Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
Character List: The Pilgrims
The Host (Harry Bailey): He is the proprietor of the Tabard Inn where the pilgrims to Canterbury stay and travels with them on their
journey. It is the Host who devised the scheme of the tales, proposing that each tell two tales on the way to Canterbury, and he
frequently mediates arguments between pilgrims and suggests who shall tell the next story
The Knight: A noble fighter who served in the Crusades, he travels with his son, the Squire. The Knight tells the first tale, a romantic
tale of a love triangle between two knights and a woman they both love.
The Squire: A “lusty bachelor” of twenty, the Squire is the son of the Knight. He tells an incomplete tale concerning the gifts that a
mysterious knight brings to the court of Tartary.
The Knight's Yeoman: The Yeoman is the second servant who travels with the Knight. He does not tell a tale.
The Prioress: A delicate, sentimental woman, the Prioress weeps over any small tragedy such as the death of a mouse. She attempts
to appear refined, but her refinement is superficial. Her tale concerns the murder of a small child at the hands of Jews who loathe the
child for singing about the Virgin Mary.
The Second Nun: The secretary to the Prioress, the Second Nun tells as her tale the biography of Saint Cecilia.
The Monk: A robust and masculine man, the Monk travels with the Prioress and Second Nun. He tells the tale of a hen and her
“husband,” a rooster who prophesies misfortune.
The Friar (Hubert): A member of a religious order. He is an immoral man concerned largely with profit rather than turning men
away from sin. His tale is an attack on the wickedness of summoners.
The Merchant: He is an arrogant man obsessed with profit margins. His story is a comic tale concerning an elderly blind man who
takes a young wife who proves unfaithful.
The Clerk: The Clerk is a student at Oxford, and his lack of an actual profession leaves him impoverished. Although educated, his
intellectual pursuits have left him virtually unemployable. He tells a tale of the humble Griselde, who marries a man of high status
who cruelly tests her devotion to him.
The Man of Law: The lawyer tells a religiously inspired tale concerning Constance, a woman who suffers a number of tragedies but
is at each turn saved by her devotion to her Christian beliefs.
The Franklin: A substantial landholder of free but not noble birth. He travels with the Man of Law. The Franklin is a man who takes
delight in all simple pleasures, most prominently culinary ones. His story is that of a woman who promises to have an affair with a
man if he can do something she deems impossible that would nevertheless save her husband.
The Weaver: One of the five guildsmen who travel with the pilgrims to Canterbury, he does not tell a tale.
The Dyer: One of the five guildsmen who travel with the pilgrims to Canterbury, he does not tell a tale.
The Carpenter: One of the five guildsmen who travel with the pilgrims to Canterbury, he does not tell a tale.
The Tapestry-Maker: One of the five guildsmen who travel with the pilgrims to Canterbury, he does not tell a tale.
The Haberdasher: A retail dealer in men’s furnishings. One of the five guildsmen who travel with the pilgrims to Canterbury, he
does not tell a tale.
The Cook: A lewd and vulgar man, the Cook often engages in violent and contentious behavior. He tells a brief fragmented tale that
appears to be a fabliau. However, this tale does not exist in a completed form.
The Shipman: He tells the tale of a woman who agrees to have an affair with a monk who will pay her so that she can repay a debt to
her husband, but this monk borrows this money from the husband himself.
The Physician: The Physician tells a tale about a father who, in order to protect his daughter from scoundrels who contrive to rape
her, murders his daughter.
The Wife of Bath: The most ostentatious of the travelers, the Wife of Bath has been married five times and is currently searching for
another man to marry. The Wife of Bath is opinionated and boisterous, and her tale, which centers around the question "what do
women want," promotes her view that women wish to have authority over men.
The Parson: A member of the clergy. The Parson is a man devoted to his congregation, decent and principled. His tale is a long
dissertation on the definition of sin and its various forms.
The Miller: A large man with an imposing physique, the Miller is rude and contemptuous of his fellow travelers. His tale is a comic
story of a devious student who contrives to have an affair with the wife of a dimwitted carpenter.
The Manciple: An officer or steward of a monastery, college, etc., authorized to purchase provisions. Also trained in the law, the
Manciple tells a fable that attributes the dark appearance and unpleasant sound of crows to the actions of a white crow who told the
god Phoebus of his wife's infidelity.
The Reeve: An administrative officer of a town or district. A slender man with a fiery temper, he tells a tale in response to the
Miller's Tale. His tale concerns a villainous Miller who is humiliated by two Oxford students.
The Summoner: The profession of the summoner is to issue summons for people to appear in front of the Church court, and in this
the Summoner is quite unfair. He tells a tale in response to the Friar's diatribe against summoners that parodies the Friar's profession.
The Pardoner: An effeminate and shamelessly immoral man, the Pardoner is intensely self-loathing yet devoted to his task of
defrauding people of their money by making them believe that they have sinned and need to buy pardons. His tale is an allegory about
three rioters who find death through their avarice. The Pardoner uses this tale as an attempt to sell false relics to the travelers.
The Canon: A mysterious and threatening figure, he and his Yeoman are not original travelers with the pilgrims to Canterbury. They
seek out the party when they learn about the tales that they have been telling. When the Canon's Yeoman reveals too much about his
master's profession, the Canon suddenly disappears.
The Canon's Yeoman: The assistant to the Canon, he speaks openly about his master's tricks as an alchemist, prompting the Canon to
leave the pilgrims. The Yeoman then admits that he regrets the deceptions of his master, and tells a tale that details the methods of a
canon's fraud..