Download - The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer 1343-1400
The Canterbury Tales
Created by Ms. Miller
Father of English poetrySpoke the Anglo-Norman composite called
Middle English (the ancestor of Modern English).One of the first to write in English (French was the spoken language of the time)Considered to be the greatest English writer
before Shakespeare. Most famous book:
The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer
In part, its greatness lies in Chaucer’s language.
It also comes from the sheer strength of Chaucer’s spirit and personality.
“In a dark, troubled age, as it seems to us, he was a comfortable optimist, serene, full of
faith.” – John Gardner
What is so great about The Canterbury Tales?
At least once in their lifetime, people made a pilgrimage (religious journey) to the shrine of St. Thomas á Becket in the city of CanterburyBecket had been the archbishop of CanterburyHe was murdered in his own cathedral
Chaucer uses this idea of a pilgrimage to help form his frame story.
The time period
Chaucer’s most famous bookHe himself is a character in the book as a short,
plump, slightly foolish pilgrim who commands no great respect
This book was still unfinished when he diedType: FictionFormat: Collection of stories within a frame
story
The Canterbury Tales
Chaucer used several metrical forms and some prose in The Canterbury Tales, but the dominant meter is based on ten syllables, with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
Iambic pentameterAt a stroke we have abandoned the old,
alliterative world of Anglo-Saxons and entered the modern world of Shakespeare, Wordsworth, and Robert Frost!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p226OX39OLs
The End of the Old Alliterative Anglo-Saxon World
What is Iambic Pentameter?Provide an example.
Quick Quiz
The Canterbury Tales gives us a collection of good stories and a snapshot, a picture of life in the Middle Ages frozen in time.
Chaucer places his characters on a pilgrimage, a religious journey made to a shrine of holy place.
Snapshot of an age
The tales begin with a general Prologue, the first lines of which establish that this pilgrimage takes place in the spring, the time of a new life and awakening.
Narrator: Poet-pilgrim, whom many consider to be Chaucer himself
Gather at Tabard Inn, there he meets twenty-nine other pilgrims also bound for Canterbury.
Setting up the frame
It is the host of the Tabard who suggests to the pilgrims, as they sit around the fire after dinner, that they exchange tales to pass the time along the way to Canterbury.
Frame Story- A story within a story. Chaucer uses the other story of the pilgrimage to unite his travelers; individual tales, but the tales themselves also have thematic unity.
Setting up the frame
AgilityEminentAccrueArbitrateBenignGuileObstinateFrugalDuress
Vocabulary Developmentpage 140
To create the portraits of his pilgrims, Chaucer uses the same methods of Characterization that writers still use today. He reveals his characters by telling us
How the character looks and dressesHow the character speaks and actsWhat the character speaks and actsWhat the character thinks and feels
How others respond to the characterHe also tells us directly what the character’s
nature is –virtuous, clever, and so on
Literary Focus: Characterization
With twenty-nine pilgrims to introduce in the Prologue, Chaucer could not develop any one character at great length. Instead, he had to provide a few well-chosen details that would make each character stand out vividly.
As you read the descriptions of each pilgrim in the Prologue, jot down striking details of dress, appearance, and behavior that give you an immediate impression of that character is really like.
Reading Skills
Narrator At the innIntroduces all the people taking part in
pilgrimage
Our Cast of Characters
Our Cast of CharactersKnightKind, chivalrous, just
back from war, good warrior
SquireKnight’s son, about
20, very artistic, very devoted to his father.
Yeoman• Servant, proper
Forrester, farmer• Wears weapons,
simply dressed• Yeoman: attendant,
servant, or lesser official in royal or noble household.
Flirts, speaks poor French (putting on Airs), not really classy (pretends to be)
Clean eater, fat, tender hearted
3 priests and another Nun are with her
Prioress: A nun in charge of a priory or ranking next below the abbess of an abbey
Our Cast of CharactersNun
Monk• Hunter, fat, likes to
eat• Indulgent, dainty
horses• Cares about money• Disregards his job and
rules
HubertDrinker, faker, liar,
flirt, beggarOxymoron (Devout
Friar)Coward (lily-livered)Limiter: Licensed to
beg within certain bounds, limited to a certain district
Our Cast of CharactersFriar
MerchantBoring, in debt,
poorly dressedPoor, student, moral,
philosopher, thinCleric: clergyman or
other person in religious orders.
Our Cast of CharactersOxford Cleric
Sergeant at the Law• Doesn’t think
much of him• Seems busier than
he is• Nosey
Self-indulgent, loves food and wine
Old, hospitableSheriff and in
ParliamentFranklin: person of
non-noble birth holding extensive property
Our Cast of CharactersFranklin
The GuildsmenSelf-indulgent, loves
food and wineOld, hospitableSheriff and in
ParliamentFranklin: person of non-
noble birth holding extensive property
• Lower class• Trying to act higher
class
Is good at his job With the sore on his
knee, he isn’t very sanitary which makes his food taste bad
Our Cast of CharactersThe Cook
Skipper• Sailor• Likes to drink• Ruthless, evil to
prisoners
Medicine based on Zodiac signs
Greedy, meds for unneeded things
Apothecary: one that prepares and sells drugs and other medicines (a pharmacist)
Our Cast of CharactersDoctor
The Wife of BathDeaf, well-dressed,
gap teeth, voluptuous, busy-body
Holy, poor, good priest, not judgmental, devoted, kind
Our Cast of CharactersParson
Plowman• Christian, hard
worker, kind• Will not take
money unless he has to
Muscular, strong, wart on nose, bar-fly
Steals grain, tells dirty stories, plays bag pipes
Our Cast of CharactersThe Miller
Manciple• Trading and money
managing• Illiterate but
intelligent• Easily makes fools
out of other manciples
• Works for college
Old, bad-tempered, thin
Does job well, steals from employer
Dishonest
Our Cast of CharactersThe Reeve
The Summoner• Summons people
to court• Face covered in
nasty sores, stinks because he eats onions and garlic, drunk
• One job is to track down adulterers
Sells pardons for church
Rat-tails, hair showsTrying to be better
than he isVoice like a goat,
bug eyes, feminine
Our Cast of CharactersThe Pardoner
The HostHappy, serves as the
guideProposes that they all
tell 4 stories2 on the way to shrine2 on the way backWinner gets feastWants to tell stories
to offer entertainment on trip
Our Cast of Characters