The+Canterbury+Tales

//**Canterbury Tales**//

// **Author:** //// Geoffrey Chaucer //    **//Purpose//**:  //Chaucer’s purpose in composing each of the tales included in the collection is to provide his audience with a veritable cross-section of medieval English society, portraying its various members in a satirical light in order to paint a picture of the diverse issues characteristic of the time period such as the corruption of the Church. //
 * //Style//: ** //Satire. Chaucer skillfully integrates a wide variety of styles in writing each of the tales in his collection. Using countless rhetorical forms and linguistic styles, such as the specific English dialect used by the students, John and Alan, in the ////Reeve’s Tale ////, Chaucer creates the tale of each individual pilgrim with a skill proportional to their social status and learning. //
 * //Tone//: ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">The tone in ////<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Canterbury Tales ////<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"> varies across each of the different tales, incorporating a wide range of attitudes from satirical, comical, and bawdy to pious and elevated. //

- The Canterbury Tales took place during the Middle Ages, or the Medieval time period. At this time, the social class structre was base on the feudal system: //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">- Chaucer mocks the Feudal System // //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">- Deceit, avarice, and sexual deviance in lower class stories // //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">- The Church was in the middle of the Great Schism // <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"> //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">- Why the Knight was the first to tell his tale // //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">- Why the Pardoner is so offended // //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">- The ideals of courtly love in The Knight’s Tale //
 * //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Historical Context: //**
 * //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">King //
 * //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">Lords //
 * //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">Lesser Lords //
 * //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">Knights //
 * //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">Peasants and Townspeople (Serfs) //
 * Lollardy//<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"> – when pardoners gathered money for absolution of sins //
 * Notable Points of Discussion** //

//<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">**Any Literary Terms or Rhetorical Devices that Categorize the Work** //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">- The Canterbury Tales is a satire //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">- //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">The Miller’s Tale was a fabliau //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">
 * Satire//<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"> – when // human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, ideally with the intent to bring about improvement <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">
 * Fabliau//<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;"> – comical and grotesque stories in which characters most often succeed by means of their sharp wits //

//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">**Characters List:** // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> **Pilgrims:** __Knight__- chivalrous, honest, generous, of sovereign value, wise, modest, was in 15 mortal battles, always killed his man. Had horses, wore a stained, dark, fustian tunic. Just got home from service. __Squire-__ Knight’s son, lover, cadet, hot, passionate, strong. Could ride, make song, write poetry, recite, joust, draw, dance, and write. Had curly hair, around 20 years of age, average height, short gown with long, wide sleeves. __Yeoman__- Knows woodcraft, forester. Brown skin, wears a green, peacock-feathered arrows, bore a bow, shield, and sword. Carries a hunting-horn, and wore a St. Christopher metal. __Nun (Madame Eglantyne)­-__ Speaks French, “By St. Loy”, well mannered, sneaky with her sin, dignified, animal lover. Has an elegant nose, gray eyes, small red mouth, big forehead. Wears a coral trinket, gaud green beads with a golden brooch, engraved with Amor Vincit Omnia. __Monk__- hunter, wants more in life than just studying, not strict, owns Grey Hounds. Wears fine gray fur sleeves, gold fashion pin on hood, bald, fat, has eyes that never settle. __Friar-Hubert__- merry, festive, wants as many girls as possible, does everything for money, does not associate with other beggars. Hard of heart, sings well, plays hurdy-gurdy, brought pins for his curls, and pocket knives to impress girls. __Merchant__- (actual name unknown to all) secretly in debt, has a forking beard, beaver hat, and buckle boots. __Oxford Cleric__- sober stare, spends all his money on Aristotle’s books and learning, no materialistic goods, never showcases his intelligence. __Sergeant at the Law__- judge, knew every castle and crime, wears a homely parti-colored coat with a pin striped silk belt. __Franklin__- loves food and wine, lives for pleasure, white beard. Carries a dagger and white silk. __Haberdasher/ Dyer/ Carpenter/ Weaver/ Carpet Maker__- very close like a fraternity, wear nice armor, and silver swords. Wise and rich. __Cook__- makes very flavorful food, ulcer on his knee. __Skipper__- inexperienced in battle, has no mercy/conscience, is barge- The Maudelayne, tan, long gown, dagger on his lanyard. __Doctor__- very skilled, uses astronomy, he and the pharmacists make money off of each other. __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Bath Woman __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">- has had 5 husbands, gap teeth and big hips __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Parson __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">- devoted to being a priest and sheppard, must set a good example for the common men. __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Plowman __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">- brother of Parson, honest worker, good and true, loves God __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Miller __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">- strong, proud, red hair, talented with grain, dishonest __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Manciple __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">- came from the inner temple, illiterate, talented, out bought his teachers __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Reeve __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">- really thin, skilled in carpentry, could predict plant growth __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Summoner __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">- narrow eyes, children fear him, gets drunk, speaks latin, curses people __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Pardoner __<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">- long yellow hair, pig voice, sings for silver, spends his money quickly


 * //The Tales://**

CHARACTERS: __John__- the carpenter, the husband, jealous, old, devoted. __Alisoun__- the wife, lecherous, sexual __Nicholas__- the scholar, can predict future events from the stars __Absalon__- the courtly lover, sings, plays guitar PLOT SUMMARY: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Old John, the Carpenter is a very jealous man who has married an eighteen year-old girl called Alison. Also residing in the Carpenter’s house is a young student named Nicholas, who rents a room. Nicholas has a reputation for reading the stars and forecasting the advent of rain or drought. He falls in love with the young Alison and soon makes his intentions known by grabbing her. She resists his advances for fear of being discovered by her jealous husband, but the pair conspire together to play a trick on Old John. Alison also has another admirer the effeminate Absalon, who swings the incense burner at church on Sundays, and cannot abide people who fart in public. Nicholas convinces Old John that a flood equal to that suffered by Noah in the Bible will visit the town. In order to survive, they must build and fasten three boats to the rafters and store them with provisions. They must also have an axe ready in order to cut the ropes when the flood approaches. On the eve of the so-called flood, the three climb into the boats and Old John soon falls fast asleep. Alison and Nicholas descend to the bedroom and make love all night. Absalon has noticed that the Carpenter is not home and decides to serenade Alison at her window. It is pitch black, and the pair of lovers are concerned that Absalon’s noise will wake Old John. Nicholas encourages Alison to get rid of Absalon by granting his request for a kiss. She agrees. However, instead of her mouth she extends her rear out of the window. Absalon fastidiously “kissed her naked arse, most savorously”, but wonders “a woman hath no beard”. He hears the two laughing and realizes his mistake. He decides to return to obtain revenge and with him now, he has a red-hot poker. He calls again to Alison saying that he has a golden ring for her and she can have it if she gives him one more kiss. This time Nicholas decides to play a trick on Absalon and he sticks his rear out of the window and farts in Absalon’s face. He recovers in time to thrust the red-hot poker up the middle of Nicholas’ arse. Nicholas shouts, “Water. Help. Water. Water.” Old John wakes and thinking that the flood has come, cuts the ropes with the axe, and the boats crash to the ground. Old John suffers a broken arm and the neighbors stream out from their houses wondering at all the noise. They learn of Old John’s preparations for the flood and laugh at his lunacy.
 * Miller's Tale**

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"> <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">**Reeve's Tale** CHARACTERS: __Miller(Oswold)__- untrustworthy, sneaky, steals __Wife__- daughter of a clergy man/celibate priest __Alan and John__- students who go to the Miller to get their professor's corn, want revenge on the Miller for stealing some corn __Molly__- miller's daughter PLOT SUMMARY: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">There was a miller who lived in Cambridge who was a strong man and bullied those around him. He would steal meal brought to his mill for grinding. One of the miller’s main clients was the large College at Cambridge, and like his other clients, he would cheat them. One day, the College Steward was ill and unable to take the corn to the mill. Two students at the College, John and Alan, learnt about the dishonest miller and decided to expose him. However, the miller was not stupid and when the students arrived, he suspected their game. When the students were not looking, he untied their horse and they escaped. When the students discovered this, they went out looking for the horse. While they were away searching for the horse, the miller emptied half the flour from the sack and gave it to his wife. It was dark by the time John and Alan returned with their horse, and they asked the miller if they could spend the night in the mill. They offered to pay for food and lodging. The miller agreed, but pointed out that they only had one bedroom and that John and Alan would have to share a bed. There was no lighting in the room. The miller and his wife occupied one bed with the baby’s cradle at its foot, and their daughter slept in the third bed. When everyone was asleep, John and Alan decided to take revenge on the miller. Alan gets up and goes to the daughter’s bed, and they got on just fine. John was annoyed that he was left alone in his bed. Then he got up and quietly moved the baby’s cradle next to his bed. The miller’s wife got up in order to relieve herself of the large amount of wine she had consumed, and feeling her way back to bed, she of course went to the bed where her baby’s cot was. John immediately, “on this good wife he laith on sore (hard)”. As dawn neared, Alan made his farewells to the daughter who told him where to find the stolen flour. He returns to the bed that does not have the cradle and mistakes the miller for John. He whispers in the miller’s ear that he has had the daughter three times in the night. In fury, the miller rises from his bed cursing Alan, only to find his wife in bed with John. The miller’s wife thinking she was in bed with her husband, grabbed a club and strikes her husband down. Alan and John leave the mill in a hurry.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"> PLOT SUMMARY: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">This story concerns three young men who spend much of their time in revelry. On this particular day as the three men indulge in gambling and drunkenness, they hear a funeral passing outside the Inn. They ask a servant who has died. He responds by saying that it is a friend of the three men who was stabbed in the back by a thief called Death. He has killed many in the neighborhood recently. The three drunken men decide to seek this thief out, and they travel to the next town in pursuit. On the way they meet an extremely old man dressed in rags. He explains that he has been cursed to wander the earth until he can find a youth who will change places with him. He goes on to say that not even Death will take his life. The three men ask the old man if he has seen Death, and he responds that he was last seen under the tree at the end of the lane. The three men go and find bags of gold beneath the tree and they decide to keep this for themselves. It would be too dangerous to move the gold in daytime so they will wait for nightfall. They draw straws to see who will go into town to obtain food, and the youngest is given this task. When he has gone, the two that are left decide that they will murder him when he returns and keep the gold for themselves. The youngest of the three decides to poison the food he brings to the other two and keep the gold for himself. The youngest is stabbed, and the other two are poisoned.
 * Pardoner's Tale**

PLOT SUMMARY: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">There was a Knight in King Arthur’s time who raped a fair young maiden. King Arthur sent a decree out that the Knight must be brought to justice. When the Knight is captured, he is condemned to death, but the Queen intercedes on behalf of the Knight and asks the King to allow her to pass judgment on the Knight. The Queen asks the Knight, “What is the thing that most women desire?” The Knight does not have an answer. The Queen releases the Knight, but commands him to return within one year with an answer. The Knight spent this time roaming from place to place questioning women. Some say they want wealth, others happiness, others to be gratified and flattered. Everywhere he heard different answers. It is time for him to return to the Court and he is depressed for he does not have a good answer. Outside the castle in the woods, he sees twenty four maidens dancing and singing, but when he approaches they disappear as if by magic, and all that is left is an old hag. The Knight explains the problem to the hag and she is wise and may know the answer, but she would require payment for saving his life. The Knight agrees. The Queen asks the question again, and the Knight responds that women most desire sovereignty over their husbands. All the women of the Court agree that this is a valid answer. The Knight is acquitted. The old crone enters saying that she supplied the answer for the Knight and she now requests that he marries her. The Knight, in agony, agrees. On their wedding night the hag is upset that the Knight doesn’t attend to his new bride, but her ugliness and low breeding repulse him. She reminds him that her looks can be an asset because she will be a virtuous wife to him because no other men would desire her. She asks him what he would prefer – an old ugly hag who is loyal, true and humble or a beautiful woman whom he would always have doubts about concerning her faithfulness? The Knight responds by saying that the choice was hers. The hag is pleased. She has won mastery over her husband, and she asks the Knight to kiss her. She says, “You will find me a fair and faithful wife”. The Knight turns to look at the hag again, but now finds a young and lovely woman. They live blissfully ever after, the wife being in control.
 * Wife of Bath's Tale**