The Canterbury Tales

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The Canterbury Tales
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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?
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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 23 (one tells two tales) going.

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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

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Historic Elements

• The pilgrims in Chaucers 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.

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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.

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Historic Elements

• The Catholic Church was suffering from
  corruption, particularly from offenses
  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).
  There is a movement to have the Bible published
  in vernacular languages, and many die in this
  effort to bring the sacred text to the people.

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Historic Elements

• Jews had been expelled from England in 1290 by
  Edward I and officially are not allowed to
  practice their faith there until the Commonwealth
  under Oliver Cromwell in 1656. Of course, many
  Jews lived and worshiped undercover, barely
  converted.
• While most Christians believed that Jews had been
  responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus, and
  Jews in other parts of Europe were widely
  persecuted for blood libel, many noted popes of
  the time issued decrees forbidding violence
  against Jews for these false accusations and
  persecutions.
• This conflict between church teaching and
  practice is particularly evident in The Prioress
  Tale.

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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 Chaucers 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 forceIt indirectly leads to the

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Historic Elements

• Peasants Revolt (1381) which was waged against
  unfair limiting of wages and taxes on the
  workers. Its 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.

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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 Chaucers
  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!

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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
  Chaucers 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.

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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.
• Chaucer creates a mock-pilgrimage of sorts, and
  it should be noted that a pilgrimage is
  considered as Christian allegory for life itself.
  
• 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 Chaucers work.

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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.
• 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 superb and he uses gentle
  satire works to reprimand with and 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!

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Stylistic Elements

• Perhaps the most notable element of The
  Canterbury Tales, however, is Chaucers 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.

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Importance to the English Language

• Chaucer never sought to publish during his
  lifetime, but his Canterbury Tales was
  universally admired as soon as they 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. Chaucers work provided
  validation of language and culture that shined
  proudly during its time.