Geoffrey+Chaucer+and+The+Cantebury+Tales

__Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales__

http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/chaucerbio.htm -Geoffrey Chaucer is known as the father of english literature. -He was born in 1343, the exact date being unknown. -He was born in London, England -He died on October 25 of 1400 at the age of 56 or 57 and it is not known because his unknown exact birthday -The Canterbury Tales, his most notable work, was in began 1387 and published in 1400 so it is often thought that the published story isn't even what he intended for the completed work but then he died.
 * __BASIC INFORMATION__** (NRA)

http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/chaucerbio.html
 * __LIFE EVENTS__** (NRA)

1343- He is born 1357- The first record of his being a human is accounted for working as a page for Elizabeth De Burgh household who was the husband of Prince Lionel 1359- He goes to war with Prince Lionel's Company 1360- He is captured by French and his ransom is paid for with the help of King Edward III 1366- He marries Philippa 1367- He is given King Edward III's "valet" being a retirement plan of 20 marks for life 1374- He recieves a gift of a pitcher of wine daily 1381- His mother, Agnes, dies 1389- He becomes Clerk of the King 1400- September 29 last record of him being alive buying tun of wine 1400- October 25 he died

http://kirjasto.sci.fi/chaucer.htm What he did with his life, and the start of the Canterbury Tales.

__**//The Canterbury Tales//**__ **(CDF)**


 * General Introduction**

The Prologue gives an admirable description of the uncomplicated life of England in the Middle Ages. Here are portraits of all levels of English life. In this group Chaucer brings together all of the foibles and virtues of man and the manners and morals of his time with remarkable clarity. Through the Prologue Chaucer alternately praises or chides the travelers with deftly drawn word portraits which provide insights into the life of his time. Influenced by Boccacio's Decameron, Chaucer uses the device of the religious pilgrimage to bring together such a diverse group. The shrine of St. Thomas a Becket to which the pilgrims are going was reputed to have great healing qualities. Some of pilgrims are going for health rather than religious reasons. W of Bath was a little deaf; Pardoner was beardless; the cook, a sore; summoner, boils and other skin trouble; Miller, an awful wart on his nose; the reeve was choleric, etc.

The 29 characters are brought together by the Host. The Host decides to hold a contest of story-telling for all to participate. Each character is to tell two stories on the way to Canterbury and two more on the way back. The character that tells the best stories, and is best at telling them, will win a free dinner in her/his honor, paid for by the rest of the group.

Professor Cecilia H.C. Liu. General Introduction. Medieval English Literature and Culture. Fu Jen, 2002. Web. 26 Oct. 2011.
 * Source:**


 * Character List - Described below are many of the 29 Canterbury pilgrims**

The Knight: perfect and genteel man who loved truth, freedom, chivalry and honor. The most socially prominent person on the journey; the battles he fo ught were all religious wars of some nature. == The Squire: a candidate for knighthood; a lover who can sing lusty songs, compose melodies, poetry

Yeoman: dressed in green; an expert woodsman, an excellent shot with the bow/ arrow.

Prioress: Madame Eglantine; a gentle lady; well-educated though her French wasn't accepted Parisian French. Coy and delicate; table manner; More a woman than a nun! Without vocation but with the dogs and jewelry that satirical literature always condemns nuns for. Associates of the Prioress: 3 priests and another nun

Monk: a lover of hunting, fine foods; bald headed, ugly, fat; dressed in fine clothes. Favorite food was a roasted swan. No other monk is more worldly than he is. Here Chaucer demonstrated his use of irony: Chaucer selects and arranges his material so that the reader can come to a conclusion about the character. When the monk says that he doesn't approve of the solitary prayerful existence in a monastery, Chaucer pretends to be convinced that the Monk's argument is right. Everything that the monk does is a violation of his monastic orders. His love of the worldly goods, food, and pleasure, and his dislike of the quiet monastery contradict his religious vows.

Friar: Hubert --a wanton and merry man who had helped many girls get married after he got them in trouble. Chief butts of medieval satirists; knowing the taverns and inns better than the leper houses and almshouses. Chaucer says there was no better man than the Friar when it comes to the practice of his profession. Always able to get money from people (thru every vicious and immoral method). The best of his type—scoundrel.

Merchant: rich and powerful rising middle class; shrewd; knew how to bargain; well-dressed. No one would tell he was deeply in debt.

Clerk: student at Oxford; extremely thin on a thin horse; threadbare clothes; quiet; a real scholar Next to the knight, he is one of the most admired people on the pilgrimage.

Sergeant of Law: able attorney; makes people think that he is busier and wiser than he really is.

Franklin: a large landowner with wealth, but not of noble birth. Red face and white beard; enjoys good living; generally liked by the other pilgrims. The Haberdasher, the Dyer, the Carpenter, the Weaver, and the Carpet maker: belong to a guild

Cook: a master of his trade; good at cooking, but he has a running sore on his shin, because his best dish was a creamed chicken pie whose white sauce might be the same color as the pus from the sore.

Shipman: a huge man, uncouth; a master of vessel and knew all the ports; not ride well; like a fish out of water as sat on his horse.

Doctor of Physic: knows astronomy (astrology) and something of nature; but nothing of the Bible. Made a lot of money during the plague; loves gold

Wife of Bath: a bit deaf, excellent seamstress and weaver; married 5 times; with aggressive feminism; in fancy/colorful clothes: scarlet red stockings; gap-toothed; amorous; laugh and joke

Parson: poor, but rich in holy thoughts and works; live the perfect life first and then teach it. True Christian priest; Amid the worldly clerics and the false and superficial religious adherents, the poor parson stands out as the ideal portrait of what a parish priest should be.

Manciple: steward for a law school (a dorm for lawyers) in London; cunning, though unlettered; cheating the well-educated lawyers by putting aside a tidy little sum for himself.

Miller: a big brawny man to outwrestle any man, even a ram. Short shouldered, broad and thick set; red beard, a wart on his nose from which bristly red hairs protruded made him look fearful. Play the bagpipes as the pilgrims left the town. (He tells a dirty story about a carpenter John.)

Summoner: ugly: fire-red complexion, pimples and boils, a scaly infection around the eyebrows, and a moth-eaten beard; loves garlic, onions, leeks, and strong wine; speaking Latin to show off. His physical appearance fits his profession well since he is paid to summon sinners for a trial before a church court. He is so ugly and gruesome looking that a summon from him is in itself a horrible experience. Chaucer ironically implies that he is a good fellow because sinners could easily bribe him. The reader should be aware of these subtle ironic statements which are often made in paradoxical situations.

Pardoner: a church official who had authority from Rome to sell pardon and indulgence to those charged with sins. Hypocrite, phony, ugly but in fashionable clothes--loud, high-pitched voice, greed, big eyes, yellow hair, beardless (a "gelding or a mare"); sing and preach so as to frighten everyone into buying his pardons at a great price. One of the most corrupt of the churchmen. In the prologue to his tale, he confesses to his hypocrisy. Chaucer implies that he is not really a man, that he is either sexually impotent or perverted.

Reeve: manager of a large estate. Shrewd, businesslike, capable; cheating his lords by lending him what was his own; A skinny man/ bad temper; ride last (in the back)--suspicious, trusting nobody. Once a carpenter, he feels the need for revenge by telling a dirty story about a miller later.

Plowman: a small tenant farmer, but the ideal Christian man; honest with neighbors; paid his tithes

The Host: Harry Bailey; a merry man suggests that, to tell stories to shorten the long journey--two tales on the way to Canterbury and two more tales on the way back; the man who told his story best was to be given a sumptuous dinner by the other members of the party--a good strategy to make money 3 people who draw lots first: the prioress, the clerk, knight--they're good and able to start story-telling

Professor Cecilia H.C. Liu. PORTRAITS OF THE PILGRIMS. Medieval English Literature and Culture. Fu Jen, 2002. Web. 26 Oct. 2011.
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 * A Couple Significant Tales**

__The Wife of Bath's tale__

Also there was considerable praise for perpetual virginity. But if everyone practices virginity, who is to beget more virgins? The Wife of Bath pleads for the emancipation of women in the Middle Ages. 1. she tells the story to prove that everything will turn out well if the wife rules, if the wives have mastery over their husbands. 2. She is attacking the establishment (the way things were, the church, the knighthood, the unholy friar). She is making fun of the unholy men, like the friar: "Women may now go safely where they like: They'll find no other satyr there but he: And he'll do nothing worse than take their honour." 3. She wants to prove that women are not amorous as men thought at that time. The wife's revenge: women at that time were thought evil, amorous.
 * This tale is an exemplum, a tale told to prove a point. And the reader should remember that the narrator is an old hag telling a story about an old hag who gained sovereignty over her husband.
 * In Chaucer's time, the lit. was filled with the favorite theme of vilifying the frailty of woman. Chaucer's tale is not a moral diatribe for or against woman. He creates a woman in the person of the W. of B who both exemplifies all that has been charged against women but openly glories in the possession of these qualities. Chaucer does not make it clear whether he sympathizes with the Wife's opinion of marriage and celibacy, but it is obvious that he did not agree with the prevailing notions of his time about celibacy. Usually a second marriage is considered sinful. A revolutionary document!
 * The story matches the storyteller--consistency
 * How does it fit the Wife of Bath (Why does she tell this kind of tale)?
 * The knight's ordeal/test (in old stories heroes solves riddles): to solve the riddle-- what women most desire. His second ordeal: to choose between two--a beautiful but unfaithful, or a ugly, old but faithful wife. He passes the test (by placing himself in his wife's governance and let his wife choose for him) and is rewarded: he gets a beautiful, young and good wife, and a happy life.
 * The knight is very rude to his old wife at first--a knight should not behave like this. He should be grateful that this old woman saves his life. She teaches him a lesson (leads the knight's initiation) which he should have learned before he becomes a knight: Poverty is not guilt; one should respect old age. It's noble deeds that make the nobleman; it is not wealth or rank makes a knight a knight.
 * Chaucer took his own idea about the knight, ill-behaved, ill-mannered (unlike other knight stories) The value of woman's sovereignty.
 * The story is suited to the Wife's own character psychologically and dramatically, for she, like the old woman, had wedded a young man--though unlike the old woman, she couldn't restore her former youth and beauty!

Professor Cecilia H.C. Liu. The Wife of Bath's Tale. Medieval English Literature and Culture. Fu Jen, 2002. Web. 26 Oct. 2011.
 * Source**:

__The Pardoner's Tale__

1. So highly developed is his sense of irony that it enables him to feel superior to other people. 2. He has been drinking too much. 3. It's a habit to get payment. 4. He over-estimates his cleverness; over-confident and under-estimates the Host. 5. As exhibitionist, once he starts, he can't stop; He is going to do it again.
 * The tale is about the destructiveness of avarice.
 * Time: the bubonic plague; Black Death
 * Lechery, drunkenness, greed, gluttony (drunk, eating), gambling, perjury--there are also what the pardoner is doing--He is laughing at his own weakness for he is doing the same thing himself.
 * The climax of the story moves very fast (only a few lines): The story of the young men who seek Death only to find him in a treasure that had made them forget him is a masterpiece of irony.
 * The pardoner's candid confession has concealed the fact that he is a eunuch, but his secret is revealed in the epilogue by the Host's coarse response when the Pardoner tries to collect money from the pilgrims--His verbal facility by which he maintains his superiority fails him.
 * Ironical: 1. The pardoner is very good at speaking, but in the end of the story he is too angry to speak, to refute the Host. 2. After his tale, he tries to trick them yet fails.
 * Why does he trick them since he should know they are intelligent?
 * The epilogue: the Host's revenge--point out the pardoner's physical weakness: not a complete man, a eunuch!
 * It is interesting to see the interaction among the pilgrims.

Professor Cecilia H.C. Liu. The Pardoner's Tale. Medieval English Literature and Culture. Fu Jen, 2002. Web. 26 Oct. 2011.
 * Source**:

http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/chaubib.htm
 * __His Other Works__** (SG)

.He had many other works and some were claimed to have been lost, but of course if they really were or not can't easily be figured out. . Some of his other works include Book of the Duchess, The House of the Fame, and Anelida and Acrite. Book of the Duchess is the earliest of his major poems

The House of Fame is a poem being over 2000 lines long and compiled in three books