The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
by Geoffrey Chaucer
Feature Menu
Introducing the Selection
Literary Focus: Characterization
Literary Focus: Frame Story
Reading Focus: Analyzing
Style—Key Details
Writing Focus: Think as a
Reader-Writer
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
by Geoffrey Chaucer
Chaucer’s Canterbury Pilgrims (1810) by William Blake. Engraving.
What moves a hero to act?
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
by Geoffrey Chaucer
Click on the title to start the video.
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Introducing the Selection
For the most part, only the light characters
travel. Who are you that have no task to
keep you at home?
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Introducing the Selection
Take a Tour
If you went on a tour
today, what types of
people would you meet?
Do you think you might
come across a “character”
or two?
Chaucer’s characters are the kinds of people he
would have known in real life and observed riding
toward Canterbury on the old pilgrimage road.
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Introducing the Selection
Chaucer used the East Midland dialect of Middle
English. This dialect was the most common
colloquial language at the time and became the
basis for modern English.
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Introducing the Selection
Twenty-nine pilgrims are on their way to the shrine
of Saint Thomas à Becket in Canterbury.
The time is April, and the
place is the Tabard Inn in
Southwark (SUTH erk), just
outside London.
London
Canterbury
[End of Section]
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Literary Focus: Characterization
Chaucer uses indirect characterization when he
tells how each character
• looks and dresses
This yeoman wore a coat and hood of green,
And peacock-feathered arrows, bright and keen
• speaks and acts
Her greatest oath was only “By St. Loy!”
• thinks and feels
And gladly would he learn, and gladly teach.
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Literary Focus: Characterization
Chaucer also uses direct characterization, when
he comes right out and tells us what a character’s
nature is—virtuous, vain, clever, and so on.
There was a Friar, a wanton one and merry,
A Limiter, a very festive fellow.
In all Four Orders there was none so mellow,
So glib with gallant phrase and well-turned speech.
[End of Section]
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Literary Focus: Frame Story
A frame story is a literary device that binds
together several different narratives. It is a story
that contains other stories.
• In The Canterbury Tales,
the Prologue serves as
the frame story.
• The Prologue introduces
each pilgrim and describes
the journey they will all
begin the next day.
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Literary Focus: Frame Story
Following the Prologue, the characters tell their
own stories.
• The pilgrims’ tales are
stories within the frame.
• Their individual stories
are united by the frame.
• Each tale has its own
theme that supports the
theme of the larger work.
[End of Section]
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Reading Focus: Analyzing Style: Key Details
With twenty-nine pilgrims to introduce, Chaucer
couldn’t develop any one character at great length.
Instead, he provides a few well-chosen details to
make each character stand out vividly.
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Reading Focus: Analyzing Style: Key Details
Identifying key details about these characters can
help you determine what Chaucer thinks about his
characters and their experiences.
• How do details of dress, appearance, and
behavior influence your first impression of
each pilgrim?
• Note that some details contradict what the
characters think of themselves (or want others
to think of them).
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Reading Focus: Analyzing Style: Key Details
Into Action: As you read, use a chart like the one
below to note one or two key details about the main
characters in the Prologue. Briefly describe what you
think each detail emphasizes about the character.
Character
the Knight
Key Detail
What Detail
Emphasizes
“He had done nobly
in his sovereign’s
It tells us he’s a brave
man, a strong warrior,
war / And ridden
into battle.”
and someone of great
experience.
[End of Section]
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Writing Focus: Think as a Reader/Writer
Find It in Your Reading
Describing each character’s appearance is one method
of characterization that Chaucer uses.
As you read, consider how Chaucer describes each
character’s physical appearance. Make notes on the
different types of physical details he provides.
[End of Section]
Vocabulary
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Vocabulary
eminent adj.: great; of high standing.
benign adj.: kind; gracious.
guile n.: sly dealings; skill in deceiving.
obstinate adj.: unreasonably stubborn.
frugal adj.: thrifty; careful with money.
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Vocabulary
The word eminent is often used to describe an
important person.
It comes from a word related to
hill, suggesting that an
eminent person stands out
from the crowd.
The Lincoln Memorial
expresses Americans’ regard
for this eminent president.
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Vocabulary
“I would like to introduce our eminent speaker,”
said the principal.
Are people in the
audience likely
to know who the
speaker is?
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Vocabulary
The word benign comes from a French word
meaning “good.”
It is related to words like
• benefit
• benevolent
• beneficial
Yolanda wore a benign smile
as she petted the chick.
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Vocabulary
If a doctor says a
growth is benign,
is that good news?
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Vocabulary
The word guile comes from a French word
meaning “trick.”
In Aesop’s fables, the fox
often succeeds in tricking
other animals because it is
full of guile.
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Vocabulary
A person who is full of guile is
a. trustworthy
b. easy to fool
c. skilled at deception
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Vocabulary
A person who is full of guile is
a. trustworthy
b. easy to fool
c. skilled at deception
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Vocabulary
Mules are well-known for sometimes refusing to
head towards danger, as the mule sees it.
People are sometimes said
to be “as stubborn as a
mule.”
Stubborn people could also
be called “as obstinate as
a mule.”
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Vocabulary
A obstinate person is
a. easy to persuade
b. hard to change
c. eager to try new things
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Vocabulary
A obstinate person is
a. easy to persuade
b. hard to change
c. eager to try new things
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Vocabulary
The word miser comes from a Latin word meaning
“pitiful or wretched.”
A miser would rather hold on
to money than spend it.
A related word is miserable.
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Vocabulary
According to legend, King Midas was rich, but he
wanted to be richer.
A god gave him the power to
turn everything he touched to
gold. Of course, this made it
hard to eat. So the king was
miserable until the god took
his golden touch away.
Was Midas a miser?
[End of Section]
The End