The Canterbury Tales

1
The Canterbury Tales

• Geoffrey Chaucer

2
Who was Chaucer?

• Son of a vintner (name is from the French word
  for this tradesimilar to Tailor, Smith, Tyler),
  he was born to the merchant class.
• As an early teen, went to serve as a page in a
  noble household and spent the rest of his life in
  close association with the ruling nobility.

3
Chaucer the Ellesmere Manuscript
4
The man who bridged the gap!

• Chaucer married a wife related to Englands
  rulers.
• His granddaughter, Alice, married both the Earl
  of Salisbury and the Duke of Norfolk (not at the
  same time!)

5
During his life, he was

• A page
• A soldier
• The valet of Edward III
• A diplomat
• A Controller of wool, Englands largest trade
• A Justice of the Peace and Knight of the Shire
  (member of Parliament)

6
During his life, he was

• And was highly successful at currying royal favor
  and money!

7
Oh, and he also wrote poetry.
8
During his time, he was considered the greatest
English poet.

• Shakespeare is still his only serious rival for
  this title, though there are certainly other
  greats.

9
Chaucers Sources

• French and Italian poets, especially Dante and
  Boccaccio
• Medieval romances (the Knights tale is both an
  excellent Medieval romance as well as a satire of
  the genre)
• The Roman author Boethius (Influenced Chaucers
  philosophy of life)

10
Chaucers Sources

• Roman author Ovid for the theme of love as
  well as other classical authors
• Allegories about the Seven Deadly
  SinsLustSlothGluttonyAvaricePrideEnvy
  Hatred or Anger

11
Chaucers philosophy of life

• To live wholeheartedly in the world while
  remaining spiritually detached from it.
  Norton Anthology of British Literature

12
Chaucer had no illusions about the world and its
inhabitants. . .

• but was deeply fond of them both.
• Norton Anthology of British Literature

13
Why was/is Chaucers writing so successful?

• A commoner born, he sympathized with and
  understood the lower classes.
• He also won full acceptance from--and understood
  perfectlythe people he associated with at
  court.
• Buthe remains intellectually detached from both.
  He is a keen observer of life.
• Norton Anthology of British Literature

14
The Canterbury Tales

• Originally to be 120 stories (2 per pilgrim)only
  wrote 22
• Uses the framing device of a pilgrimage to
  Canterbury to gather all types and classes of
  people in one place.

15
Contemporaries of Chaucer also used framing
devices

• Boccacios DecameronTo while away the time while
  avoiding the plague, ten Italian nobles each tell
  ten tales over ten days. The situation acts as a
  framing device for the various stories.

16
Why Canterbury?

• Remember the little drama between Henry II and
  Thomas a Beckett?

17
Canterbury

• Became a popular pilgrimage site people
  believed that it had healing powers.People
  believed that you could have a tangible
  connection to God and the saints.
• An excellent play about this Murder in the
  Cathedral, T. S. Eliot

18
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages

• Why April?

19
Why April?

• Wanderlust after the long winter.
• Near the season of Easter.

20
While some went for purely religious reasons. . .

• Many pilgrims merely wanted to travel for
  recreationthink Spring Break.

21
Chaucer offers unique views on humanity. For
example. . .

• Women typically eithermodels of piety,
  industry, virture (like the Virgin Mary)
  ORshrews and temptresses (leading men to vice
  with their uncontrollably lecherous natures).
  This view was promoted by the clergy to encourage
  celibacy.

22
Chaucers women are neither.
23
Chaucers characters mediate between the world
of types and the world of real people.The
Norton Anthology of British Literature
24
Chaucers decision to write his tales in English.

• Considered extremely riskyalmost everything was
  published in Latin. BUT

25
During Chaucers life. . .

• The reading public was expandingespecially the
  merchant classes (emerging middle class).

26
Chaucer believed that his quintessentially
English poem should be written in the vernacular.
27
Chaucers High Style
28
Why he sometimes seems to take longer than
necessary to say something.

• Classical technique called dilation uses an
  ornate style to describe events in a formal,
  detailed way.

29
A Classical Example-- from The Aeneid
30
I sing of arms and the man who first from the
coast of Troy, driven by fate, came to Italy and
the Lavinian shores much buffeted on sea and
land by violence from above, through Junos
unforgiving wrath, and much suffering in war also
till he should build a city and bring his gods to
Latium, whence came the Latin race, the lords of
Alba, and lofty walls of Rome.From The Aeneid,
Virgil
31
Put simply, this translates. . .

• I shall tell of Aeneas.

32
A Medieval audience would have HATED the briefer
version. They liked for a tale to take a long
time to tell!
33
The Tales

• Interconnect with the Prologue thematically.
• As you read a few, think about HOW the tale fits
  its teller.