The purpose of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is to present the entire spectrum of human personalities by showing their qualities, flaws, and eccentricities. How does the author accomplish this feat? What attitude toward humankind emerges from this narrative poem?
Answer: I believe that the way he accomplished this feat was by coming up with the ingenuous literary device of having a pilgrimage, a technique that allowed him to bring together a diverse group of people. In this poem the attitude toward humankind is that of how society was separated by social status in that time.
I hope it helps, Regards.