Transcript Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales

The Medieval Period and The
Canterbury Tales
MS. MATHEWS
ENGLISH 10H
William the Conqueror and Feudalism
 Feudalism: a caste
system based on
religious hierarchy
God
King
Barons
Vassals
Knights
Serfs
How Feudalism Worked
• For safety and for defense, people in the Medieval
Period formed small communities around a
central lord or master.
• Most people lived on a manor, which consisted of
the castle, the church, the village, and the
surrounding farm land.
• These manors were isolated, with occasional visits
from peddlers, pilgrims on their way to the
Crusades, or soldiers from other fiefdoms.
Feudalism and Knighthood
 Knights did not hold land.
 Boys above the serf class were trained early (age 8+),
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usually in someone else’s home to be sure the training
was strict.
Dubbing was originally a hard, testing blow, but is
now a ceremonial shoulder tap.
Knighthood was grounded in the feudal idea of
loyalty.
Knighthood included a complex system of social
codes.
The idea of chivalry stems from this code of behavior
for knights and gentlewomen.
No Voice, No Choice!
 Women during the Medieval Period
were not soldiers and had no political
rights.
 Women were subservient to their men (husbands,
brothers, fathers)
 Peasant women lived in ceaseless childbearing,
housework, and hard fieldwork.
Courtly Love
 Courtly love developed partly out of the cult of
the Virgin Mary, which elevated women.
 The object of love was to be worshipped from afar
as an ideal.
 Love was supposed to be an ennobling
influence, and only noble people were
worthy of love.
 Several influences built up to
acceptance of courtly love.
What led to the acceptance of courtly love?
 Marriages of convenience
in the 8th-16th centuries
made adultery a way of
life.
 Men had shorter life spans
than women. Women
could inherit and, thu,s
gain control of wealth.
 Men went to war, leaving
women in control, as they
went on Crusades to clear
the holy land of infidels,
starting in 1095.
 The belief that the lady
should be treated as
infinitely desirable was
fostered by women and by
poets.
 The way of life portrayed
in metrical romances
influenced real
expectations and
behavior.
 When courtly love turned
physical, there was a
breakdown in society, i.e.
Lancelot and Guinevere.
The Crusades
 A series of wars waged by
European Christians
against Muslims.
 Jerusalem was the prize.
 The Europeans lost, but
benefited enormously
from contact with higher
Middle Eastern
civilizations.
Why did the knights fight in the Crusades?
 Pope Urban appealed to knights’ religious
convictions.
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He said Muslim Turks were robbing and torturing Christian
pilgrims journeying to the holy land.
 The war offered knights a chance for glory and
wealth.
 Urban suggested the knights fight Muslims instead
of continuing to fight one another.
The Canterbury Tales
 Shows readers the true Medieval World
 14th century England
 Is a frame story about an unrelated group of
twenty-nine pilgrims traveling together on a
pilgrimage.
 Pilgrimage – a long journey to a holy site or shrine
taken by those who are devout
 This pilgrimage is a trip to a cathedral in Canterbury
upon the death of the beloved Thomas a Becket
(Archbishop of Canterbury) in the 1100s
Thomas a Becket
 Archbishop of
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Canterbury
Assassinated in 1170
Resulted in a backlash
against the English
monarchy
Thomas was martyred;
he became St. Thomas.
Chaucer’s pilgrims are
on their way to visit his
shrine in The
Canterbury Tales.
The Canterbury Tales
 The poem is a frame story, a story about stories
 Each person on the pilgrimage tells a story
 Insight into romances, comedies, etc. of the time
 Crude humor
 Comedies
 Religious mysteries
 Social commentary
 Chaucer's original plan for The Canterbury Tales projected
about 120 stories, two for each pilgrim to tell on the way
to Canterbury and two more on the way back.
 Only 24 of the 120 tales were completed
Motifs
 Romance: high adventure romance and other
romance as well
 Fabliau/Fabliaux: a tale marked by comic or
ribald/bawdy treatment of worldly themes

The Miller’s Tale
Themes
 Courtly Love
 Importance of Company
 The Corruption of the Church
Genre: Estates Satire
 Shows the three estates (classes) in the Medieval
Period and makes fun of them
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Those who fight
Those who labor
Those who pray
 Gives an analysis of society in terms of hierarchy,
social function, and morality
 The aim of satire is to reform society by pointing out
folly or vice
 Optimistic assumption…if you know what is
good/right, you will do it
The Prologue
 Gives the reader insight to the Medieval society
 Indirect Characterization:
 External appearance is a sign of intangible qualities of a person…still
a factor today (aka dressing the part)
 Can tell something about morality, rank, etc. from external features
 Pilgrims are individuals, not groups, but they are known by
their professions
 Individualizing details are rare; most details that are given
are included only to show what that particular pilgrim
ought—and yet fails—to do
 Pay attention to what Chaucer does NOT say

Prioress no mention of God
The Prologue continued
 Narrator meets 29 others at the Tabard Inn, located
in a suburb of London
 Challenge by Harry Bailey, Innkeeper – Each pilgrim
must tell two stories on the way to Canterbury and
two on the return trip
 Best Tale » entitled to a feast
 The stories suit the teller – The Knight tells a
romance, the Wife of Bath tells about marriages, etc.