The plight of the oppressed in medieval England was paramount in the emergence of iconic works of fiction. In turn, future understanding of feudal society depends on this work. Relying solely on monastic chroniclers to understand the state of their world would amount to absorbing works that were largely created under the authority of the magistrate (Prescott, 1998). The multidimensional nature of the works of artists such as Geoffrey Chaucer and the Master of Wakefield precedes the mechanical consensus of courtly writings. Chaucer lived between two systems, that of the aristocracy and that of urban life. It would be an understatement to say that he was culturally aware of both his position in society and that of those whose social rank was above and below him (Strohm, 1994). The Canterbury Tale, printed in 1483, was written at a time of economic and political adversity in English history. The Nun's Priest's Tale, fragment VII of the Tale, follows the familiar game of the venous rooster and the cunning fox and fragments of reality make their way through its theatrical compounds; such as the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. Although The Shepherd's Second Play was written almost a century after The Canterbury Tale, in the late 1400s, it casts a familiar reflection on the woes of peasant life. The play was written by a man known simply as the Wakefield Master who, like Chaucer, was on a mission to recognize the forgotten and oppressed man. The play traces the financial difficulties of three shepherds faced with the theft of their sheep, against the climatic backdrop of the Nativity. The play addresses the question of closure; it was the transformation from a grain-based economy to a sheep-based economy at the end of the 15th century that triggered social and financial uncertainties (Kiser, 2009). Both tales expose the social constraints and economic conflicts of their times through an array of dramatic illusions. Chaucer and the Master Wakefield patrol the boundaries of reality and imagination using vernacular speech and crude yet forceful humor to depict social order and revolution. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why violent video games should not be banned'?Get the original essayThe ideal of social order and how to control it was a constant concern of medieval England. The Second Shepherd's Play by the Master of Wakefield is a comment on social conventions. However, the norms of the play cycle in which it was contained traditionally supported an overwhelming sense of conformity (James, 1983). The Wakefield cycle consisted of thirty-two pieces carefully ordered from the creation of the world to the day of judgment; respecting the chronological order of the Bible. This need for literary structure was typical of the societal hierarchy of the Middle Ages. The play aimed to inhibit social pressures through religious indoctrination, defending the common ideal of the social body. The social body symbolized the society structured under the figurative head of the judiciary; and often it was combined with religion to complete the body of Christ (James, 1983). He assumed that communal subordination meant physical survival and that structure needed to be constantly reaffirmed; like the transubstantiation of Christ in the Eucharist (Sinanoglou, 1973). The actual progression of the plays can be reflected in their content: the characters are classified as angels, men, then women, then animals. The structure of The Canterbury TalesChaucer also presents a predictable medieval chain of command; naturally, The Knights Tale is the first to be told in the sequence. Additionally, The Nun's Priest's Tale devotes little of its content to the life of the poor widow before the story shifts to the luxurious life of Chanticleer, the rooster. Chanticleer is described in detail; “Lyk is sure he was in luilegges and his toon/…And lyk the burnt gold was his color” (1863-2864) (Chaucer, 1915). The vulgar and blasphemous comedy of the virgin birth of The play of the second Shepherd marked a turning point in popular culture at the beginning of the 16th century. The plays became satirical supports for political and social observation, veiled in an orthodox tone. The traditional reaffirmation of the social body became a threat to society. authority, and Chaucer and the Wakefield Master parody this through the reconstruction of the social order Both The Nun's Priests Tale and The Second Shepherd's Play, although printed at different times in English history, produce a. unlimited consciousness of social revolution. The farcical element of The Second Shepherd's Play asserts ideas of utopian change. The physical progression of the play cycle is reflected in its hierarchical content and reflects an oppressive class structure. The three shepherds always speak in chronological order, first, second and third, distorting the ideas of the 14th century three estate model of clergy, nobility and commoners (Strohm, 1994). Just like the social body, the revolution needs constant renewal and a quasi-religious reincarnation. Mak represents misplaced rebellion; he hardens the sheep of his fellow sufferers. He does this instead of directing his anger towards the real causes of his unhappiness; pastoral enclosure and his social superiors. His flight is presented as basic human nature and acts as a desire for utopian change in an absurd world; in which lords took small peasant properties and transformed them into larger grazing units. Chanticleer in The Nun's Priest's Tale, a counter-revolutionary member of the aristocracy, also misplaces his blame, focusing on himself rather than the rebel; Daun Russell the fox. In Wakefield's play, the shepherds lament relentlessly about the economic and domestic oppression of their lives, but Mak did what they did not; he acted while they remained docile like the flocks of sheep they govern. The Peasants' Revolt of 1381 played an enormous role in the political and financial tribulations of Chaucer's England. In 1381, Kentish rebels led by Wat Tyler, often described in literary accounts under the pseudonym Jack Straw, advanced on London, rioting and assassinating defenders of economic and judicial power (Prescott, 1998). This was due in part to obscene tax collection and hard labor. Although its reference in The Nun's Priest's Tale is fleeting, its resonance dominates the social reception of the tale as a whole. Textual accounts of the revolt were rife with dissonance and complexity, with chroniclers distorting reports for social purposes. Many texts describe the rebels in Latin, a critique of their indignity, but Chaucer uses the vernacular of the peasants, thereby reducing social distance. A notable writer on the rebellion was John Gower, and critics have noted that Chaucer parodied his accounts of the rebellion in The Nun's Priest's Tale (Justice, 1994). Gower's work on the revolt represents his typical fictional depiction and this may have prompted Chaucer to use it as an easily parodied example. Like many accounts of revolt, Gower describes the rebels as "savages"and “inaudible” and that “their throats were filled with all manner of bovine bellows…with the diabolical voices of peacocks” (Gower, 1992). only “lowing” with the “evil voice” of birds, like the smug animals on Chaucer’s widow’s farm. Justice (1994) describes this technique as making anything the rebels might have said inaudible. The Second Shepherd's Play, set in an increasingly advanced England, also presents similar tales of the overtaxation of the peasantry; “We are so rich, taxed and rowed” (Hopper 1962: 15-16). Together, the two plays highlight the inevitable repetition of class struggle in a feudal society. The idea of ​​the "crowd" as a socio-political entityThis construction is abundant in writings on revolution (Prescott, 1998). The crowd represents the inevitable catastrophe of human nature; something that was avoided in medieval England. Gower (1899) quantified that “there are three things such that they produce merciless destruction when they gain the upper hand…the third is the little people, the common multitude for they will not be stopped by reason nor by discipline.” It was not only the peasants who constituted the crowd of the revolt of 1381; However, it was less controversial for writers to depict them this way, to place as many possible social rankings between them and the insurgents. This shows that rioters are not capable of acting independently, but rather are controlled by individual extremists (Prescott, 1998). They are a flock of shepherds who have strayed from their masters and fallen into the hands of a false prophet; like Mak in the play of the second shepherd. The concept of the crowd assumes the idea that upper society is made up of educated individuals, as opposed to the barbarism of the poor masses. Medieval England was a time of understanding of human nature, rather than the “cult of the individual” seen in the Renaissance (Roney, 1983). Ferenbacher (1994) describes Chaucer's Chanticleer as a "Western man trying to maintain his dignity in the face of basic human nature." These tales parody their era's construct of peasants as tragically human and rebels as an exclusively lower class, which is humorous when considering the authorities that emerged from successful historical rebellions. The medieval concept of human evil is presented as tragically human and is manipulated by moralistic illusions. The Second Shepherd's Play uses evil as a binary from which good is derived. Since Augustine, a Western conception of evil has been “the absence or distortion of good” (Evans, 1990). Augustine's own account of stealing a pear from a neighbor's orchard can be compared to Mak's theft. Augustine’s vision was: “Everyone knows that stealing is wrong; even a thief will not let others steal from him without protesting” (Evans, 1990). It is insinuated that pleasure comes from the flight itself; the social construction of “evil in everything” is embodied in Mak’s conscious choice. Mak's malevolence is expressed in the harshness of the shepherd's proverb when he discovers the stolen shepherd baby; “I will spin the plot, Iwys / ay commys foull owte” (587). Chaucer's pleasant barnyard, "But it was such joy to hear them sing, /When the bright sun began to burst forth" (2878-2879), is very different from the apocalyptic climate of Wakefield's play; “the weders are full of kene./And the frostys so hydus/thay water myn eeyne”. The world of shepherds is old and cruel. However, the interjection of revolt in The Nun's Priest's Tale suggests that the tranquility of the barnyard is not all that it seems. Peasants were often describedas “dwellers of hell” or “instruments of the devil” (Prescott, 1998), and the priest-nun declares that they “yollen as feendes doon in helle”; (3389). The angel in the Second Shepherd's Play also announces "This will take away from the feyd/that Adam had known:" (638). Chaucer’s “feendes” and Wakfield’s “feyd” use diabolical imagery to construct a false view of morality. Both tales indicate that Adam and Eve, or humanities, fell from grace. Similarly, Daun Russell in The Nun's Priest's Tale may be a representation of the devil's flattering tongue. Wakefield's play reflects the Corinthians: “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, pretending to be apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself pretends to be an angel of light” (Cor, 2:13-14, KJV). The sheep represents the birth of the devil, a false prophet. It is the “enclosure” of the pastoral economy which has proven prosperous for some and devastating for others, posing as “an angel of light”. Mak, however, is something worse than a false representative of Christ; he is truly satanic as a false representative of duroi, “what!” I am a yoman / I tell you, of the king; »(201). These religious connotations are not only culturally necessary, but also constitute a commentary on the "evil" of those who defy the will of God and that of the king. The literary parody of religious indoctrination suggests that medieval subjects were not so easily influenced by guilt. of moral teachings as the Church might have believed. The nun's priest hides behind theology rather than glorifying it, the mechanical prayer that ends the tale seeming strained and unnecessary; “And bring us to his great happiness!” Amen." (3446). The Night's Tale of the Canterbury Tale's condemns the elaborate morality of the aristocracy, and The Miller's Tale comments on the absurdity of the poor scoundrel. The nun's priest, however, offers a solution to situate himself in the medieval society. The life of the widow is humble, quiet and retains a kind of rustic simplicity; far from the conflicts of the nobility and the villains of the farmyard. In the original source of the Tale of the Priest-Nun, the Roman de Renard. , the owners of Chanticleers were wealthy This intentional change made by Chaucer could be an attempt to highlight the plight of living a normal, simple Christian life, amidst the chaos of medieval realities. On the contrary, in the Second Shepherd, the. years have proven unprofitable for the modest rural people and religion is used to echo their poverty. Mak's language is blasphemous: "God is watching you all there" and contrary to the cycles of the time, the Nativity does not! is not at the linear center. The movement of Christ in medieval England is personified and the Master of Wakefield alludes to the impotence of faith in the face of economic devastation. However, the definitive birth of Christ could also mark a return to the fruitfulness of spiritual minimalism. Post-enclosure has proven to be very effective in the long term of the pastoral enterprise and the birth foreshadows this (Allen, 2000). Both Chaucer and Wakefield's master mock the necessity of morality in literary expression. Class struggles and periodic horrors are often safely conveyed through animal fables. Aesop's fables served as quick moral lessons, often told by Greco-Roman peasants to express an unbalanced distribution of power (Rothwell Jr, 1995). Aesop tells a similar story to the nun's priest; that of the Eagle and the Fox. The eagle eats the fox's young, before accidentally lighting its ownnest ; the fox then eats its chicks when they fall to the ground. Aesop's Eagle, like Chanticleer, is a symbol of status and authority and is also self-destructive; both birds burn down their kingdoms and allow those below to gain power through the self-immolation of the aristocracy. The fable has no meaning on its own but is understood through a return to reality. Animal imagery was also used extensively in stories of the Peasants' Revolt; peasants are often compared to wild beasts. Chaucer parodies this common misconception; “Rad cow and calf, and eek the voiry cornered” (3385), this being almost identical to the Gower line; “Some let out the lowing of cattle, others let out the horrible grunt of pigs” (Gower, 1899). Chaucer's animals lead a lavish life, in contrast to the widow's "full and plain lyf" and the structure of these two pastoral tales is attributed by separation. The worlds of Wakefield's shepherd and Chaucer's farm animals are cut off from the rest of medieval society. Chanticleer's kingdom lies within a "Yeerd….enclosed al aboute" (2847) and although their fields are physically large, the concept of "enclosure" in the Second Shepherd's play is equally restrictive. Shepherds use solitary laments that display their isolation, directly addressing the root causes of their economic uncertainties; “for the style of our landys/lyys, follow as floor”. Harsh local language expresses the discomfort of enclosure, using words like “land-lepars” (Happ?, 2007). Mak is repressed, longing for his absent flock, and this can be seen as his fatherhood of many children as an insufficient replacement. The shepherds in The Second Shepherd's Play were domesticated, like Chaucer's peasants, before their transformation into animals. As in The Nun's Priest's Tale, humans become animals, with Mak referring to the baby sheep as his "heir". Both tales assume that if animals can act like humans, then humans can act like animals (Knight, 1986). The animal fable not only reiterates the social prejudices of the medieval upper class, but also the animal nature of the typical medieval man. The solipsism of medieval life, particularly in the rural economy, is embodied in dream vision. A medieval account of solitude, being alone in one's mind, is seen in the isolated soliloquies of the Shepherd's Second Play "as the 'shepherd's walk/thus by my one'" (41) personifying the solitude of the enclosure. The first account of dream vision was Cicero's Somnium Scipionic, around the 4th century. Cicero's dream experience focused on the psyche of the individual as being in the grip of turmoil and distress. This was seen as representing the rational nature of authority in relation to the realistic psychological needs of the people (Russell, 1988). Pertelote in the Tale of the Priest-Nun uses Cicero's account to foster a clinical diagnosis of the Chanticleers' distress. Chaucer's characters are always present in their own dreams; the fact that he used this technique in his time foreshadows future developments in human psychology, in the interpretation of dreams as “clinical”. Biblical dreams were simply the word of God. In the Middle Ages, the question was whether God really spoke or not. Chanticleer's dream is a hub of free will, God has charted his path but like humans he must determine how to get there. Medieval England was a time of archetypal determinism and Chanticleer's vanity largely determines what he does. Both tales are simulated mediums in which "man uses to give.