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STUDY GUIDE FOR MEDIEVAL TEST
I.
II.
Vocabulary Builder Words (97, 122, 136)
 Solicitous

Absolution
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Pallor

Hoary

Prating
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Tarry
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Apothecary
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Implored
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Bequeath
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Prowess
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Rebuked
“The General Prologue” Pilgrim Portraits & Chaucer (96)
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Knight
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Squire
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Prioress
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Monk
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Friar
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Merchant
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Wife of Bath
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Parson
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Miller
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Pardoner
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Host
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Geoffrey Chaucer, the author
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III.
Tale-telling contest
“The Pardoner’s Tale” (123)
1. Why do the riotous men want to kill Death?
2. What is ironic about this wish?
3. Who tells them where Death can be found?
4. What lies under the oak tree?
5. Why don’t the men just take the gold home right then?
6. Why do the two older bad men send the youngest man to town?
7. What do they plan to do while the younger man is gone?
8. What does the younger man plan to do while he is away from the older men?
9. What excuse does the younger man give the apothecary for needing the chemical for which he
asks?
10. What happens at the end of the story, AND what moral does the story teach?
IV.
“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” (137)
1. What reason does the Wife give for there being no more fairies in the land anymore?
2. What crime does the knight commit at the beginning of the story?
3. Who is put in charge of his punishment? Why?
4. What question must he find the answer to?
5. How long does he have to find this answer?
6. What unattractive trait about women does the story about King Midas describe?
7. Why is this part of the story ironic?
8. What is the answer to the queen’s question?
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9. What does the old woman demand the knight do?
10. When asked why he is so miserable on their wedding night, what three criticism does the knight
level at his wife?
11. What two choices does the old woman give her new husband?
12. What choice does the knight make?
13. According to the Wife of Bath, what is the lesson of this story?
14. What curse does the Wife wish on men who won’t let their women be in charge?
15. What does the word sovereignty mean?
V.
Morte d’Arthur
1. What is Arthur’s first dream about?
2. What is Arthur’s second dream about?
3. What causes the battle to break out between the two armies?
4. Why does Arthur decide to fight Mordred even though only a few people are left alive from the
battle?
5. What happens to Sir Lucan when he tries to help Arthur to his feet?
6. How many times does Arthur ask Bedivere to throw his sword Excalibur into the water?
7. How does Arthur know Bedivere has finally told the truth about the sword?
8. Who comes on a barge to pick up Arthur and try to save his life?
9. With whom does Bedivere meet in the forest nearby where Arthur was taken?
10. Who is buried in the grave in the forest?
11. What is inscribed in Latin on the tombstone?