The Canterbury
Tales
Geoffrey Chaucer
What is the book about?
• The Canterbury Tales is a series of 24 tales told by a vast
representation of late Middle Age English folk on a
pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral, mid-April, 1387.*
• They agree to engage in a storytelling contest, mediated
by the owner of the pub where they first meet, located
in Southwark, just over the London Bridge.
• They are heading to the shrine of Saint Thomas à
Becket, the archbishop murdered there on Christmas,
1170, by the knights of Henry II. **
• Originally, it was meant to contain two tales going to
the cathedral, and two coming back, as told by each
pilgrim, but Chaucer never finished the work, and of
the thirty pilgrims, we hear from only these 24, going.
Geoffrey Chaucer
c. 1343-1400
• Considered the father of English poetry
• Wrote in the vernacular
• Served as a soldier, government servant, and member of
Parliament
• Introduced iambic pentameter
• First writer buried in Westminster Abbey
Learn more about Chaucer. Go to. . .
http://www.unc.edu/depts/chaucer/index.html
The Canterbury Tales
What is the book about?
What are some significant historical issues?
What are important stylistic elements?
Why is The Canterbury Tales important in the
development of the English language?
The Canterbury Tales:
Snapshot of an Age
• Frame Story
• It frames a story of characters on a religious
pilgrimage to Canterbury.
• Allegorical Figures
• Each character represents a group or section of
Medieval Society
• The characters tell stories that reflect “everyman”
in the universal pilgrimage of life.
Historic Elements
• Recall that Thomas à Becket was murdered because he
refused to appease Henry II by petitioning Rome to get
rid of the ecclesiastic courts – or at least to put Henry in
charge of them.
• Thomas is considered a martyr for the Church and was
almost immediately canonized. Twelve miracles
quickly came to light that he had performed, which are
presented in beautiful stained glass windows in the
cathedral.*
• By the time Chaucer is writing The Canterbury Tales,
about 200 years later, society is not exactly so pious…
Historic Elements
• The pilgrims in Chaucer’s work are truly a motley
group. The Canterbury Tales represents a vast
representation of people and occupations from the late
Middle Ages in England. Historians have looked to the
Prologue to discover aspects of medieval life, including
what people did and how they thought.
• The changes from the medieval world to the ideology of
the Renaissance are beginning, and these are
represented in the attitudes of the pilgrims in The
Canterbury Tales.
Historic Elements
Some of these changes include:
• Social mobility
• Physical mobility
• Ideals of love
• The role of women
• The changes in attitude towards the church
• Changing attitudes towards the notion of divine rights of
kings and nobles, fueled by the 100 Years’ War and the
earlier Crusades disaster. The House of Commons gains
considerable power during the reign of Edward III.*
Historic Elements
• The Catholic Church was suffering from corruption,
particularly from offences highlighted in The
Canterbury Tales, including selling of indulgences
and other individual transgressions.
• 1303-1377 the Avignon Papacy, resulting from the
corruption of the office of the Pope, Clement V
moved to Avignon, France. This is followed by the
Great Western Schism (1378-1417) There were two,
then three popes!
• John Wycliffe (1330-1384)… rumblings of the
Protestant Reformation: Separation of church and
state – or at least of church and wealth! His
followers were called “lollards” (mumblers).
Historic Elements
• 100 Years War: (1294-1444) Long conflict between
England and France. English kings wanted to be
monarchs of England and France, and visa versa.
This conflict intensified under Edward III, during
Chaucer’s lifetime, and included conflicts with Scots,
Irish and Welsh. (Braveheart. Henry V. Joan of
Arc.) England was still struggling to be English.
Chaucer sees first-hand the folly of this dispute.
• Ravages of the Black Plague in the 13th and 14th
centuries increase the property – and prosperity of
farmers. Perpetual need for workers leads to
commuting labor force…It indirectly leads to the…
Historic Elements
• Peasant’s Revolt (1381) which was waged
against unfair limiting of wages and taxes on the
workers. It’s an early struggle against feudalism,
and forced the young king, Richard II, to
negotiate with the common people. (All
promises made to Wat Tyler are immediately
rescinded, and he and his cohorts are executed.)
The Plague also leads the population to question
faith and the “chain of being” for Death is a
great equalizer.
• Prosperity spreads: commerce and knowledge
increase social mobility.
Historic Elements
• Accomplishments in the Arab world begin to
spread to Europe from the Arab conquest of
Spain (Convivencia) and Crusades onward: try
as it might, the Church cannot maintain control
of advanced knowledge in astronomy,
navigation, mathematics, medicine, technology,
architecture, and literature.* Chaucer, a
polymath and scholar, reflected this influence in
his work. He left unfinished a translation from
Latin of a Treatise on the Astrolabe into Middle
English, and tips his hat to many of the scholars
of the Arab world in the Canterbury Tales.
Historic Elements
• Advancements in medicine, unfortunately for
Europe, would not progress until well into the
19th Century. Europeans generally had a
fascination for this forbidden knowledge,
portrayed as witchcraft by the Church, eager to
discredit Islam.
• Chaucer’s narrative itself reflects the storytelling
style of Arab literature, such as The Thousand
and One Nights. And, his Franklin’s Tale exposes
some of the knowledge he may have gleaned
from his study of Arab texts on astronomy.
Historic Elements
• Many folks took pilgrimages to make business
connections, meet potential mates, appease an irate wife
or boss, or to advance your social position – or for
entertainment! Remember, society was changing!
• In England today, the smaller roads from Southwark to
Canterbury * are still lined with pubs, which offered the
pilgrims of Chaucer’s time lodging, libations, and
sometimes other worldly pleasures…
• The pilgrims of the time could also get little pins to
wear that said, basically, “I went on a pilgrimage to
Canterbury!” and other kitschy things that are now in
the British Museum!
Importance to the English Language
• Chaucer never sought to publish during his lifetime, but
his Canterbury Tales was universally admired as soon as
it appeared.
• It supported efforts of those in England who wanted to
separate once and for all from France, and the end of
the 100 Years’ War would mark the final change that
separated England and English culture from that of
France and the rest of Europe.
• By 1363, the official language of the court was changed
from French to English; English was becoming more
commonly taught in schools, superseding Latin.
Chaucer’s work provided validation of language and
culture that shined proudly during its time.
The Pilgrims
Working Class
Plowman
Cook
Miller
Reeve
Host
Haberdasher
Dyer
Carpenter
Weaver
Carpetmaker
The Pilgrims
Professional Class
Military
Knight
Squire
Yeoman
Religious
Nun, 3 Priests,
Friar, Parson,
Pardoner,
Summoner
Secular
Cleric
Sergeant at Law
Merchant
Skipper
Doctor
The Pilgrims
Upper Class
Wife of Bath
Franklin
Chaucer’s Snapshot of the
Middle Ages Population
Stylistic Elements
• Chaucer uses narrative voice to its fullest potential in this
work. While the tales themselves are narrated by different
characters, a scribe (who describes himself as not too bright)
writes them down, sometimes taking the time to apologize or
add to the tale that was just told.
• This scribe (also called Chaucer) is actually Chaucer’s alter
ego, who recites the blithering ballad of Sir Topaz, followed
by the Tale of Melibee,* a study in itself.
• The tales are connected with “links,” where the pub owner
introduces a new tale, the pilgrims fight with each other, and
the scribe complains.
• Between the tales the pilgrims tell, and the links between
them, Chaucer covers a lot of social and ideological ground
inside this structure.
Stylistic Elements
• Within this narrative voice and plot structure, Chaucer
himself is doubly – or triply – hidden and can freely
criticize or honor the society around him. Why would
Chaucer want to shield himself ? (Check out his life!)
• Chaucer creates a mock-pilgrimage of sorts, and it
should be noted that a pilgrimage is considered as
Christian allegory for life itself. (The idea starts with St.
Augustine’s City of God, and was used by Dante in The
Divine Comedy, and William Langland in Piers Plowman.)
• In the pilgrimage of life you encounter moral difficulties
and are tested. The shrine you head for is Heaven; you
get there if you are humble, and ask God for guidance.
There certainly are allegorical elements, albeit
sometimes “mock” allegory, to Chaucer’s work.
Stylistic Elements
• The Canterbury Tales is written in verse, much of it in iambic
pentameter, much of it in heroic couplets. Chaucer utilized
this meter and rhyme beautifully and helps to fix it in the ear
of English speaking people. He also employs royal rhyme
and prose very effectively.
• Chaucer also presents an example of almost every popular
literary genre in this work: romance, beast fable, fabliaux,
saint story, parable, dialectical discourse*, and sermon.
• His ironic tone is perhaps unmatched in literature, and he
uses gentle satire works to reprimand without evisceration.
He also tenderly praises humanity with all its foibles. His
ability to balance and change the tonal quality of each tale,
and manipulate voice is remarkable – especially for a civil
servant!
Stylistic Elements
• Perhaps the most notable element of The Canterbury
Tales, however, is Chaucer’s superb characterization.
The many voices are painted with intensely detailed
lines, and each one is unique and realistic.
• The narrative voice of each character is subtly
maintained throughout the tale that each tells, and the
qualities of the individual telling the tale are apparent in
the type and context of the tale told!
• The Canterbury Tales represents a singular moment of
representing psychological reality of character, which
Chaucer presents with excruciatingly meticulous
accuracy. Not until Shakespeare would this be realized
again in the English language.