1. As a group, divide the tales up among the participants and formulate a possible reason for each pilgrim’s desire to go to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket in Canterbury. 2. Discuss the various roles that the male pilgrims assign to women and particular wives, such Griselda of […]
Read more Study Help Practice ProjectsStudy Help Essay Questions
1. An exemplum is a story (or parable) told to illustrate a point. How does The Pardoner’s Tale illustrate the axiom “Money is the root of all evil”? 2. What qualities cause Chaucer to place the Pardoner at the very bottom of the social world? Why is the Pardoner considered […]
Read more Study Help Essay QuestionsStudy Help Full Glossary for The Canterbury Tales
Abygayl (Abigail) the wife of Nabal, from I Samuel; Nabal refused to help David, for which God smote him dead. Aldiran a star in the constellation Leo. Alexander the representative of the ideal for the medieval person. Alnath a star in the constellation Aries. Amphion the king of Thebes and […]
Read more Study Help Full Glossary for The Canterbury TalesCritical Essays The Trickster Tricked
The Reeve’s Tale One of the favorite formulas for stories in the Western world is that of the trickster attempting to play a trick on someone and the tables being turned. The Reeve’s Tale and The Pardoner’s Tale are fine examples of this technique. The Reeve’s Tale involves a crooked […]
Read more Critical Essays The Trickster TrickedCritical Essays The Old Man and the Young Wife
The basic assumption of this type of story or fabliau is that, if an old man is fool enough to marry someone much younger, the old fool deserves to be fooled. (A fabliau is a story, most often in verse, which has rather bourgeois characters involved in an often obscene […]
Read more Critical Essays The Old Man and the Young WifeCritical Essays The Sovereignty of Marriage versus the Wife’s Obedience
Part of the effectiveness of The Clerk’s Tale is that the Clerk asserts that the tale is not his, that he got it from a scholarly friend during his travels in Italy. Thus, while the Wife relies on her extensive experience, the Clerk gives credence to his tale by asserting […]
Read more Critical Essays The Sovereignty of Marriage versus the Wife’s ObedienceGeoffrey Chaucer Biography
Both Chaucer’s father and grandfather had minor standing at court, and Geoffrey Chaucer’s own name appears in the household accounts of Elizabeth, Countess of Ulster and wife to Prince Lionel. As a household servant, Chaucer probably accompanied Elizabeth on her many journeys, and he may have attended her at such […]
Read more Geoffrey Chaucer BiographyCharacter Analysis The Pardoner
In his descriptions of the pilgrims in The Prologue, Chaucer begins with a description of the most noble, the Knight, and then includes those who have pretensions to the nobility, such as the Squire, and those whose manner and behavior suggest some aspects of nobility, such as the Prioress. Then […]
Read more Character Analysis The PardonerCharacter Analysis The Wife of Bath
The Wife of Bath is intriguing to almost anyone who has ever read her prologue, filled with magnificent, but for some, preposterous statements. First of all, the Wife is the forerunner of the modern liberated woman, and she is the prototype of a certain female figure that often appears in […]
Read more Character Analysis The Wife of BathCharacter Analysis The Miller
The Miller’s physical stature fits his story, which is uncouth and, for many, obscene. He is a heavyset man, “a stout Carl (fellow) full big” of muscle and bone, and he is always the winner at wrestling. He is a fearful sight and vulgar. Most noticeable is a large wart […]
Read more Character Analysis The Miller