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The Popular Canterbury Tales and Their Important Themes
Tyler Caravoulias
HI 302 Medieval History
S.Corvi
April 24, 2013
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In the late 14th century Geoffrey Chaucer, a poet, scholar, and Philosopher of the time
scribed the greatest numerous collection of poetic stories that would be revered for hundreds and
hundreds of years to come. The Canterbury tales are a collection of stories from 24 pilgrims and
Chaucer who traveled from Southwick to St. Thomas Beckett’s shrine at Canterbury cathedral.
The pilgrims competed in a story telling contest to which the winner would win a free meal at an
inn when they returned to Southwick. Chaucer’s tales tell stories that spread everlasting values
that still hold prevalence today. In this paper I will be going over six of the most prominent tales
that hold concurrent values and are well known. First, I will discuss the Knight’s tale and how
Greek mythology entered into Chaucer’s writings and what values the story expresses. Next I
will discuss the Friar’s tale and how Chaucer disliked the Roman Catholic Church and how this
was one of the first satiric works of Chaucer. Next I will discuss the tales of the Miller and the
Reeve and how they fit together and how Chaucer incorporated comedy into his tales. Next I will
evaluate the Physician’s tale and how Chaucer referenced Roman law, and how virginity is the
purest form of life. And lastly I will go over the most popular tale that dealt with death and
betrayal, the Pardoner’s tale. In the tales there are many main themes that Chaucer touches on.
Some of those themes are Christianity and the mocking thereof, vengeance and justice, comedy,
sex, and love. For each of the tales I will discuss how the main theme effect the telling’s of the
tales and why the themes are everlasting truths about medieval culture and human nature.
Chaucer created the Canterbury Tales which is a large collection of tales told by virtuous people
as well as those with questionable professions, the tales are lengthy at times but they hold themes
that continue to last to this very day.
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What does the Knight’s Tale tell us?
The Knight’s Tale begins with the king of Athens, Theseus, conquering Thebes and
taking two cousins prisoner and locking them in the tower of Athens as a trophy of his great
victory. The cousins Arcite and Palamon were imprisoned in the tower for years and one
morning Palamon awoke early and peered out of the tower to spot the sister of the queen of
Athens, Emily, taking a walk in the garden. Due to her great beauty Palamon fell instantly in
love and loudly proclaimed that she must be his. The commotion caused by Palamon awoke
Arcite and brought his attention to Emily in the garden, to which Arcite also fell madly in love.
The two cousins began to compete wildly with each other for Emily’s hand and soon enough
Arcite was released from the tower and exiled from Greece never to return. But Arcite was
smitten with Emily and refused to let his love go so he devised a plan in which he would sneak
back into Athens and join into the palace’s services and work his way to be one of Emily’s aids,
to which he was successful. Meanwhile, Palamon grew tired waiting for his release from prison
and he devised a plan to escape by drugging the guard of the tower and he would escape. This
plan was quite successful and he soon hid in the grove and waited for Emily to pass by on her
walk and he would jump out and attempt to win her love. As Palamon waited he grew weary and
began to hear someone singing of love and fortune and as he looked for the source he found
Arcite singing to Emily in progress of winning her heart.
Immediately the two men, upon seeing each other, began to fight and this commotion was
heard by Theseus. Theseus raced to find of the fighting and came upon Arcite and Palamon
fighting in front of a very frightened Emily so he broke up the fight. Being the grand leader and
embracer of love that he was Theseus came up with a way to solve this dilemma. The plan was
for each man to round up a 100 man force and battle in the grand arena in a spectacular show to
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which the champion would win Emily’s hand in marriage. The two men agreed and soon after
began to gather up their forces and were quite successful in their efforts. On the eve of the battle
prayers were made to the god for great success in battle not only by Arcite and Palamon but by
Emily as well. Palamon prayed to Venus, the goddess of love, for Emily’s hand in marriage,
Arcite prayed to Mars, the god of war, for victory on the battle field, and lastly Emily prayed to
Diana, the goddess of the hunt that represented purity and virginity, and asked never to be
married unless it was to the one of the men that was truly best for her. The next day the
tournament commenced and the battle was grand; to prevent any loss of life in the battle Theseus
ordered his guards to drag any man out of the battle that became wounded, disarmed, or was
incapable in continuing to fight in any way. The battle went on and soon enough Palamon was
injured to where he was dragged from the battle stopping the tournament and declaring Arcite
the winner. During his celebration the grandfather of all the gods, Saturn, intervened causing
Arcite’s horse to rear up and fall back on him eventually killing him. As he laid there dying
Emily, Palamon, and Theseus rushed to his side and he proclaimed that Emily should Palamon
because he is the more honorable and better man for her. In honor of Arcite’s dying wish Emily
later married Palamon and this ends the story of the Knight. in the end the gods granted all three
wishes of the people involved also this story shows that the gods are kind but and will answer
prayers but not always in the fashion that is clear cut.1
This story shows what can happen because of loves consequences and how so much can
be influenced by love. This story also shows that love can break bonds of friendship and even
those as strong as blood bonds which is a common theme in many of today’s romantic literature
as well as a common theme in later authors, one of the most famous being Shakespeare.2 This
tale also shows Chaucer’s ability to use mythology and how well versed he was in the subject.
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Mythology, both Greek and Roman, play parts in all of Chaucer’s tales as they incorporate
classical themes of tragedy, drama, and humor. This story shows how Chaucer could paint a
picture and tell a great classical story that spoke of great mythological characters and how both
love and friendship play with each other in life.3
What does the Friar’s Tale tell us?
The Friar’s tale tells of a traveling Summoner and his interaction with a demon described
as a Yeoman. The story begins with the traveling Summoner on his way to drum up a false
charge to get some money. Along the way the Summoner meets a Yeoman and they begin to
talk, to which the Yeoman asks the Summoner what he does for work. Being a largely disliked
profession of the time the Summoner lies and says he is a Bailiff and the Yeoman also lies and
says he is a Bailiff as well. Their conversation continues on to the subject of how they make their
money and they both make their money in whatever way they can. Based on this trust between
the newly found acquaintances the Yeoman eventually admits he is actually a demon from hell
and the Summoner is not taken back by this at all and merely asks how he is able to take human
form.
The two eventually travel together for a short period where they come across a Carter
whose horses refuse to move. The Carter grew increasingly angry with the horses and damned
them to hell. Eventually the horses begin to move and the Carter then praises god for this
blessing. After this ordeal the Summoner then criticizes the demon for not capitalizing of the
damnation of the horses but the demon then explained himself by saying that the damnation was
not sincere and then he eventually praised god so he could not take the horses. Due to this
situation the Summoner says to the demon that he will show how a job is done properly and soon
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looks for a nearby home to extort. The nearest home is the small farm of a widow and he begins
by telling the widow right out that he will drum up a false charge and summon her to court if she
does not bribe him otherwise. She begrudgingly complies but also the Summoner asks for
another payment in the form of her new pan because he falsely claimed that he had to pay off a
charge of adultery. Because of this the widow damns the Summoner to hell unless he repents the
false charges to which the Summoner refuses. But because the damnation was sincere and the
Summoner refused to comply the demon took up the offer and took the Summoner’s body, soul,
and subsequently the frying pan as well back to hell.4
This particular tale tells us a lot about Chaucer and his intelligent use of irony as well as
his satirical view of the medieval judicial and clerical systems. The use of irony in the story is
very apparent in every way. The first example is when the two come across the Carter who
damns his horses and then immediately praises god when they move. This was done to show the
way faith worked back then and even how it works today. If something is going not well for one
individual they will immediately damn the problem and not pray to the good forces to help but as
soon as something good happens they thank god for what may have happened naturally. The
other use of irony is consequently the second half of the story and how the Summoner mocks the
demon for not taking the horses but as soon as someone damns the Summoner it is sincere and
the demon capitalizes on the matter.5 Another major factor in this story is that deception is deadly
for the deceiver unless they repent and tell the truth. Also that the truth is always more important
than continuing a lie that only benefits you and the last major theme lies outside of the story with
the story teller. This tale is a bitter attack at the profession of being a Summoner by the Friar and
speaks that a Summoner could so easily belong with a demon in the same context and fed into
the constant feud between the Friar and the Summoner on the journey.
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What do the tales of the Miller and Reeve tell us?
In this segment of the Canterbury Tales two tales are told together because of their
comedic occurrences and reoccurring themes of sex and adultery. First, the Miller’s Tale speaks
of an unwise carpenter and his cheating, lying wife and two men’s attempts to win her hand.
John is an uneducated carpenter and his wife is Alison who is extremely beautiful and very
promiscuous and they decide to rent out two of their rooms to two young men Nicholas, a
scholar and student, and Absolon, a clerk in the church. One day while John is out of town
Nicholas coaxes Alison to sleep with him and they soon begin their affair behind John’s back.
While John is gone Alison feels guilty and goes to church to repent her sins where she meets her
other admirer Absolon who attempts to swoon her by singing love songs which appears to be
unsuccessful because she is already in one affair with Nicholas. Soon after Absolon’s first
attempt he continues to attempt to win Alison over by giving her gifts which she graciously
accepts but never does anything with Absolon.
John soon returned home stopping the affairs that Alison is in but that was not good
enough for Nicholas. Nicholas then devised a plan to trick John into disappearing so he could
spend another night with Alison. Nicholas soon told John that the second great biblical flood was
soon to happen and that John would need to build three tubs and suspend them in the attic and
cut the rope when the water began to rise. John complied and the night the flood was supposed to
happen Nicholas and Alison climbed out of the tubs and slipped into John’s bed and began to
consummate. As this was happening Absolon appeared at the window and called for Alison to
appear and plant a kiss on his lips. Not wanting to do such a thing Alison stuck her naked butt
out of the window and Absolon kissed her rear instead of her lips. Immediately noticing the taste
of what wasn’t a sweet kiss Absolon was furious so he went to the black smith and looked for a
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hot tool. Absolon grabbed a red-hot coulter and returned to the window and maliciously asked
Alison for another kiss, but this time it was Nicholas’s butt to appear and Absolon jammed the
hot tool right up inside of Nicholas badly burning him. Upon receiving this wound Nicholas
screamed very loudly for water which awoke John and after hearing the commotion for water he
cut the rope and the tub crashed down. The tub crashed right through the ceiling onto the bed,
breaking John’s arm and revealing the affair. The neighbors soon heard the commotion and ran
into the house to see what was wrong to where they saw an affair in progress with John
watching. John attempted to explain his reason for the second great flood but the neighbors just
though he was insane and a cuckold for watching the affair between his wife and another man.
John was greatly mocked by this and laughed at while Nicholas stood there naked with his anus
burning and Alison with her adulterous behavior on display.7
Next is the tale of the Reeve that goes right along with the Miller in the sense that they
are both highly comically charged also the Miller and Reeve tend to mock each other throughout
the journey. The tale of the Reeve begins with a miserly and malicious Miller named Simkin
who would steal wheat and meal as it was brought to him to grind up. The story takes place after
Simkin overcharges for a job he took at a college and the college Steward was too cowardly to
call Simkin on the lofty price. Two students at the college, John and Aleyn, were fed up with
Simkin and thought they could outsmart the old Miller by catching him in the act. The students
packed more wheat then what would be normally expected and gave it to Simkin and asked to
watch him do his work because they were interested and they would see if he was truly
dishonorable and if he would take the extra for himself. The students thought they were so smart
with this plan but they failed miserably due to the fact that Simkin was smarter than he appeared
and caught on to the rouse and snuck and packed even more wheat than what the students did.
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Simkin ground all of the wheat into flour that the students gave him and when he found his
chance he slipped out and untied the student’s horse from the post and it ran off. As the students
scrambled to look for the horse Simkin grabbed a few sacks of flour and took it as his own and as
night fell Simkin gave the flour to his wife to bake bread. After the long search for the horse the
students returned to Simkin and asked for a place to stay at his house and feeling bad leaving the
students out in the cold Simkin agreed. The only thing is that Simkin had to rearrange his small
house that slept three adults normally to now accommodate two more. Simkin’s plan was to have
his daughter, Malyne, in one bed, have John and Aleyn in another bed, and lastly have himself
and his wife in the last bed with their six month old baby in a cradle at the foot of their bed. The
dinner that night commenced and much wine drinking and merriment proceeded to the point
where the group was drunk and Simkin and his wife went to bed early. As John and Aleyn went
to bed Aleyn got the bright idea to slip into Malyne’s bed and as he did this Malyne was feeling
good enough that her and Aleyn began to consummate just feet from her parents. Later as the
night went on Simkin’s wife awoke and went to relieve herself and as she went out of the room
John took action and slid the cradle from the foot of Simkin’s bed to the foot of his bed, and
upon returning the darkness must’ve confused the wife so she felt for the cradle and climbed into
the nearest bed, which happened to be John’s bed. As she got in the bed John began to feel frisky
and the two began to have sex, again just feet from Simkin. In the early hours of the morning
Aleyn awoke and consoled a crying Malyne because she did not want her new found lover to
leave so soon so she told him of the bread and how her father robs people of wheat and grain.
After this Aleyn climbed back into what he thought was his original bed to awake John and a
great shock came when he actually found the sleeping man to be Simkin. Upon awaking Simkin
the two began to fight which awoke Simkin’s sleeping wife and being confused she grabbed a
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club and hit the nearest man that was arguing thinking she would stop the quarrel, but in reality
she actually clubbed Simkin. Upon seeing who she actually hit Simkin’s wife collapsed to the
floor to aid him and the two students sprung up and decided to leave. On their way out the
students grabbed the bread and Simkin’s horse as revenge for his crimes.8
In these stories there are many common themes which are a clue to why they are usually
told in the same comical context. These stories contain a lot of comedy because of their story
tellers and how often these are wise cracks at certain professions and how one is more or less
intelligent than another. Another major theme is the common occurrence that knowledge is
valuable in both the Miller’s and Reeve’s tale there are students that attempt to pull off duping an
unsuspecting victim. Another theme that is used is the fact that sex is usually a prominent goal
and that it is usually associated with adultery. This shows that Chaucer was no afraid to
incorporate sex into his tales and that often times sex could be seen with a comical view and not
as such a serious matter that the church wanted it to be seen as.9\
What does the Physician’s Tale tell us?
The Physician’s tale begins with a noble knight, Virginius, and his beautiful daughter
Virginia who is strikingly beautiful as well as endowed with all sorts of other noble attributes. As
Virginia walks about the city she gains many favors of many men but none like the greedy judge
Apius who is instantly smitten and would do anything to make Virginia all his. Apius sends the
most disreputable city guard Claudius to retrieve Virginia under the false charge that Virginius
once took a young slave girl from Apius’s palace and held her as his own until she was ready for
marriage. Virginius is unable to defend himself at the time that he hears word of Virginia’s
impending capture because her mother died long ago so he tells Virginia that she must accept
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one of two fates. The first fate is to be taken back to Apius and suffer shame and impurity at the
hands of evil of face death now and remain pure. Virginia being the noble woman that she is says
that she would rather die now, a virgin, rather than suffer great shame at the hands of Claudius
and Apius. Virginius assists in this fate by cutting off Virginia’s head in one strike and bringing
it to Apius’s court to show what he forced upon the young beauty. Apius, enraged, orders
Virginius to be hanged for the crime of murder but the hanging never came to fruition because
the public knew of Apius and his treachery. Apius ended up imprisoned and Claudius was to be
hanged for his involvement but Virginius pleaded for mercy for the city guard and ended up just
getting him exiled.10
The Physician’s tale tells us more about Chaucer than anything else and shows how well
versed he was in Roman law as well as in Roman customs and traditions. To start Chaucer
choses the names Virginius and Virginia to represent virginity, purity, and nobility which one
can assume is a conscious decision because of the nature of the tale. The choice laid out for
Virginia speaks volumes about Chaucer and his nature and how he felt about virginity and purity
which can be reflected in a good many of his tales. Another major factor in the story is the old
Roman idea that justice will be served and that Chaucer understood how the Roman justice
system would’ve handled such an event. One last idea to keep in mind is that virtuous men will
always prevail in times of need and that Virginius lost his daughter the two men responsible for
such acts were brought to justice and Virginius remained noble.11
What does the Pardoner’s Tale tell us?
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The Pardoner’s tale is that of three drunkards that set out on a quest to find and kill death
and end up dead themselves. The tale begins with three men drinking in a bar to the memory of
one their recently departed friend and they eventually devise a plan to find a kill death. The plan
of the men is overheard by an interloping old man and the old traveler tells the men that they will
find death by the foot of an old oak tree. The three men ridicule the old man for his interjection
and set out on the journey to find the oak tree where death is hiding. Eventually the men come
across a large oak tree where they find a large sum of gold and they soon decide to spend the
night and take the gold with them the following morning. One thing the men need if they spend
the night is supplies of food and wine and they come up with the idea of drawing straws to see
who will go into town. The loser of the straw drawing is the youngest of the men and when he
gets to town he gets the supplies but he also gets rat poison to kill the other two men and claim
the gold for his own. But the youngest wasn’t the only one to plot to kill the two other men left at
the tree plotted to stab the other man when he returned, but when the youngest returned he
poisoned the wine and gave the supplies to the men to which they subsequently murdered him.
After their murderous deed the two other men felt thirsty and drank the poisoned wine and both
subsequently died. So as the tale goes three men set out to find death and they surly did.12
This tale is one of the more famous tales and often represents all of the tales when people
talk about the entirety of Chaucer’s works. This tale is told by the pardoner who is an agent of
the Roman Catholic who would sell pardons from sins and often would sell false pardons to
make a quick buck. Through this story Chaucer shows his bias against the church and basically
insults the whole practices of the church and how corrupt the church had become over the years.
Just the fact that the pardoner, a religious official, tells a tale of greed, death, and murder just
goes to show how Chaucer thought of the religious officials of the time. And in the prologue to
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the tale the pardoner partly admits to the extortion of the poor, pocketing of indulgences, and
open disobedience of teachings against jealousy and greed. This tale of the pardoner is one of the
more famous tales and it shows how it has great ability to be retold over and over again.13
What are some of the main themes in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales?
In Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales there are many main themes that are very apparent in most
of the tales such as feminism and anti-feminism, Christianity, vengeance, sex, adultery, love,
justice, and comedy. To start out the first major theme is feminism and anti-feminism which
shows up in a couple of the tales that I have explained in this paper. The first occurrence shows
up in the Friar’s tale with the exploitation of the widow and that it must’ve been her fault the
adultery charge was not paid. Another major happening of the use of anti-feminism comes up in
the miller’s and reeve’s tales and how women are shown to be highly charged sexual individuals.
The theme also shows up in the fact that the wives in these tales are almost owned by their
husbands and in the case of the miller’s tale Alison, the wife, is often tip toeing around her
husband to have affairs. Lastly in these two tales another theme of anti-feminism is adultery and
how it is always the wife who is so eager to cheat on her husband with another man which many
times it was the man who would do such acts in those times.14 Another tale where feminism
shows up is in that of the physician, and how Virginia is portrayed as noble and in the end her
father gave her the ultimate decision of her life.15
Another major theme in Chaucer’s tales is the use of Christianity and anti-clericalism that
shows up in the tales of the friar, miller, and pardoner. First, in the friars tale Chaucer mocks the
Christian church by having the Summoner be unafraid of the demon that has taken human form,
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also he shows open corruption and sin in all of his tales. Next in the miller’s tale Chaucer makes
Absolon a member of the church who was in his line of work to get women and attempted to
swoon Alison even though she was married. This whole act of a young church member
attempting to win the favor of a married woman is a very blasphemous idea now and back then it
would’ve been ten times worse.16 The last example of Chaucer’s anti-clericalism, and possibly
strongest case, comes in the form of not so much the pardoner’s tale but the description of the
pardoner himself. Chaucer describes the pardoner as an openly corrupt individual who would sell
false indulgences to people to make a quick buck.17
Another major theme that Chaucer adheres to in almost all of his tales is vengeance and
this theme pops up in the tales of the friar, miller, physician, and pardoner. First in the tale of the
friar Chaucer makes the widow a vengeful person who damns the greedy Summoner and
subsequently the demon takes the Summoner back to hell. Next, in the reeve’s tale the students
swear vengeance in Simkin and they eventually get it in the way of sleeping with his wife and
daughter, taking his bread, and stealing his horse. In the tale of the miller Absolon is duped into
kissing Alison’s butt and he comes back and gets his vengeance to where John eventually finds
out about his wife’s affair. Lastly in the tale of the pardoner the youngest man in the group is
brutally murdered and his vengeance is eventually complete when the two men drink the
poisoned wine. Chaucer had a clear sense of justice and vengeance in his writing and that justice
will be served to those who deserve it.18
With the theme of vengeance the other major theme is justice that Chaucer injects into
almost all of the same tales. In the friar’s tale the Summoner is served his justice for his
treachery and greed. In the miller’s tale justice is served all the way around in the sense that
Nicholas was burned, Alison was found out, Absolon was humiliated, and John broke his arm
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and was mocked for his stupidity. Next, in the reeve’s tale the miller gets his justice served to
him for his continuous misdeeds and thievery. Another instance of justice appears in the
physician’s tale in the way that Apius and Claudius are punished for their misdeeds to Virginia
and Virginius. That last instance of justice being served is in the pardoner’s tale where all three
men meet death for their greed and mistreatment of the old man who often represents death in
many interpretations.19
Three major themes often are paired together in Chaucer’s tales because of the
reoccurrence of the same core ideas; love, sex, and adultery are often paired in the tales. First in
the knight’s tale the theme of love and war comes up and how two cousins were willing to
physically fight over love and how rifts can develop because of love. Next in the tales of the
miller and the reeve Chaucer uses sex and adultery in a light sense that is almost comical and he
uses it so lightly that it is almost a literary tool that was largely unused at the time.20 Lastly, in
the physician’s tale the judge, Apius, instantly loves Virginia and would do anything to win her
over even it involved kidnapping her against her will. Chaucer uses love and sex in such a way
that was unseen in the time and the tales almost read like a romanticism novel of the late 19th
century.21
The last major theme that Chaucer adheres to is one that is very apparent in a lot of
stories and brings up the entertainment factor of the tales and that theme is comedy. First the use
of irony in the friar’s tale is almost comical in the sense that the Summoner calls out the demon
for not capitalizing on the carter but later in the story the demon capitalizes on the damnation of
the Summoner by the widow. Another major use of comedy in Chaucer’s tales is in the miller’s
and reeve’s tales and how the comedy of the situations makes the tales very readable and almost
makes one want to continue reading all the tales in order to find more comedy. The last instant of
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comedy in the tales comes in the way of the pardoner’s tale and how all three men end up killing
each other because of their greed and also in the old man’s words that they will find death at the
old oak tree which seemed to not be in a physical form but more in an actual sense that all three
men met their deaths at each other’s hands at the foot of the tree.22
Why do Chaucer’s tales still hold prevalence today?
Chaucer’s tales are still very prevalent today and often times many historians have asked
why, but there are many reoccurring themes that kept people entertained in the late 14th century
and now today. One reason the tales are still prevalent today are the everlasting themes that keep
people coming back for more. The first is sex and how everyone in today’s culture is highly
sexually charged and people really like and want to keep reading if there is sex involved.
Another theme that gets people really interested is vengeance and justice and how the two can
interplay right into someone who may be corrupt or evil getting their dues in the end. Another
theme is greed and money and when people see how money can be a driving factor in getting
things done. Also people always want to find new ways to gain wealth and often times seeing
new ways of getting such wealth can make people want to read on and see how others have
gained or lost from such efforts. One last theme that keeps readers entertained is comedy and just
the mere fact that comedy is involved in such work is astounding and makes the tales very
interesting and readable.
Another reason the tales have been so popular is because the tales reveal truths not only
about medieval times but about ourselves has humans. Chaucer’s tales tell of a medieval time
where corruption was rampant and that the religion of the time was everywhere but nowhere at
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the same time in the sense that there was so much sin by church officials. These tales tell of
greed, corruption, love, sex, and justice which speaks to the times not only back then but today
as well. Chaucer also creates a great method of telling his tales in a sense that left a sense of
mystery throughout and captured the minds of many. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales may be one of
the oldest works of literature that still captivates audiences today its themes and way of telling a
story greatly inspire imaginations to take action and vividly envision the medieval world that has
been created by Chaucer.
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Footnotes
1. "The Knight's Tale." The Canterbury tales. Film. Directed by Jonathan Myerson
London: BBC Worldwide, 1998.
2. 25-29. Whittock, Trevor. A Reading of the Canterbury Tales.1968.
3. 54-62. Olson, Paul A.. The Canterbury tales and the good society.1986.
4. 23-33. Lambdin, Laura C., and Robert T. Lambdin. Chaucer's pilgrims: an historical
guide to the pilgrims in The Canterbury tales.1996.
5. 37-38. Craik, T. W.. The comic tales of Chaucer.1964.
6. 40-41. Ibid
7. "The Miller’s Tale." The Canterbury tales. Film. Directed by Jonathan Myerson. London:
BBC Worldwide, 1998.
8. “The Reeve’s Tale” The Canterbury tales. Film. Directed by Jonathan Myerson. London:
BBC Worldwide, 2000.
9. 54-65.Craik, T. W.. The comic tales of Chaucer.1964.
10. 40-45. Lambdin, Laura C., and Robert T. Lambdin. Chaucer's pilgrims: an historical
guide to the pilgrims in The Canterbury tales.1996.
11. 67-68. Whittock, Trevor. A Reading of the Canterbury Tales.1968.
12. “The Pardoner's Tale” The Canterbury tales. Film. Directed by Jonathan Myerson.
London: BBC Worldwide, 2000.
13. 23-26. Faulkner, Dewey R.. Twentieth century interpretations of the Pardoner's tale; a
collection of critical essays,.Prentice-Hall, 1973.
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14. 85-92. Lambdin, Laura C., and Robert T. Lambdin. Chaucer's pilgrims: an historical
guide to the pilgrims in The Canterbury tales.1996.
15. 93. Ibid.
16. 45-46. Olson, Paul A.. The Canterbury tales and the good society.1986.
17. 50-51. Faulkner, Dewey R.. Twentieth century interpretations of the Pardoner's tale; a
collection of critical essays,.Prentice-Hall, 1973.
18. 70-72. Whittock, Trevor. A Reading of the Canterbury Tales.1968.
19. 25-30. Olson, Paul A.. The Canterbury tales and the good society.1986.
20. 32-35. Ibid.
21. 61-62. Whittock, Trevor. A Reading of the Canterbury Tales.1968.
22. 84-91.Craik, T. W.. The comic tales of Chaucer.1964.
Caravoulias 20
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