Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales

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Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales
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Geoffrey Chaucer Social Background

• Born in a well-to-do family in London, _____.
• Commoners who were advancing in wealth and social
  prestige
• Excluded from the ______________by birth, and
  from the country gentry by their city occupations
• They were somewhere in between the beginning of
  the English ______________.

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Chaucer Career Path

• Teenage a page in the household of Prince Lionel
  (son of King Edward III)
• His 1st great patron was John of Gaunt (5th son
  of the king) the most powerful nobleman in
  England
• Received _________, grants of money, and other
  ____________ for his services from successive
  kings
• Sent on diplomatic missions to France and Italy
• Became a public man but of modest importance

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Formal and informal education

• His development summed up in three stages,
  ________, ___________, and ____________.
• Worked with French and Italian texts
• Wrote a number of other works before
  TheCanterbury Tales

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The Canterbury Tales Background

• Set standard of poetry for centuries
• Chaucer did not complete the entire Canterbury
  Tales as designed
• Tales structured so that each of the ______
  pilgrims would tell four tales
• only completed twenty-four tales total

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Structure of the Canterbury Tales
FRAME GENERAL PROLOGUE
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Narrative Poem

• Usually has a _________ rhyme scheme
• Canterbury Tales uses ___________
• ________ rhyming of the end of 2 lines
• When in April the sweet showers fall
• And pierce the drought of March to the root and
  all

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Frame Story

• _____________ sets stage for smaller story or
  stories to come
• Examples The Princess Bride, Forrest Gump,
  Slumdog Millionaire
• In CT, the frame is the __________________________
  ____________________
• The story itself is made up of the pilgrims
  tales

Story set-up
Story within the story e.g., Gumps many exploits
e.g., Gump on bench
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Symbolical meaning of the journey from London to
Canterbury
London terrestrial, material city

Canterbury heavenly, spiritual city
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But why go to Canterbury?
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One Answer Religion

• Religion played an important part in medieval
  life.
• Canterbury has always been an important
  ______________in England.
• St. Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory
  the Great to establish the Catholic faith in the
  country

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Why was religion important?

• Its the Middle Ages
• Plague
• High Infant Mortality Rate
• and if you were a peasant, you lived your whole
  life in harsh conditions
• About the best thing that you had to look
  forward to was ______________________

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Also, Canterbury was a _____________

• People of all classes went on pilgrimages to holy
  sites to ask for help with medical, financial or
  other problems.

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Becket was a trusted adviser and friend of King
Henry II, who named Becket the ___________________
___.
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Beckets outspoken style angered the King. One
day, Henry complained, Will no one rid me of
this meddlesome priest? Three knights rode to
Canterbury where they found Becket at the altar
of Canterbury Cathedral.
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Becket was ________ at the altar.
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Canterbury Cathedral became a site for pilgrims
to offer prayers to St. Thomas.Use your iPads
to do a quick Google Images search of Canterbury
Cathedralwhat about this building and its
history made it important to pilgrims?
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The pilgrims who were they?
Three Social Classes
____________ Knight, squire, yeoman,
franklin, miller, reeve, plowman
_________ Nun, monk, aria, prioress, parson,
summoner, pardoner
_____________ Merchant, sergeant-at
the-law, cook, skipper, doctor, wife of Bath
No too rich people, no too poor people. That
adds to realism.
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In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer wrote about
people he had met along the way. If you were
doing the same thing today, think about the
variety of types of people you know and have
encountered.
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Describe them by

• Their job
• The type and color of their clothing
• Their _________ (jewelry, pets, other
  portables)
• The way they act
• Their _________
• Their secrets
• Their _____________________________
• The way they speak / their slang or accent
• Their mode of transportation

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Characterization

• Part of Chaucers mastery is ________________
• The characters take turns telling tales
• They have depth and a quality of seeming real
• Characters are created through
• ___________________(some quite graphic)
• Characters interacting with each other
• __________________(often specifically their
  personalities and motivations)

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Types of Characterization

• Direct
• Indirect
• what the character says and does
• what other characters say about him/her
• how other characters behave towards him/her

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Merits of the Tales

• Tales convey ________________
• Create a microcosm of medieval English life
• Paints a complete picture of __________
• Entertain