But while it is true that he loved the funny side of life, he was also quite genuine and sincere in his purpose to expose the superficialities of social roles. "If we look at the whole corpus of his work, we see his tragic poems all interrupted, unfinished, or transfigured into celestial comedy" (Garbaty173).

Chaucer unlike some tragedy masters of his time was not too concerned with gloom and sadness that prevailed in the lives of some of his characters. Instead he wanted to expose human frailties and societal flaws in a humorist style. According to Bloomfield:

If we can comprehend this tragic perspectivism, we may grasp something of the Chaucerian humor, which hates human meanness and cruelty and which at the same time pities human weakness and affectation and even at times sin. Even though we may condemn it, we should also acknowledge that this attitude comes from a...
[ View Full Essay]