NAME: ____________________
DATE: _____________________
Multiple Choice
Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
____
1. What is Chaucer's main reason for writing about the pilgrimage in the Prologue?
a.
b.
c.
d.
____
to reveal the characters' beliefs about their religion
to create a setting for telling stories by different characters
to describe medieval life from different points of view
to create a colorful setting in which to reveal his characters
2. Use the strategy for analyzing difficult sentences to analyze the following lines from the Prologue.
What was the purpose of the trip?
It happened in that season that one day / In Southwark, at The Tabard, as I lay / Ready to go on
pilgrimage and start / For Canterbury, most devout at heart, / At night there came into that hostelry
/ Some nine and twenty in a company / Of sundry folk happening then to fall / In fellowship, and
they were pilgrims all / That towards Canterbury meant to ride.
a.
b.
c.
d.
____
3. In the Prologue, what does the narrator think of the Monk?
a.
b.
c.
d.
____
He is humble.
He is courageous.
He cares about others.
He cares about himself.
4. What is Chaucer's primary theme in the Prologue?
a.
b.
c.
d.
____
to stay at the Tabard
to go on a pilgrimage
to meet twenty-nine people
to enjoy the spring season
the dangers of pleasure
the great variety of human nature
the evil of humankind
the inability of people to get along
5. What do you know about the woman from Bath, based on these lines from the Prologue?
In all the parish not a dame dared stir / Towards the altar steps in front of her.…
a.
b.
c.
d.
She does not go to church.
She always sits when praying.
She is proud and demanding.
She does not like other women.
____
6. According to the Prologue, how many tales will each pilgrim tell on the journey?
a.
b.
c.
d.
____
7. Where are the pilgrims going in the Prologue?
a.
b.
c.
d.
____
two going there and two coming back
as many as they wish
one for the entire trip
however many the Host decides
to the Tabard, a famous inn
to a church in London
to a village in Southwark
to the cathedral in Canterbury
8. What does the narrator mean in saying these lines from the Prologue?
But first I beg of you, in courtesy, / Not to condemn me as unmannerly / If I speak plainly and with
no concealings / And give account of all their words and dealings.
a.
b.
c.
d.
____
Please do not blame me if I tell you the truth about what they said and did.
Forgive me for making up details to make what they said more interesting.
I am embarrassed to admit it, but I don't always stick to the truth.
I apologize for leaving out things that they said and did that are rude.
9. Whom do the pilgrims accept as their leader in the Prologue?
a.
b.
c.
d.
the Host
the Knight
the Nun
the Oxford Cleric
____ 10. What does the narrator mean in the Prologue when he says the following about the Friar?
But anywhere a profit might accrue / Courteous he was and lowly of service too.
a.
b.
c.
d.
The Friar helps people make money by providing his services.
The Friar helps people by giving them his time and money.
The Friar helps people when he can make money doing it.
The Friar helps people by teaching them how to use money.
____ 11. What word means almost the same as sanguine?
a.
b.
c.
d.
decorated
untruthful
cheerful
respectful
____ 12. In standing by to carve meat for his father at the table, the young Squire is showing himself to be
____.
a.
b.
c.
d.
garnished
prevaricating
solicitous
sanguine
____ 13. The narrator is portrayed as
a.
b.
c.
d.
stern and judgmental.
sophisticated and worldly.
robust and merry.
naive and observant.
____ 14. Chaucer describes the Pardoner's hair as “rat-tails” primarily to
a.
b.
c.
d.
furnish realistic detail.
provide comic relief.
suggest the Pardoner's obsession with current fashions.
imply moral corruption.
____ 15. Using the who, what, where, when, why, and how questioning strategy to understand the following
passage, write the letter of the phrase that best summarizes its meaning.
Whatever money from his friends he took / He spent on learning or another book / And prayed for
them most earnestly, returning / Thanks to them thus for paying for his learning.
a. He stole his friends' money, spent it on books, and then prayed his friends would return.
b. Whatever money he borrowed from his friends he spent on his studies and books, prayed for
more books, and then sent his friends thank-you notes for paying for his learning.
c. Whatever money he could get from his friends he spent on his studies and books, prayed for
his books, and then returned thanks to his friends for paying for his learning.
d. Whatever money he borrowed from his friends he spent on his studies and books and then
prayed earnestly for his friends as a way of giving them thanks.
____ 16. By positioning his description of the Miller almost immediately after that of the Plowman, Chaucer
accentuates
a.
b.
c.
d.
the virtues of the Plowman.
the buffoonishness and criminality of the Miller.
the kinship between these two laborers.
the virtues of the Plowman as well as the buffoonishness and criminality of the Miller.
MORE 
SHORT ANSWER: Please fill in the word or phrase on the space provide.
___________________ 17. In what month do the pilgrims begin their journey?
___________________ 18. In what language did Chaucer write the Canterbury Tales?
___________________ 19. Who is the narrator of the Prologue?
___________________ 20. Which character is described first in the Prologue?