Transcript The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales
The Medieval Period
1066-1485
 The Norman Conquest – The End of the Anglo-Saxons

William “the Conqueror” the Duke of Normandy
defeated the king of England and conquered the entire
nation, bringing the Anglo-Saxon and Normans together.
Gradually William fused the two into a national English
character, a subtle blend.

Many found they could raise their station through the
Church. A prominent example is Thomas a Becket who went
from Lord Chancellor to Archbishop of Canterbury. He
defended the claims of the Church against the interested of
the King for which he was murdered. Thereafter he became a
saint.
The Medieval Period
1066-1485
Land and the Feudal System
William had a great deal of land at his disposal after wiping out
the Anglo Saxon landowners, so he retained much of it and
granted the rest to those who fought faithfully for him.
1066 brought the largest change in land ownership in the history
of England. William felt that the land of England was his by
right and that he was free to deed the land to his vassals, or
subordinates, by royal charter and expected obedience and
service in return. This practice became the feudal system.
The Medieval Period
1066-1485
Feudalism
 A complicated system of landholding
 No one owned land independently, only as a vassal of an overlord
 Overlord in turn owed allegiance either to some great noble or to
the king.
 Elaborate chain of loyalties with rent paid principally in military
service to the overlord
 To avoid disputes, William had a complete inventory of all
property drawn up in Domesday Book, sometimes called Doomsday,
the book of judgment.
The Medieval Period
1066-1485
 The Crusades

Several military expeditions made by European Christians in the 11th to 13th
centuries; religiously motivated wars.

Started in 1095, and continued in 1191, 1202, 1217 and 1270
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Each began in high hope with a genuine desire to rescue, but most ended in
raiding, looting, and a tangle of power politics.
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Encouraged the ideal of true knightly behavior known as chivalry:
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The stuff of King Arthur: Knightly warrior as devout and tenderhearted off the
battle field, bold and fearless on the battlefield
A code of conduct. A knight must be: Brave, honorable, protective of the weak,
respectful of women, generous, fair to enemies, loyal to his lord, gentlemanly in
his behavior
Joined to the companion idea of romance in literature
The Medieval Period
1066-1485
The Medieval Church
 From the 11th to the 15th century, the people belonged to one
homogeneous society with a common culture and a common set
of beliefs: the Medieval Church
 Latin, the language of the Church, became the language of all
educated persons.
 Despite fierce national loyalty, every person was also responsible
to the Church; all were sons and daughters of the Church
 Abbeys and monasteries were the main centers of learning and
the arts
 The Church was the dominant force in preserving and
transmitting culture – in teaching, writing, and translating, and in
copying, collecting, and distributing manuscripts
The Medieval Period
1066-1485
Medieval Literature

Romance: tales of chivalry relating to the quests knights undertook for their
ladies to which were added a love interest and all sorts of wonders and marvels –
fairy enchantments, giants, dragons, wizards, and sorceresses
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Although there is almost no historical basis, one principal source of such
romantic tales were from the stories of King Arthur and his Knights of the
Round Table as told by Sir Thomas Mallory in his Morte d’Arthur
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Illustrate the chivalric ideals of honor, courage, courtesy and service to women
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of the finest examples of verse romance in
English, about one of the knights in the court of King Arthur
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Folk poetry, a collection of recited songs called ballads, was collected and
published and later influenced the English Romantic poets
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Origins of drama occurred during this time, although its rise in popularity
reached a tremendous height in the Elizabethan Age.
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Miracle plays: rough dramatizations of Biblical stories. Evil characters (the Devil)
were portrayed comically as a rule
Morality plays: elaborate and sophisticated dramatic allegories in which characters
representing various virtues and vices confronted one another.
Rise of the Middle Class
 Medieval society was broken up into a distinct estate, or class,
system consisting of the Church, the Court (or nobility [less
than 1% of population), and the Commoners.
 However, in the summer of 1348, the Black Death, or plague,
devastated England killing mainly rural peasants.
 As a result, peasants became much more expensive and
choosy about where they worked, and how they related to
lords.
 In a sense, the Black Death gave way to a new middle class of
tradesmen, craftsmen, and merchants—a class of people who
challenged and questioned authority.
The Canterbury Tales

Is included in a genre known as estates satire, which sets out to expose typical
examples of corruption at all levels of society.
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Group of stories told during a springtime pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral to the
shrine of St. Thomas à Becket who had been murdered there two centuries before
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It was customary for members of all classes to travel to religious shrines to seek
miraculous cures, to gain remission of their sins, or to simply satisfy their wanderlust.
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Provides a cross-section of medieval society – feudal, ecclesiastical (of the church), and
urban
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Each pilgrim in the poem was to tell two tales on the way there and two on the way back,
however, Chaucer died before he could finished, so instead of 124 stories he wrote only
24.
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Each member of the pilgrimage is meant to be typical of his (or her) station in
society:
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Ex: The chivalrous Knight; his fashionably dressed son, the Squire, a typical lover; the
lusty and domineering Wife of Bath; the Pardoner, peddling his phony relics, etc.
Pay attention to the pilgrims facial features, the clothes they wear, the foods the like
to eat, the things they say, the work they do are all clues not only to their social
rank but to their moral and spiritual condition.
The Canterbury Tales – General Prologue
Originally written in Middle English
Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
And specially from every shires ende
And shortly, whan the sonne was to reste
The droghte of March hath perced to the
roote,
Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende,
So hadde I spoken with hem everichon
The hooly blisful martir for to seke,
That I was of hir felaweshipe anon,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his half cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open ye
That hem hath holpen whan that they were
And made forward erly for to ryse,
seeke.
Bifil that in that seson on a day,
To take oure wey ther as I yow devyse.
In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay
Redy to wenden on my pilgrymage
To Caunterbury with ful devout corage,
At nyght was come into that hostelrye
Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye
Of sondry folk, by aventure yfalle
(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages),
In felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle,
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde.
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes, The chambres and the stables weren wyde,
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
And wel we weren esed atte beste.
The General Prologue

Read the description of your assigned character in the Prologue.

Determine whether your character is a member of the Church, the Court, or the
Commoners.
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Make bullet notes on the type of clothes that he/she wears and the physical
description of the character.
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Summarize that character’s personality traits. Some characters are directly
characterized; some are indirectly characterized. Be prepared to defend your
characterization.
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On a piece of computer paper, create a “Facebook page” that includes:
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A picture (drawn)
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Looks
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Station in life/Employment
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Interests/Hobbies
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Morals/Beliefs
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A creative way to weave the the poet’s opinion of him/her
Medieval Genre: Fabliau and Romance
Arthurian Romance
Fabliau
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Narrative fictions representing the
adventures and values of the aristocracy
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Characters typically are: knights, ladies,
kings, queens, and other assorted nobles
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The supernatural, routinely occur in
romance plots
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Courtly love is a prominent theme:
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•
Attraction to the lady, usually via eyes/glance
•
Worship of the lady from afar
•
Declaration of passionate devotion
•
Virtuous rejection by the lady
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•
Renewed wooing with oaths of virtue and
eternal fealty
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•
Moans of approaching death from unsatisfied
desire (and other physical manifestations of
lovesickness)
•
Heroic deeds of valor which win the lady's heart
Cuckoldings,
A
brief comicbeatings,
tale in verse,
and elaborate
usually
scurrilousjokes
practical
or obscene.
that are the main concern
of the fabliaux
Style is simple and straightforward; the
time is the
Heroes
andpresent.
heroines, invariably witty
and usually young, are those whom
Settings
real, familiar
places
society ordinarily
scorns—dispossessed
intellectuals
(lecherous
priests,
wayward
The characters
are ordinary
sorts—
monks,
penniless
students),
tradesmen,
peasants,
priests,clever
students,
peasants,
and enthusiastically unchaste
restless wives.
wives.
The plots are realistically motivated
Their
victims
are usually those whom
tricks and
ruses
society respects—prosperous merchants,
Thus present atradesmen,
lively image
of everyday
hard-working
women
foolish
life
among
thetomiddle
and
lower classes
enough
to try
remain
chaste
A Summary of the Knight’s Tale

In order to fully appreciate the bawdy nature of the Miller’s Tale, you should know a
bit about the tale that precedes it
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The Knight’s Tale, a romance of 2,350, is the story of Palamon and Arcite knight’s
who are taken prisoner after the siege of Thebes by Theseus, the ruler of Athens.
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Gazing out of their cell in a tower (typical), they fall in love at first sight with Theseus’
sister-in-law, Emily, who is taking a morning walk through the garden.
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After a bitter rivalry, they are reconciled through a tournament in which Emily is the
prize. Arcite wins; however, he is thrown from his horse, and as he lies dying, he
makes a noble speech encouraging Palamon to marry Emily.
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The tale is a combination of classical setting and mythology, romance plot, and
themes of fortune, destiny, and courtly love.
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Courtly love, a common and popular theme in Medieval England (esp. Arthurian
legend).
The Miller’s Tale
 Recall: How was the Miller described in the General
Prologue? (pages 18-19)
 Consider why Chaucer would have Robin the Miller tell
a fabliau after the Knight’s aristocratic tale of romance.
The Reeve’s Tale
 Recall: How was the Reeve described in the General
Prologue?
 Who was the subject of the deception in the Miller’s
Tale?
 How might the Reeve react?
The Pardoner’s Tale
 In 1215, confession became mandatory. One would give
money to the church and then become absolved of sin.
 The medieval pardoner’s job was to collect money for
charitable enterprises, such as hospitals. In return for
donations he was licensed by the pope to award remission of
sins that the donor should have repented and confession (thus,
pardoning their sins).
 Like the Wife of Bath’s Tale, the Pardoner’s Tale develops in a
profound and surprising way the portrait the Host sketched in
the General Prologue.
 Start on pg. 240, when the Host exclaims, “By corpus bones!”
The Wife of Bath’s
Tale
 In creating the Wife, Chaucer drew upon a centuries-old
tradition of antifeminist writings that was accepted by the
medieval church. In their conviction, the higher side of
human nature rested in men, whereas the irrational, material,
and “lower side” resided in women.
 The church exalted celibacy and virginity above marriage.
 As we read consider whether the Wife of Bath acts as a
stereotype of the common held beliefs about women or as a
medieval feminist.
 The Wife’s Prologue should be considered three parts:
 Part 1- lines 1-162: A discussion of scripture
 Part 2 - lines 163-452: First 3 husbands
 Part 3 - lines 452-end: 4th and 5th husbands