Introduction to Cancer

AP English 4 Guide to Understanding


The Canterbury Tales:
The Prologue
by Geoffrey Chaucer






Name:________________________
Due Date:_____________________
Points: _______
(neat & complete)





Confer_Janet Thursday, May 19, 2011 3:42:37 PM ETGeoffrey Chaucer (1340? - 1400)
Family/Career
• Born into a well-to-do family; his father and grandfather were wine merchants.
• This enabled Chaucer to gain a position as a page in the household of a nobleman.
• He was fluent in Latin, French, and Italian as well as, of course, English.
• He translated literary works and official documents in all these languages, making him a
valuable asset to governing officials. This earned him favor with the nobility.
• He served in many public service positions such as a Justice of the Peace, the King’s sub-
forester, member of Parliament, diplomat.
• Around the age of 20, he was an English soldier captured in France. He was so valuable to
his King that the King paid a ransom for Chaucer’s return.
• He was a courtier to 3 kings (King Edward III, King Richard II, and King Henry IV).
Literary Contribution
• William Caxton (England’s first printer) referred to Chaucer as “the worshipful father and
first founder and embellisher of ornate eloquence in our English”
• When the Normans conquered England, they brought French as the preferred language.
Chaucer’s most important contribution to English literature was the development of
resources of the English language (style and standardizing spelling, syntax, diction) for
literary purposes.
• He was a prolific writer, though all we are studying is the “General Prologue” to The
Canterbury Tales and two of his tales.
• Great European writers such as Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio influenced Chaucer’s style
and topic selections.
• He wrote and spoke in late Middle English.
• He began writing The Canterbury Tales in 1386; wrote them in rhyming couplets (end-
rhymed ever 2 lines: aabbccdd…etc.)
The Canterbury Tales
• Chaucer used the structural device called a frame story (story within a story) to tell his tales.
• Used the device of a pilgrimage (a journey to a religious site) to Canterbury Cathedral to the
shrine of St. Thomas a Becket. (((SEE YOUR MEDIEVAL PACKET NOTES that were
given out when we started the Arthurian legends.…the section on King Henry II and Thomas
Becket.)))
• The 29 +/- pilgrims were to tell 2 stories going to Canterbury from London and 2 on the way
back. Chaucer died before this work was complete, so there are not 116 tales.
• This journey device brings together many people from different walks of life: a cross-section
of medieval society, though no royalty. Because Chaucer was so well-educated, and served
and traveled as a civil servant, he had great opportunity to observe people in all walks of life.
• Chaucer shows himself to be a tolerant, impartial observer of human behavior, clearly
satirizing the hypocrisy of his day by gently poking fun at the individuals who served in
various capacities.
• Chaucer’s frame story through the device of a journey describes characters (pilgrims) from 3
of the most important groups of the day:
o Feudal {military and workers of the land: Knight, Squire, Yeoman, Franklin, Reeve, Miller, Plowman)
o Ecclesiastical (people of the church: Nun (Prioress), Monk, Friar, Oxford Cleric (student), Summoner,
Pardoner}
o Urban (professional business people—rising middle class: Merchant, Serjeant at the Law, The Guildsmen
[Haberdasher, Dyer, Carpenter, Weaver, Carpet-maker], the Doctor, the Wife of Bath, the Skipper, the
Cook, the Innkeeper)



“The Prologue” (beginning on page 2 of the Penguin Classics edition paperback copy)
Confer_Janet Thursday, May 19, 2011 3:42:37 PM ET
1. Why does Chaucer write that “people long to go on pilgrimages” in April? Why do
people still like to travel at that time of year? (p. 2).


2. Next, we will begin with Chaucer’s description of the Knight (p. 4).

Words describing his character:


Words describing his clothing/equipment:


How can we deduce that he is strong, loyal, and accomplished in battle?:


Who does he live to serve?


Listen/look up: What 2 meanings does the word “fustian” have?

How might Chaucer have been showing here, through his description of the
knight as wearing a fustian tunic, that feudalism and chivalry was a dying order in
the late Medieval period by having the knight tell such a long tale?


3. The Squire (p. 5).
What is his relationship to the knight?

Physical description?

How does the squire like to spend his time?

Whom does he live to serve?

Is he a loyal son?

What seems to be Chaucer’s opinion of the squire?

How was Chaucer showing that people were beginning to have more choice of career?


4. The Yeoman (p. 5). (The Knight’s retainer)
Physical description?


Tools/accessories?


What opinion do you have of what type of work ethic this man has? Why?


Confer_Janet Thursday, May 19, 2011 3:42:37 PM ET5. The Nun (also called the Prioress) (p. 6).
Clothing


Physical description

Jewelry and its inscription


Description of manners/mannerisms


Favorite expression


Name

What are some of her behaviors that show how different she is from how a nun (a religious
figure) is supposed to be?

(We will ignore the other Nun and the three Priests riding with her, because Chaucer does.)

6. The Monk (p. 7) (Monks lived under monastic orders and were supposed to live cloistered lives
of work, study, and prayer)
What is un-Monklike in this Monk’s love of hunting?




Physical description?



Clothing/Jewelry?


Is there any significance to his riding a palfrey?



7. The Friar (p. 8). (Friars lived out in the “world” and were not cloistered like monks. They were
supposed to preach and minister to the poor. This one was a Limiter, given a limited region by
the Pope within which he was supposed to beg for the church.)
What does Chaucer tell us by “So glib with gallant phrase and well-turned speech”


Guess what Chaucer was telling us about Friar Hubert when he says: “He’d fix up many a
marriage, giving each of his young women what he could afford her.”




Confer_Janet Thursday, May 19, 2011 3:42:37 PM ET How do you know that this Friar was corrupt?






How did he love to spend his time?





Clothing:


8. The Merchant (p. 10)
Appearance?


What did he give opinions about?

What did he pass himself off as an expert on?

What did people not know about him?


9. The Oxford Cleric (student) (p. 10) (Studying to take vows.)
How do we know he was poor?



What did he spend his money on?


How did he get money? How did he “pay it back?”


10. The Serjeant at the Law (p. 11). (These are the most prominent members of the legal
profession from whose ranks kings select judges.)
How does Chaucer show us that this man was really materialistic and self-important rather than
very industrious and wise?





11. The Franklin (p. 12). (A Franklin is a country landowner, ranking just below the gentry in
social order.)
What does our Franklin live for?


Confer_Janet Thursday, May 19, 2011 3:42:37 PM ET
Which of the seven deadly sins is the Franklin guilty of?



What sort of philosophy does the Franklin live by if he is “Epicurus’ very son?”

12. The Guildsmen (Haberdasher, Dyer, Carpenter, Weaver, Carpet-maker) (p. 12).
(Guilds were professional organizations for craftsmen, regulating trade and price and
qualifications/quality.)
How does Chaucer show us that these guildsmen show off their wealth?



How do the attitudes of their wives display their wives’ snobbishness?


13. The Cook (p. 13).
One of the ways the guildsmen flaunted their wealth was to hire a cook to accompany
them on the pilgrimage. They were not very discriminating at hiring, though, because
this cook had an ulcer (an open, oozing sore) on his knee.

The cook apparently makes tasty dishes. You should be completely grossed out by the
description in the line below. Why? (Remember the ulcer on his knee!)

“As for blancmange, (a sweet, creamy dish made with chicken) he made it with the best.”


14. The Skipper (p. 13)
What are the Skipper’s morals like? How do you know?


How skillful a sailor was he? How do you know?



How did he treat his prisoner?


15. The Doctor (p. 14) (Doctors of this age typically treated patients according to the laws
of