The Canterbury
Tales
“On the following morning, “It happened in that season that one day
Wednesday to wit, towards break In Southwark, at The Tabard, as I lay
of day, having let orderly make Ready to go on pilgrimage and start
ready all things needful and For Canterbury, most devout heart,
despatched them in advance At night there come into that hostelry
whereas they purposed to go, the Some nine and twenty in a company
Of sundry folk happening then to fall
ladies, with certain of their
In fellowship, and they were pilgrims all
waiting-women, and the three
That towards Canterbury meant to ride.
young men, with as many of their
The rooms and stables of the inn were
serving-men, departing Florence,
wide;
set out upon their way” They made us easy, all was of the best”
The Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio
The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer
He lived between 1343 and 1400.
Thanks to his family connections, he received an excellent
education that brought him to learn two languages and study
foreigner literature.
He traveled a lot in Europe, and became interested in Dante and
Boccaccio during a visit to Italy.
Chaucer was buried in the Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey.
Chaucer wrote in a particular time for his
country: at the end of the 14th century a lot of
revolts took place, mainly to support better
conditions for the poorest, but also to condemn
Roman Church.
Chaucer himself was a supporter of John
Wycliffe’s thesis and Lollards, guided by the
priest John Ball in 1381, the year in which he
started to write the Tales.
Pilgrimages were very popular at that time and
Thomas à Becket, England’s first martyr, was
killed in the cathedral of Canterbury.
THE PLOT
Chaucer meets twenty-nine pilgrims in The Tabard inn, on their way to
Canterbury. They will travel from London to the cathedral to see the
burial of Thomas à Becket.
During the journey, every pilgrim tells a story that Chaucer, the author
and one of the characters of his story, writes down after his return.
However, the stories are part of a challenge suggested by the inn’s host:
the pilgrim that will recount the best tales, will have a free dinner after
his return.
Canterbury Tales
is a poem in verse.
Chaucer wrote in In the General Prologue
Middle English but he puts some
used some French Chaucer frequently information about the
terms. uses alliteration and setting of the story and
rhymes at the end shows the situation
of the lines. before the beginning of
Every verse has the the pilgrimage.
same number of
syllables.
MEANING:
The meaning is both related to
the single stories and to the
setting of the events. Every FUNCTION:
tale represents a value, but the
pilgrimage is an allegory of the The works shows characters
passage from sins (London) to that represent the social
forgiveness (Canterbury). classes they come from (the
middle class, the country
folk, the low nobility and the
clergy).
The Knight’s Tale
“A Knight there was, and that a worthy man,
Who from the time that he first began
To ride out, he loved chivalry,
Fidelity and good reputation, generosity and courtesy.”
The Knight is “honored for his worthiness”,
and the author portrays the places where he
fought, the duels he won, his good qualities.
“He was a truly perfect, noble knight. But
to tell you of his clothing,
His horses were good
But he was not gaily dressed.
He wore a tunic of coarse cloth
All stained by his coat of mail
For he was recently come from his
expedition,
And went to do his pilgrimage.”
The Knight tells the tale of Emily,
Palamon and Arcite. The two warriors had
fallen in love with Emily so decided to
fight for her. She was the sister of
Hippolyta, the wife of king Theseus of
Athens.
The Squire’s Tale
“With him there was his son, a young Squire,
A lover and a lively bachelor,
With locks curled as if they had been laid in a
curler.
He was twenty years of age, I guess.
Of his stature he was of moderate height,
And wonderfully agile, and of great strength.”
The Squire “knew how to make songs and well
compose, joust and also dance, and well draw
and write.” He was courteous, humble and willing
to serve. He was following the Knight, his father.
“In Flanders, in Artois, and Picardy,
And conducted himself well, for so little a
space of time”.
The Squire tells a story about a magical ring.
Once Canace, a princess, wears it, she can
understand every language, also the animals’
one.
