The Canterbury Tales
Social Commentary
Geoffrey Chaucer
Chaucer glorifies social commentary in the medieval ages. He has a sense of crude humor towards the various pilgrims he is around. Chaucer had no bias and recorded the culture of the pilgrims as he saw it with no regards to the social standards of the time period.
The Humor Surrounding Social Commentary
Humor Has Survived Decades
A common theme that seemed to never die down in social commentary is the humor aspect of it. The majority of social commentary in present day are humorous, just as The Canterbury Tales are. The humor isn't the type of humor where one is laughing with another. They are laughing at the other. When Chaucer comments on the cook in the general prologue he tells about the cook's puss filled ulcer. He then goes on to say that the cook makes a great blancamage with the best ingredients inferring that the cook gets his puss into the food he makes. I'm sure the cook would not find this humorous, but the readers of this find it disturbingly hysterical.