WoodCanterburyTales
From Wyclif
William Blake's version of the pilgrims
Use this page for your questions and answers about The Canterbury Tales. I highly recommend that you also select some of the excellent questions posed on the EssentialQuestions page on this wiki. Please respond to any of those questions on that page.[CW, 3/5/06]
In what ways is the Canterbury Tales a tale-telling contest? In what ways a pilgrimage?
The Cantebury Tales appear to be two in one. The journey of the pilgrims headed to Cantebury is touted as being a pilgramage to a famous spot, yet as they travel the pilgrims do not stop at any of the usual shrines or religious points along the way. They seem to make the journey faster than normal and appear to pay more attention to the tales than the spiritual part. The Hooste (Harry Bailly) sets the stage for the tale telling contest of which he will be the final judge at the end of the General Prologue in lines 788-809. â¦(excerpt)
And which of yow that bereth hym best of alle-
That is to seyn, that telleth in this caas
Tales of best sentence and moost solaas-
Shall have a soper at oure alle cost
I enjoyed the Manciple's Tale. It was true to life. Sometimes even the best of friends can become enemies when they don't want to believe something. "The truth hurts" could be the title of the Manciple's Tale. Leslie U 4-11-06
Heere in this place, sittynge by this post,
Whan we come agayn fro Caunterburyâ¦.
He reaffirms the contest again in the Millerâs Prologue when he asks the Monk (who doesnât get to tell his tale then) to âmatchâ the Knightâs Tale. I think the Cantebury Tales appear more to be a tale telling contest than an actual religious pilgramage to Caunterbury. Elizabeth(ah) 3-9-06
Webster defines a pilgrimage as a journey made to a sacred place. The characters kind of do this as they expose their personalities to the rest of the group and leave themselves opens to criticism, constructive or otherwise. The characters seem to put themselves in a place as they share their tales. It leaves them open to self examination and to be evaluated by others. (Why that type of tale? Why tell it in that manner? ) Sometimes we do not see our selves as others see us until they so âpleasantlyâ point out our habits, faults, weaknesses or strengths. This journey seems to be more sacred than any physical place that we could ever visit. -Dell 3-10-06
How important are the connections between tellers and tales?
I think the connections between the tellers and the tales are extremely important. By describing the pilrims in the General Prologue, Chaucer set up the types of tales that each would tell. I don't think for instance, that the Clerk,the Lawyer, or the nuns would be associated with a fabliau tale. It would lower their social order. The tales seem to fit the social order of the pilgrim. Elizabeth(ah) 3-23-06
I agree with Elizabeth in that if the tales did not fit the characters, i.e. the lawyer or nun telling a fabliau, then the social order would not fit. Each tale gives the teller a social order that actually places the character where they should be in social status. Like for instance, the summoner insulting the friar tells a lot about the summoner is as a person. His social status, as far as the readers concerned, is lower than that of the plowman because of his corrupt works and evil deeds. Chaucer definitely wanted the readers to see the corruption of the characters people love and trust. Brandi (brb413)
In The Clerk's Tale the sergeant assumes the blame for taking the children. The initial reference to him shows that he was the perfect man for the job, "A maner sergeant was this privee man,/ The which that feithful ofte he founden hadde/ In thyges great, and eek swich folk wel kan/ Doon execution in thynges badde./ The lord knew wel that he hym loved and dradde". Walter clearly has no qualms about using the people around him. How could any parent place their children in the hands of a person such as this? Grisild shares in the injustices against her children because of her passivity. Maybe they both deserved each other because neither one have any sense. The end of the story resolves nothing for me because Walter is rewarded for his behavior.(simant)3/23/06
I also wanted to comment on the social class in The Clerk's Tale. I think it is interesting that Grisild, of humble low birth, displayed all of the attributes associated with the upper class. People from all over admired her qualities that they believed to be associated with her birth. On the other hand, Walter, who did come from nobility, is sadistic, selfish, and deceptive. She loves unselfishly (although naive)and he is only concerned with himself. Walter took great pains to physically transform Grisild's appearance before presenting her to the crowd to make her appear worthy of him. Grisild was instantly elevated in society because of her appearance. (simant)
I found The Clerk's Tale very interesting. I have to wonder, though, if Chaucer is poking fun at the expectations placed on women in the Middle Ages. The disclaimer at the end states that no other woman, real or fictitious, is expected to act like or be like Grisild. In fact, the reference to the Wife of Bath insinuated to me that women were more expected to be like her, to act like her, to have her attitude. AT first, I thought this tale was going to be a nice, mushy love story. I guess I should have known better than to expect Chaucer to be so simplistic! In the end, I was left with more questions than answers, also typical when I read Chaucer lately. (TonyaKopecky)
In the Physicianâs tale, I was surprised that the death of the Judge was not considered as an option. If the father knows he is going to have to die after taking his daughterâs life then why not kill the Judge instead of the daughter. This way the wife doesnât lose both her husband and daughter. Line 214 states that âdeath or shameâ is the only way to solve the problem. I agree that death is the best way but, vote for the death of the Judge and not the daughter! Dell 3-27-06
I agree with Dell. It seems like the Knight took the easy way out. It was alot easier for him to call his daughter in and kill her than to have to go out and find the judge and set up an ambush to kill him. Weren't knights supposed to be chivalrous? It seems like protecting his family would or should have been his priority instead of murdering his daughter. And what about the people? The tale said they were suspicious. Why didn't they do anything? There had to be some that had known the family since the daughter was born and could prove she belonged to them. I did not like this tale. Elizabeth 3-30-06
I think the Wife of Bathâs tale is very appropriate to her character. It may start out with a woman being subjected to the ultimate in male domination (rape), but this leads to the knightâs forced education by the queen to find out what women really want and he even becomes a practitioner of this by letting the old woman have her way in deciding whether to be beautiful or ugly. I think she may also be smarter than she is letting on, or Chaucer is using her ignorance to prove a point. For instance, during her tale, the Wife of Bath digresses into a story about King Midas and the pair of donkey ears hidden by his hair. In the Wifeâs story, the one person who the king reveals this to is his wife, who he begs not to tell anyone (which, of course, she does). In the Ovid version of the story, it is the barber of King Midas who knows this secret. Using this story, the Wife, or Chaucer, could be trying to point out that men can gossip just as much as women. Jacob
I very much appreciate the Pardoner's prologue and tale, especially coming after the Phyisician who ends with, "Therfore I rede yow this counseil take: / Forsaketh synne, er synne yow forsake" (285-286). Well, the Pardoner is highly aware that such a creed is nearly impossible to follow. It is so easy to discuss sin and how to avoid it, but to actually follow such advice is not within the capability of the average human nature. The good Pardoner tells a moral tale once he's had enough to drink and makes it clear in his Prologue that, "For though myself be a ful vicious man" (459) he too can speak out against man's sin. (Blueridgeborn 3/30/06)
Well, it seems that in the Nunâs Priestâs Tale, the host finally gets his wish for a âmurieâ tale.
It has been several years since I read this tale- I had forgotten how funny it was! We could all at times use the advice at the end â âGod yeve hym governaunce that jangleth whan he sholde holde his pees. Lo, switch it is for to be recchelees and necligent, and truste on flaterye.â
I think this tale suits the teller, since our host refers to him as a man who would have trouble fending off the women if he werenât a priest. Elizabeth 4-6-06
I could not get over the ironic humor of a bunch of chickens trying to talk about philosophy. Apparently there's a whole different thought to the term "birdbrain". (Sorry the humor of the tale is dangerous.)--Silverluna, 4/6/06
The person who coined the phase "you have something up your sleeve" must have known the Canon in the Yeoman's tale. This tale was rich with deception and insight as the Yeoman reminds us that one bad apple doesn't spoil the whole bunch in lines 992-998. Yet, we all know that it only takes one bad apple to spoil our apatite. -Dell(4-12-06)
The Nun's Priest's Tale is indeed great. Its reduction of major philosophical questions and poetic convention into barnyard absurdism reminds me of some of Poe's more satirical works. Of course, the question of the degree of seriousness intended by the author here is also a significant one. This seems to be a work for which familiarity with the source material and works alluded to would be highly beneficial. (Jordan Moore, 4/29/06)
I like The Knight's Tale, it incorporates demade d'armour- is a term that question love, who would be better off in a situation. This is term plays in the story when two knights are fighting over Emelye, a women they fall in love with in the beginning of the story. In the end, one of the knights die and the other one wins. It has a traumatic ending but it leaves the reader questioning this term. -- Jennifer 5/8/06
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