Description
Title: The Canterbury Tales
Author: Geoffrey Chaucer
Published: Late 14th century (c. 1387-1400)
Summary:
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written in Middle English, framed within a narrative structure. The work begins with a prologue presenting an eclectic group of pilgrims who are traveling from London to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury. The assorted social classes and professions represented by the pilgrims offer a sample of 14th-century English society.
Along the pilgrimage, each member decides to entertain their fellows through telltale stories; every character has to bring forth stories according to their personality, beliefs, and experiences. The various genre of stories of romance, comedy, fables, and moral stories are told.
Main Characters (Pilgrims):
The Knight is the noble knight who brought honor and chivalry.
The Miller is a bawdy person along with humorous jokes whom he tells an outrageous tale.
The Wife of Bath: A determined woman who expresses her opinion about marriage and women’s power.
The Pardoner: A sinful priest, selling indulgences, and an allegory of the corrupter.
Themes:
Social Class and Structure: Through the tales, various social hierarchies that existed at the time are exposed, and a large number of characters from different classes are described.
Religion and Morality: In attacking religious practices of his period, Chaucer creates characters, which include the Pardoner and the Friar.
Love and Relationships: The tales of several stories symbolize failures of love, marriage, and sex
Implication:
The Canterbury Tales is one of the greatest works of English literature and the very archetype of the medieval literary tradition. Its usage of vernacular instead of Latin or French allows for greater reading comprehension. Characterization and the social commentary contained in such colorful tales continue to deepen our understanding of that particular culture and values against which there were fundamentally conflicting interests.
If you’d like to take a listen to any of them
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