The Canterbury Tales: Picture of Society Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales presents a picture of the society in which the author lived. The pilgrim’s tales reflect the changing views held by society at that time. The pilgrims must tell their tales to and from the shrine. The criteria to choose the winner are that the tale be instructive and amusing, “Tales of best sentence and most solas (38).” The tale that wins must teach a lesson and be entertaining at the same time. The tale of “The Wife of Bath” would have won the contest for these reasons. The tale is entertaining and there is a lesson to be learned in the end. The tale told by the Wife