Chaucer's 'General Prologue' to the Canterbury Tales explores the portraits of twenty-eight of the thirty pilgrims, all of whom take part in a journey to the shrine of the martyr Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury. The pilgrims described in passing or in detail are as follows: the knight, the squire, the Yeoman, the prioress, the monk, the friar, the merchant, the clerk, the lawyer, Franklin, the mercer, the carpenter , the weaver, the weaver, the cook, the doctor. , Wife, Parson, Plowman, Miller, Manciple, Reeve, Summoner, Pardoner, Host and the narrator himself. The characters in the General Prologue are fictional characters, participating in a fictional arrangement set up by Chaucer; it is therefore obvious, as nuanced in the text, that the narrator is also a fictional character, distinct from the author. The portrait of the narrator is painted differently from the portrait of the other characters. The portrait of the pilgrim narrator is found in the space formed by the separation of the narrator and the author. However, this separation is a literary device that Chaucer uses to create a distinct identity for himself, a recurring theme among the other characters. By separating himself from the narrator, Chaucer allows the narrator's point of view and voice to mask his own voice. Chaucer deliberately and comically creates an imperfect and naive narrator in order to not only separate himself from the narrator, but also to try to diminish his own presence in the work. The allusion to an absent author seems to transform the work of fiction into non-fiction through the manipulation of the reader's point of view. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The separation between narrator and author is particularly evident at the beginning of the prologue, lines 20 to 42. In line 25, “De sondry fol, by adventure yfalle,” the idea that “chance” is introduced is introduced. put the narrator in contact with these other pilgrims whom he will then continue to describe; this idea contradicts the idea that the author created this fictional device to serve as an introductory story to the stories to follow. The narrator is sheltered, experiencing a world that exists under the auspices of Chaucer, a world where the narrator is a character oblivious to the circumstances the author has set up. Ironically, the pilgrim narrator aims “to tell [the reader] all the conditions,” although not all the “conditions” are revealed to him. However, the narrator's tone is suspicious, revealing his innocence and naivety. Line 39, "...as it seemed to me" and line 82, "...I suppose", are examples of the narrator's uncertainty and assertion that what he is describing is his own personal opinion. This shy tone continues throughout the text, particularly in lines 154-157, 183, 193, 284, 288, 385, 389, and 454. The narrator's tone is a literary device that Chaucer uses in both ways entertaining and strategic to convince the reader of the author. absence.his deep adoration of animals in place of his devotion to religion and his respect for human life. The reader is informed that the narrator is describing each character from memory; therefore, the descriptions the narrator chooses to provide or omit are reflections of the narrator's biases. After speaking with each of the pilgrims (line 31), the narrator expresses a sense of unity: “that I was of his felaweeshipe anoon” (line 32); this line emphasizes the gap between the narrator and the author by solidifying the narrator's alliance with the pilgrims. Additionally, the fact that the narrator addresses all the pilgrims enough to describe them in such detail shows his sociable nature. The text also presents the narrator as a very..