Carnival Of Cultures In The Canterbury Tales

This dissertation means to make a thorough examination on the dialogical and carnival relationship between the various genres and cultures, as well as the different cultures so as to achieve an all-round understanding of the interaction and communication of the mainstream cultures represented by Christian culture and other non-mainstream cultures, such as the medieval court and chivalry culture, folk cultures and marriage cultures. It is mainly composed of two parts: Introduction and the Body.Introduction briefly elaborates the research subject and it's significance and feasibility as well as the general research history of this work home and abroad. The part also gives a brief study on the poetics of cultural theory represented by Bakhtin and Greenbratt, as the theoretical foundation of this study.The Body is composed of five chapters. Chapter One concentrates on the dialogic relationship of romance, the medieval court and chivalry culture through the analysis of The Knight's tale and The Squire's Tale. This study means to reveal romance, this important literary genre in the late Middle Ages, comes from the confluence of western cultures and oriental cultures represented by the Arabic culture. With its complicated historical and cultural meaning it resonances and vibrates between the two differentiated cultures.The second chapter focuses on the discussion of dialogic relationship between the fabliau and medieval folk cultures. It comes to a conclusion that the rise of fabliau is a contra-reaction of courtly love promoted by the romance, but they also challenges the Christian mainstream culture as both of them belong to worldly cultures undoubtedly.The third chapter is a comprehensive examination on the interactive and dialogic relationship between the"marriage group"in The Canterbury Tales. It gives a full display of the marriage situations of the different classes in the late Middle Ages as well as the marriage ideals of the worldly, religious and women themselves.By the study of some tales narrated by religious clerks such as The Pardoner's Tale, The Monk's Tale and The Friar's Tale, Chapter Four discusses the significance of Christian culture in The Canterbury Tales by pointing out clearly that it is the main thread of the whole work either thematically or culturally. Besides, this chapter also makes a deep analysis of the internal conflicts and contradictions of Christian culture so as to make the examination of this study historically meaningful.The last chapter further explores the dialogic and carnival relationship of the Christian culture and the medieval court chivalry culture, folk culture and the marriage culture on the sound foundation of some historical facts. If the communication and interaction between the medieval court-chivalry culture, oriental culture, folk culture and marriage culture can be compared to several independent but vibrating polyphonies in one grand symphony, the medieval Christian culture is the monophony of it. The resounding of monophony through the polyphonies makes the symphony a harmonious whole. Therefore, the interaction and communication of different cultures is the necessary and unavoidable stage in the development of human cultures. The communication and interaction, understanding and respect of different cultures, as well as the reverberating of mainstream culture together play a harmonies culture symphony.