The tale was probably composed with its priestly narrator in mind. The material is homiletic and the method is highly appropriate to the teller: wily digressions on dreams, the advice on women, and ideas about predestination reveal a teller intimately acquainted with matters of intellectual interest.

NPT parallels and parodies the tales of the falls of great men. It contains a historical allusion to Jack Straw, a supposed leader of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. A ruthless mob attacked a group of prosperous foreigners, the Flemings, who were involved in the wool trade. The peasants themselves were then harshly dealt with by the nobility.

Chaucer combines the fabular and the epic traditions. Beast epic is amoral and fable always has a moral. The combination creates the dynamics of the tale.
The central episode beginning with Chauntecleer's crowing to the sun in Taurus and ending with the moralite, corresponds to the fable. The overall frame including the dream, the hen, and the old farm woman belong to the beast epic. Also, the hen's skepticism, her denunciation of fear and cowardice, the debate on women's counsel, and the absurdedly inflated and expanded style of narrative belong to the epic.

Critical debate: the extent to which the moralizations in the story are to be taken seriously. Some critics interpret the story allegorically. One sees it as an allegory of the Fall of Man, one sees it as a sermon on alertness to moral obligation, with Chaunticleer representing the holy man and Daun Russell the devil. Some see it as an allegory on the controversy between the secular clergy and the friars, with Chaunticleer representing a priest in a state of sloth or acedia and the fox as a friar who tricks him.
     One critic sees the tale as a mock allegory with Chaunticleer representing the (cocky) preacher who interprets scripture. Many critics see the tale as serious in intent although, since fables were controversial in the Middle Ages, especially as a means of preaching, one suggests that Chaucer is ridiculing the rhetorical and poetic practices of his day. There is general acceptance that the tale is a parody of the excesses of rhetoric that included long digressions, anecdotes, morals, literary allusions, and verbal extravagances.

Medieval theory of dreams:
There were two, possibly three types:
1) those arising from natural causes such as indigestion or from a remembrance of   the previous day's happenings;
2) those that took dreamers out of themselves and taught them a lesson;
3) those of prophetic significance, divinely inspired. Morning was a propitious time for   prophetic dreams.
Pertilote is a skeptic and sees Chaunticleer's dreams as rising from natural sources only.

Miscellaneous Notes:

There was a common belief that the cock crowed on the hour and so knew astronomy. Medievals believed that the world was created at the vernal equinox.

Pertelote over-prescribes for Chaunticleer. The Cock was naturally hot and dry (choleric) and the herbs she recommends would create more heat and dryness. Taken together they would theoretically kill Chaunticleer.