The Canterbury Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer
(1340?-1400)
England’s most vociferous medieval champion!
Chaucer wrote in vernacular English
rather than in Latin or French.
Middle English is a result of mixing the
OE of the Anglo-Saxons with the Old
French of the Normans.
Chaucer’s Original Manuscript
April 1386
• Destination: Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury, England.
• Canterbury Cathedral has been a shrine and to the martyred
Thomas a Becket who was murdered by knights sent by King
Henry II on December 29, 1170.
• Pilgrims: 29 and Chaucer, the narrator
• Chaucer’s pilgrims are well-rounded characters with
personalities and pasts.
• As one critic said, “Not a whisper, not a wart, is omitted.”
• The pilgrim’s occupations reflect different aspects of 14 th
century society.
• Each pilgrim is invited to tell a tale of possible interest to the
others, a tale on the way, and a tale on the way back.
• Original Plan: 120 Tales *24 Tales
• Chaucer’s pilgrims were a mixed congregation; their
occupations reflect different aspects of 14th century society.
Pilgrims gather at the Tabard Inn
in Southwark, across the Thames from London
50-70 miles from Canterbury Cathedral
The Tabard Inn (1880), Bath Road, Bedford Park, London
Thomas a Becket is venerated as a saint
and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church
and the Anglican Church. He engaged in conflict
with King Henry II over the rights and
privileges of the Church and was assassinated
by followers of the king in Canterbury Cathedral.
Chaucer wrote in Rhymed Couplets
of 5-beat (stressed) iambic lines—
10 syllables per line
Middle English, The Prologue
Whan that April with his showres soote
The droughte of March hath perced to the roote
Chaucer’s Tone
• To understand, we must read between the lines.
Chaucer is not direct.
• The narrator’s tone or attitude toward his characters is
detached, ironic, and often understates his criticisms
or says the opposite of what he really thinks.
• For example, in the following lines Chaucer reveals
his attitude toward a Friar who gives God’s
forgiveness (absolution) freely, as long as he receives
a donation.
Sweetly he heard his penitents at shrift
With pleasant absolution, for a gift.
Here, Chaucer implies the Friar was materialistic, not so holy.
And significantly, gaining money cheapens divine forgiveness.
FRAME TALE
• A frame tale is a story that provides a vehicle,
or a frame, for telling other stories.
• While The Prologue provides the outer frame,
the individual pilgrims’ tales create the inner
“picture.”
Types of Tales
• Exemplum: a brief story used to illustrate a
moral point; sermons are sometimes used; thus
an exemplum can be a bit “preachy,” i.e., “The
Pardoner’s Tale.”
• Beast Fable: characters are animals, i.e., “The
Nun’s Priest’s Tale.”
Types of Tales
• Fabliaux: This short story in verse tells of
comic incidents of ordinary life, usually with
earthly or bawdy realism, i.e., “The Miller’s
Tale.”
• Courtly Romance: 1st- a story of the proper way
the aristocracy behave 2nd-the proper way that
a man and a woman interact before marriage,
i.e., “The Wife of Bath’s Tale.”
This manuscript contains the writing of the first master of
English literature, and is considered to be the most complete
and reliable text edition of the Canterbury Tales.
The Ellesmere Canterbury Tales was probably produced
soon after 1400.
It contains 240 parchment leaves, 232 of which are the text
Of the Tales. The remaining leaves were originally blank,
lined pages that now contain miscellaneous verses, notes
and scribbles by various persons over the course of the
15th and 16th centuries. The original text was written by
one scribe in an English style cursive script.
The Ellesmere Canterbury Tales