A Short Note on Canterbury Tales: Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales is regarded as one of the most popular masterpieces of English literature. The story is told in Middle English and follows a party of pilgrims as they travel from London to Canterbury Cathedral. Starting from a London inn, the innkeeper proposes that each pilgrim recount two stories to pass the time on the journey. He claims that the greatest narrative will be rewarded with a free meal when he returns. A carpenter, a cook, a knight, a monk, a prioress, a haberdasher, a dyer, a scribe, a merchant, and a very bawdy miller are among the colourful characters introduced by Chaucer. These individuals come from various walks of life in 14th-century society, giving Chaucer the opportunity to speak in a variety of voices. The stories of some of the characters are amusing, irreverent, and naughty, while others are moral and introspective. One of the reasons Chaucer is so influential is that he chose to write in English rather than French. In the centuries following the Norman invasion, the language of the powerful was French. One of the first important works of literature written in English was The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer began writing the stories in 1387 and finished them in 1400. Although no text in his own hand survives, there are more than 80 copies dating from the 1500s. This indicates that the stories were very popular in mediaeval England. Within a generation of Chaucer’s death, this early and lavishly adorned manuscript copy was prepared.

Prologue to canterbury tales

The General Prologue begins with the narrator describing the return of spring. The April rains, the growing flowers and foliage, and the chirping birds are all described by him. People begin to sense the need to embark on a pilgrimage around this time of year, according to the narrator. Many faithful English pilgrims go to distant holy regions to visit shrines, but even more opt to travel to Canterbury to visit Saint Thomas Becket’s relics in Canterbury Cathedral, where they praise the martyr for assisting them when they were in need.

The narrator informs us that as he prepared to embark on such a journey, a large group of twenty-nine passengers visited the Tabard Inn in Southwark. The tourists were a heterogeneous group on their way to Canterbury, just like the narrator. They gladly accepted his invitation to join them. The gang stayed at the Tabard that night and awoke early the next morning to begin their trek. The narrator states his intention to list and characterise each of the group members before continuing the story.

The Canterbury Tales character

The “General Prologue” describes most of the characters in The Canterbury Tales in rich and frequently amusing detail. A few characters, though, are just mentioned in passing, with little to no individual detail. Following are character descriptions.

In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer is both the narrator and a character; nevertheless, he presents a fictional version of himself who is far more foolish than Chaucer the author. Chaucer is a traveller, but he doesn’t describe himself; instead, the reader learns about him through his storytelling.

• The Swordsman: The Knight, or “Knyght,” is a valiant and wise knight who has fought battles for Christianity over large distances.
• The Squire: The Knight’s son is the Squire, or “Squier.” He is a 20-year-old man with curly hair who is incredibly attractive. He is a robust and agile man of average height. Unlike his father, the Squire wears a magnificent embroidered short gown with long sleeves.
• The Yeoman: The Knight’s servant is the Yeoman, or “Yeman.” He’s all suited up in green, with peacock feathers tucked into his belt.
• The Nun: The Prioress is accompanied by a Nun, or “Nonne,” who serves as her chaplain or secretary.
• The Prioress: Eglentyne, the Prioress, or “Prioresse,” is a prim and proper nun. Her education is clear in her ability to sing the liturgy and communicate in French. She tries to act like a courtly lady while being a nun.
• Three Priest: The Prioress is accompanied by three priests.

• The Monk: The Monk is a gorgeous man who enjoys hunting and riding horses. Despite being a Benedictine monk, he lives a modern life free of monastery norms. He’s dressed in a fur-fringed tunic with a huge gold “love-knotte” fastened around his neck. He has a fat face that glows as if he’s been anointed.
• The Friar: Huberd, the Friar, or “Frere,” is a merry friar. He is a “lymytour,” a monk tasked with begging for his orders. He enjoys associating with the landowning “frankeleyns,” a social class that a begging friar would not normally interact with.
• The Merchant: The Merchant, or “Marchant,” is clothed in bright colours and wears a beaver skin hat. His beard is forked. The Merchant is intelligent and worldly, and he enjoys increasing his profits.
• The Clerk: The Clerk is an Oxford University student studying logic. He seems frail, and his coat is worn. Because he likes reading philosophy books in bed to making money and having nice things, he has been unable to get a secular employment or a clergy position. He has a bright demeanour and enjoys both teaching and learning.
• The Sergeant of the Law: A high-ranking lawyer is the Sergeant of the Law. He is a tremendously wealthy landowner with excellent legal expertise. He’s dressed in a bright coat with a striped belt.
• The Franklin: The Franklin, or “Frankeleyn,” is a landowner with a white beard who enjoys nice food and wine. The Franklin, a gracious host, keeps a variety of fish and birds on his property to feed to his visitors. He has served as a sheriff, auditor, and member of Parliament as a feudal lord.
• The Carpenter, The Weaver, The Dyer, and The Tapestry Weaver are all Haberdashers.

List of the Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales are made up of the General Prologue, The Knight’s Tale, The Miller’s Tale, The Reeve’s Tale, The Cook’s Tale, The Man of Law’s Tale, The Wife of Bath’s Tale, The Friar’s Tale, The Summoner’s Tale, The Clerk’s Tale, The Merchant’s Tale, The Squire’s Tale, The Franklin’s Tale, The Second Nun’s Tale, The Canon’s Yeoman’ Not all the stories are finished; some have their own prologues or epilogues.

Chaucer produced a line of 10 syllables with alternate accent and regular end rhyme for The Canterbury Tales, probably influenced by French syllable-counting in versification—an antecedent of the heroic couplet.

Conclusion 

The pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales are seen to be making their way from London to Canterbury in order to pay a visit to the holy shrine of St. Thomas Becket. This is a story that consists of other stories: The pilgrims take turns telling stories to one another, and the person who tells the most interesting tale wins dinner.

Chaucer’s Retraction is included at the end of The Canterbury Tales. In it, he expresses regret for the scandalous content that can be found throughout his body of work, including that which can be found in The Canterbury Tales and other earlier works.