English 10H, Mathews The Canterbury Tales
Main Ideas for The Canterbury Tales
Author: Geoffrey Chaucer, a.k.a. the Father of all English poetry
Form: It’s poetry, a.k.a. verse, mostly. Two tales are in prose.
Setting: Springtime, Tabard Inn… then a pilgrimage onto Canterbury, to visit Thomas a’ Becket’s shrine – a place believed to have healing or restorative powers. (FYI: Archbishop Becket was martyred after his assassination – in his own church no less and by the king’s knights – in 1170; because of ensuing backlash against this same monarchy, sainthood was granted to appease the public.)
Frame Story: The premise is that each pilgrim will tell a tale on the way to Canterbury because the trip is LONG. It is the Inn keeper who proposes a story-telling contest. ** Chaucer’s plan though is to make none of the storytellers superior to the others; it is an EQUAL COMPANY.
Genres:
· Narrative collection of poems – they tell a story.
· Character portraits – essentially the Prologue; it introduces every pilgrim; by their title we know what the character should be like & we contrast that to how she/he is.
· Parody – makes fun by imitating
· Estates Satire – shows the 3 estates/ classes of the Middle Ages and satirizes (most of) them:
* those who fight, *those who labor, and *those who pray.
Language: Middle English, 1386-95
Narrator: Primary narrator is anonymous, a naïve member of the pilgrimage. Pilgrims narrate their own tales after the Prologue.
* He’s the 1st POV “I” you see in the Prologue.
* Do not accept the naive narrator’s view as Chaucer’s.
Conflict: Mostly this involves clashes among different classes, tastes, and competing professions. There are also clashes between the sexes.
Motifs:
· Romance – high adventure romance and the other romance as well
· Fabliau/ fabliaux – tale marked by comic or ribald treatment of worldly themes, e.g. The Miller’s Tale
Themes:
· Courtly love
· Importance of Company
· The Corruption of the Church
Symbols:
· Springtime
· Clothing
· Physiognomy