bath’s Tale, described as “a poor, filthy and hideous old woman” (Brewer 207).

Chaucer describes his characters with great detail, and to add another layer of amusement to his work, some argue that his characters are based off of real people. “Some portraits were certainly based on real people in real life, thus adding another layer of implication, a further dimension of interest and at least for the earliest readers, amusement” (Brewer 174). An example of a character who was possibly created on the basis of a real person is The Merchant. “The Merchant may possible be meant to suggest a well-known merchant and money-lender named Gilbert Maghfield, from whom Chaucer and several other courtiers are known to have borrowed money, and who went bankrupt” (Brewer 174). Chaucer may have used people he encountered in real life situations to create complex characters . Either way, the existence of real life people in his characters add to the liveliness and social framework of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, more specifically the interaction of the characters from The General Prologue.

Brewer offers no clear introduction of conclusion to his book, rather he begins and ends with the start and death of Chaucer. The context of his book were very helpful in reading Chaucer, however in one chapter he focuses more on summarizing the Tales rather than offering substantial literary arguments about or against it. Brewer does lay a heavy emphasis on the character. He discusses how the characters were possibly developed or created and her proposes the idea that the character may have in fact come before the creations of the Tale. I think this holds to be a valid argument because the Tales are very elaborate and seem to be an exact conclusion of the character telling the story.

Brewer also discusses Chaucer’s stray from typical medieval literature structure, more specifically the description of the leading lady. I do think Brewer is moving in the right direction with his argument. Chaucer may not have just focused on the description of the ladies in his stray from the norm, but his character relationships as well. The ideal of marriage is almost shattered in some of the Tales because of some characters lack of respect for marriage as an institution. Also, feminine dominance is an idea evident in Chaucer’s Tales, for example the Wife of Bath’s Tale. The male figure or the knight is domineered by feminine power twice, once by the queen who takes on his punishment and once by the Hag who dominates him sexually and forces him into a marriage with her.

Brewer also touches upon the idea that Chaucer’s characters were based off of real people he encountered in his everyday life. This is not one I can argue for or against for, the people Brewer references existed but their connection the Chaucer’s characters could only be determined by people living in that social context. Brewer did not offer enough background information or arguments to back up his thinking in this situation. I do think that if Chaucer did use real people to develop his characters, it would have added to the amusement of his satirical Tales.