Humour in medieval English literature: Chaucer and the Mystery Plays

Abstract

The present dissertation displays an analysis of the use of humour in different texts from the literature from the Middle Ages in England. On the one hand, The Canterbury Tales, which is considered to be the most important work written in English before the Renaissance; on the other hand, the Mystery Plays, a type of medieval drama, which started to be developed in England during the medieval period. Both Chaucer and the authors of these dramatic texts used humour as a way of criticism on the coeval society. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation will be to analyse the use of humour in the Middle Ages trying to establish a comparison between both works.

Este trabajo presenta un análisis del uso del humor en distintos textos pertenecientes a la literatura medieval inglesa. Por un lado, los Cuentos de Canterbury, considerada la obra literaria más importante escrita en lengua inglesa antes del Renacimiento, y por otro lado, los Misterios, un tipo de obra de teatro medieval. Sendas obras, empleaban el humor como una forma de crítica hacia la sociedad coetánea y este trabajo tratará de analizar el uso del humor en la edad media intentando establecer una comparación entre ambas obras.