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The Tale of Sir Thopas
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Canterbury Tales, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Social Satire
Competition
Courtly Love and Sexual Desire
Friendship and Company
Church Corruption
Writing and Authorship
Summary
Analysis
The Host tells Chaucer to stop his horrible doggerel, saying that his terrible rhymes are “nat worth a toord!” Instead, he advises Chaucer to tell a tale in prose that contains some sort of value. “Gladly,” says Chaucer, and says that he can tell a tale in prose with deep meaning just as well as anybody can.
Chaucer the author makes Chaucer the pilgrim one of the worst tale-tellers on the pilgrimage. The Host’s comparison of the tale of Sir Thopas to a “turd” is also Chaucer’s way of making fun of doggerel romances written in heavily alliterative verse.
Themes
