The Canterbury Tales is a story about storytelling. The work is a collection of stories told by a group of pilgrims on their way to the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury. The tales are written in Middle English and are a diverse group of stories that range from serious moral tales to more bawdy stories.
Reading level: Young adult, grade 10-12 English as a first language.
Language: Middle English, although there are modern translations with Chaucer's English next to modern translations.
The Tales are divided into 12 chapters with 31 pilgrims, telling 24 stories.
Chaucer's most common verse rhyme scheme in the Canterbury Tales, the rhyming couplet, would be described as "aa, bb, cc, dd" because it rarely repeats a rhyme due to the pressures on the poet to keep the narrative moving.
The Canterbury Tales is important for a number of reasons: It is widely considered to be the first major work of English literature. It's one of the first examples of the use of the vernacular in literature, as it was written in the language of the common people, rather than in Latin. It gives a critical picture of medieval English society and shows different classes of people.
Moral Tales: The Tales of the Prioress, Clerk, Monk, Man of Law, Second Nun, and Parson, and Chaucer's Tale of Melibee
Essential Questions:
How does physiognomy play a role in helping to create caricatures of the pilgrims?
How are the pilgrims still relevant to society today?
How are social classes distorted throughout The Tales?
How do cultural values influence the kinds of journeys people take?
The Prologue: Provides a general description of the characters on the journey.
Literary Devices used: simile and metaphors, irony, allusion, symbolism, imagery, satire,
Symbols: flowers (youth, fertility, sexual desire)
Themes: religion, class, deceit, the role of women in medieval society (wife of Bath's Tale)
The Wife of Bath's Tale: This is one of Chaucer's most developed characters.
The story explores the double standard applied to medieval society. What do women really want? sovereignty of course! Women desire power in marriage, and when she does have the power, both parties are happier. Using the Hag/Crone (wise woman) archetype the Hag gives the knight a choice.
The Wife of Bath represents feminism and the belief that women should be given power and control. She also represents the idea that women do not need to conform to the norms of the time and can enjoy their own sexuality. The Wife of Bath begins the Prologue to her tale by establishing herself as an authority on marriage, due to her extensive personal experience with the institution. Since her first marriage at the tender age of twelve, she has had five husbands.
One evening, out of frustration, the Wife tears three pages out of the book and punches Jankyn in the face. Jankyn repays her by striking her on the head, which is the reason, she explains in line 636, that she is now deaf in one ear.
