THE CANTERBURY TALES
GEOFFREY CHAUCER
THE
MIDDLE AGES
(1066-1485)
• Feudalism
• The economic and social system in Medieval Europe
• The lord of the estate provided serfs with land and housing
in return for maintenance of the estate
• Chivalry
• System of ideals and social codes governing the behavior
of knights
• Must defend his lord, the king, and religion
• How to treat women and help others
THE MIDDLE AGES
• Women
• Women were inferior to men
• No political rights, dependent upon men
• Religion
• Roman Catholic Church
• Corruption
• The Crusades-a series of wars by Christians against Muslims
fighting for Jerusalem
THE CANTERBURY TALES
• Composed by Geoffrey Chaucer during the Middle
Ages
• Written in Middle English, the vernacular language
of England
• A collection of stories meant to reflect the society of
the Middle Ages
THE CANTERBURY TALES
• Pilgrimage
• A religious journey made to a shrine or holy place
• Prologue
• An introduction that provides background information
regarding to the stories to be told
• Frame Story
• A narrative within which one or more other narratives unfold
• Allegory
• Popular literary form of the Middle Ages
• A story in which the characters, settings, and events stand for
moral concepts
THE PROLOGUE
• Introduces the situation, setting, and characters
• 29 pilgrims plus the narrator
• Leaving London on a pilgrimage to visit the shrine of
St Thomas A Becket in Canterbury.
• Each pilgrim will share a moral tale to entertain
themselves
• Best tale wins a free dinner
• Begins in April at the Tabbard Inn
THE PROLOGUE
• The narrator describes each pilgrim’s appearance,
occupation, personality
• These descriptions hint at the pilgrim’s true nature
and reflect the people of the Middle Ages
• 3 categories of medieval society
• Fighters (Knight, squire)
• The Church (Monk, Nun, Pardoner)
• Workers (Doctor, Miller)
CHARACTERIZATION
The process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character
• Direct Characterization:
• The author tells the reader exactly what the character is like
• Example:
•
She was incredibly happy as she told the great news
• Indirect Characterization
• The reader must use clues to decide what the character is
like through the character’s appearance, dialogue, private
thoughts, actions, effect on others
• Example:
•
She was grinning from ear to ear with a sparkle in her eye.
IRONY
contrast between expectation and reality
• Verbal Irony
• What a writer or speaker says and what he or she believes
to be true
• Example: When something bad happens to your friend, you say,
“Well, don’t you have all the luck!”
• Situational Irony
• During an event or situation, the reader expects one thing
and something different happens
• Example: “A couple appears in court to finalize a divorce, but
during the proceeding, they remarry instead.”