Trouthe in The Canterbury Tales.

Abstract

This essay studies the various ways in which trouthe is employed in The Canterbury Tales which presents man’s fallible nature and limited knowledge, resulting in a search for truth. This search for truth inevitably leads us to consider the final tale – The Parson’s Tale – as a possible closure to Chaucer’s tales as well as the tale in which the truth which Chaucer privileges is expounded. In order to explore how Chaucer privileges The Parson’s Tale, the relationship between truth and the pilgrimage theme will be analysed. Thus, this paper ultimately calls for an exegetical reading in light of the pilgrimage theme and man’s moralistic struggle for truth to appreciate the tales in its entirety.