Chaucers Canterbury Tales

Kathleen Hickey English 12 November 29, 2012

Consider
You are going on a 55 mile journey . . .
by horse with a group of people you dont know with a group of people from different classes and professions

What would you do to pass the time?

This is the premise of Chaucers The Canterbury Tales

29 pilgrims traveling from Southwark (2 miles outside of London) to Canterbury (55 miles away) engage in a storytelling contest. The teller of the best story wins a meal at Baileys tavern.

What is a pilgrimage?
A pilgrimage is a journey to a shrine important to a persons beliefs or faith. In The Canterbury Tales, the pilgrims are traveling to St. Thomas Beckets Shrine in the Canterbury Cathedral.

How many tales are there?

Each pilgrim (and there are 29) is to tell 4 tales, 2 on the way to Canterbury and two on the way home. Do the math. How many tales would have Chaucer written? Chaucer only wrote 24 tales, all of which occur on the way to Canterbury. What can we surmise? Some tales are prose others are verse.

Also, figure out how long it would have taken the pilgrims to reach Canterbury, 55 miles away, if they covered 10 miles a day?

Who are the pilgrims?

Chaucers pilgrims represent all classes, all professions in medieval England.
Clerk Miller Manciple Yeoman Shipman Physician Merchant Pardoner Franklin Reeve Cook Lawyer Man of Law Narrator Knight Squire Summoner Friar Prioress Two nuns Summoner Parson Monk Nuns Priest 2 Nuns Wife of Bath

What do the columns tell you?

Who was Chaucer?

1343 25 October 1400 (the same time the story occurs) Author, bureaucrat, alchemist, courtier diplomat (why is this important?) Considered Father of English Poetry Buried in Poets Corner of West Minster Abbey

Were the tales a book?

Some tales are prose, some are verse. They exist as manuscripts. The best known manuscript, The Ellesmere Chaucer or Ellesmere Manuscript, is from the early 15th century. You can see it at the Huntington Library in San Marinio, CA.

Is that manuscript in English?

Yes, Middle English. Remember Bewoulf was in Old English.

What did Middle English sound like?

Listen to youtube vide: http://youtu.be/nN5YhPmwvf4.

How are tales organized?

Prologue
Narrator introduces himself and explains the journey and the contest. In the Prologue, the narrator tells us that the Knight will tell his story first, but the Miller then interrupts the Knight. We dont really know what order Chaucer intended because the manuscripts are all different.

What genre are the tales?

Fabliaux Bestiary Sermons Courtly love

Which pilgrims?
Character development is Chaucers strength. He uses physical descriptions, the tales, and reactions to tales to develop each pilgrim. We will study the Millers tale together.

The Millers Tale

How does Chaucer describe the Miller? What does his drunken interruption tell you about him? Why does he tell a tale about a carpenter? What genre is his tale? Fabliaux.

Your Assignment
Create a Fakebook, Travel Blog, or picmonkey collage to show us who your assigned pilgrim is, what his tale is about, what his character is. See examples on my blog. Whichever method you choose, focus on character development, the tale, and any writing techniques Chaucer uses to make this pilgrim and his tale come alive. Your group will present the pilgrim and his tale to the class via the blog, Fakebook, or collage. If you have any ideas outside these three (Prezi etc.) see me. I will consider them if you can prove merit.

Rubrics
Will pass out to you in class.