Name:
Activity #1: Canterbury Tales Prologue Guided Notes
Directions: View the online Power Point (Canterbury Tales Prologue) and complete the following notes / activities
You may print and handwrite or type your responses 
1. Basic Plot:
• __________________ meet to take a pilgrimage (religious journey)
• To pass time – they _______________________
• Best story wins a _________________________
• This premise = ___________________________ (smaller stories within a larger story)
• Short stories told by pilgrims are filled with jokes, exaggerations and irony to make a _________________point!
2. What should we learn from the Canterbury Tales?
• Characteristics of Medieval Life (history; culture; social issues)
• Elements of ________________________________________
• Purpose of Archetypes
• Content Details
3. Who is Geoffrey Chaucer?
4. Why did Chaucer write the Canterbury Tales?
5. Why is the text considered important?
6. Define the following terms:
 Frame narrative –

Satire –

Pilgrimage –
7. Spring – symbolizes _________________________________ (rebirth of England)
• Pilgrims begin at the Tabard Inn
• Tabard is an official garment of a herald (symbolic – inform)
8. St. Thomas Becket
• Pilgrims will visit his ________________________
• Medieval martyr – refused King a divorce
• Murder by the king’s knights = his death is symbolic of _____________________________
9 Label the following definitions with their corresponding term:
• _________________– unclear or deceptive; Main Theme: appearances can be deceiving
•
_________________ – Middle Class (Chaucer’s audience)
•
_________________ – religious token (believed to have powers)
•
_________________ – like a union; formed in cities to maintain prices and standards (each trade had their own guild)
10. Gap-teethed = _________________________
•
Widower / remarried = outcastes; disgraced
•
Women’s legal status = children (considered property or dependants!)
11. Why might we consider The Canterbury Tales as a microcosm of the medieval world?
12. What is the prologue?
13. What season is described in the opening passage of The Canterbury Tales?
14. What do people especially want to do when this season comes, according to the narrator?
15. Where especially do English people want to go? Why do they want to go there?
16. How many pilgrims does the narrator claim he meets at the Tabard inn?
17. Why does Chaucer use ‘generic’ names for most of his characters?
Activity #2: Character Investigation and Creative Reflection
Directions: (1) View the Chaucer’s Pilgrims slides to gain an understanding of the social class issues and individuals Chaucer was
trying to criticize and change through his political satire.
(2) Select one pilgrim to review in-depth. Once you have selected your pilgrim, use the provided template (on my website)
to make a ‘Most Wanted Poster’ that indicates your given character’s appearance, personality, connection to the story’s
plot / Medieval society.
View example FBI Most Wanted Poster for ideas: http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/semion-mogilevich/view
Access Most Wanted Poster Template on my school website; complete for your chosen pilgrim!
Note: you may alter font, text boxes, etc… to meet your design needs. The provided template is simply the minimum