Seminar 2 “The Canterbury tales”

ANALYSIS

1. What are the major themes of the Canterbury Tales?

Theme #1

Social Satire

Social satire is the major theme of The Canterbury Tales. The medieval society was set on three
foundations: the nobility, the church, and the peasantry. Chaucer’s satire targets all segments of
the medieval social issues, human immorality, and depraved heart. For example, he exposes each
social layers of his pilgrims and beautifully illustrates how they fail to fulfill their actual duties.
He further shows the theme of social satire in The Nun’s Priest’s Tale that satirizes courtly love
and sets aside standard of dignity. The Wife of Bath’s Tale mocks the religious logic as the wife
interprets The Bible verses in her own way to support her argument.

Theme #2

Courtly Love and Sexual Desire

Courtly love in the medieval setup is something noble and spiritual that does not mean to be
achieved physically. The Knight’s Tale, in the general prologue, is an obvious example of
courtly love where two knights fight for the hand of a fair lady. The intensity of love makes them
forget oaths and duties toward the state. Furthermore, the insightful description of the squire, a
young knight, possesses all the ornaments of courtly love.  He sings, writes, plays flutes,
maintains his physical appearance, and burns with a passion that keeps him awake.  Apart from
courtly love and sexual desire, lust also plays a major role in The Canterbury Tales. For
examples, The Miler’s Tale is based on sexual desire and The Wife of Bath’s Tale represents the
lust and sexual desire of the lady. Therefore, courtly love and sexual desire are common features
of medieval society discussed by Chaucer.

Theme #3

Corruption in Church

The idea of corruption also upholds thematic significance in The Canterbury Tales, because most
of the characters associated with the church are not religious, pious or dutiful as they must be.
The Pardoner’s Tale is the best example of corruption. He is a medieval preacher assigned with
the duty to collect money for holy purposes. He performs this duty and walks in the town with
holy relics, preaches about the dangers of greed and raises money. However, the collection is not
for a religious purpose; instead, he fills his own pocket. While narrating the tale, he does not
seem to have any regret and displays pride for his actions.

Theme #4

Competition

Competition is another major theme in The Canterbury Tales. It is explicitly stated in tales as
well as present among the pilgrims. The Knight’s Tale is set on the theme of competition where
two prisoners fall in love with the same girl. Both are at good terms, but the lady becomes the
bone of contention and makes them opponent of each other.  The desire of love makes them
bloodthirsty. At last, one is killed, and the other wins the hand of that lady. Out of these tales, the
pilgrims also set the competition of storytelling. They seem to be impatient as well, as Miller
jumps in to tell his tale after the Knight without waiting for his turn. Everyone tries to tell the
best story continuing the competition, even though most of the stories are the versions of the
stories already told.

Theme #5

Christianity

The thematic significance of Christianity can be marked by the fact that the tales take place in a
religious setting where everyone is going on a religious pilgrimage. Most of the notable figures
of the church; the Monk, the Nun, the Parson, and the Friar are detailed in the general prologue,
representing distinct areas of the church of that time. Some of them are true worshipers of Christ,
while the others are corrupt. Therefore, Chaucer has artistically painted the picture of the
custodians of the church having spoiled the true spirit of Christianity.

Theme #6

Class

Class or status is another notable theme in The Canterbury Tales. This theme is explored through
the comparison of the people who belong to a better class with those who attempt to appear as an
upper class. Chaucer has presented two diverse characters, the Prioress and the Parson in the
prologue. It is through these characters; he foreshadows the importance of status in medieval
society. The Prioress, a nun by profession, is seen as an up-to-date woman, concerned with her
manner and behavior. In contrast, the Parson, a clergyman, acts and behaves keeping in mind his
class and duties.  Despite knowing her duties, the Nun tries to look wealthy, whereas the Parson
is not obsessed to maintain his class. This class and class consciousness run deep into the tales
told by different characters.

Theme #7

Lies and Deception

Lies and deception are also one of the major themes in the prologue as well as individual tales.
Most characters lie about their social status to maintain their respect. For instance, the Merchant
appears to be a wealthy man at first, but as the tale progresses, he reveals that he is in debt. The
Pardoner deceives people by selling fake relics, and the Miller also deceives others by selling his
flour again and again. It happens that when people try to maintain their false standards, they
often carefully plan before lying and cheating.

Theme #8

Justice and Judgement

The thematic value of justice and judgment can be seen in the tales that demand answers. For
instance, The Knight’s Tale asks who was a better knight, Arcite or Palamon? The Franklin’s
Tale also poses a question to the audience to consider each of the characters and decides who is
the most generous. Therefore, judgment plays an active role in most of the tales.
Theme #9

Rivalry

Rivalry also holds a thematic value in The Canterbury Tales. There are rivals in story-telling,
who insult each other. Palamon and Arcite in The Knight’s Tale forget their brotherhood and
become rivals to marry Emelye. There are also rivals in trickery who smartly play tricks on
others. Some members of the pilgrim group are also rivaling like the Miller and the Reeve. Their
rivalry causes tension in the group. Chaucer presents how competition can quickly turn a friend
into an enemy.

Theme #10

Company

The theme of a company in the general prologue is not only evident but also very strong.
Pilgrims are going to visit the relics of Thomas Becket in the company of each other. Most of the
pilgrims are guildsmen, members of a specific trade. Many of them belong to the church, but
they also represent a group. Although they belong to different standards and classes, they stay in
a group, sharing the same purpose.

2. Which pilgrims does Chaucer satirize? Which does he praise most highly? How does his
treatment of these people indicate his own ideals about man?
(On the allegorical level, the pilgrimage represents people's journey through life. In
The Canterbury Tales, after setting themselves to leave from the courtyard of the
Tabard Inn, the pilgrims agree to tell the stories: two on the way to Canterbury and two
on the way back.)
1)Chaucer cleverly satirizes many of the pilgrims as he points to their hypocrisy.
The largest target of this satire is the Clergy because it is rife with hypocrisy.
2) There is no doubt Chaucer likes the Knight, the Oxford Cleric, and the Parson.
There are others he admires in some ways, but he is completely favorable in his
descriptions of these three.
3) concept of an ideal man would be a person who is brave, self-sacrificing, witty,
intelligent, and understanding, and strives to achieve and maximizes his talent.

3. Discuss Chaucer's use of irony in his treatment of one or more of the Canterbury
pilgrims.
(Chaucer uses irony in The Canterbury Tales to promote his theme that
appearances do not always match reality. He demonstrates this theme
through the tales told by pilgrims on a spiritual journey.)
. In The Canterbury Tales,  Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343–1400) uses this technique to
show his readers that physical appearances often differ dramatically from reality.
Within the overall description of a spiritual journey by a group of pilgrims, he frames
his tales as separate stories told by the travelers to Canterbury.
Each of the author’s stories carries the ironic thread of appearance versus reality.
Chaucer uses dramatic irony to point out how his characters’ deceptions warn his
readers to be aware that the expected outcomes in each story might not be exactly
what they foresee.
4. Discuss the ways in which Chaucer's style reveals his feeling about two or more of the
pilgrims he describes.
5. The complex question of marriage was much debated one in the 14th century, and the "Wife
of Bath" appears as an expert on the subject. Speak about other characters and their attitudes to
marriage.
The Wife of Bath’s Prologue provides an introduction to medieval ideas about marriage
and love. The Prologue begins like a sermon and then takes on the terms of misogyny
and misogamy as the Wife describes her first three marriages, demonstrating her
success in manipulating the marriage system to her own advantage as a means to
consolidate money and power. When the Wife speaks of her fourth and fifth husbands,
however, the Prologue becomes more personal, like a modern autobiography, exploring
the role of love in marriage and its relationship to gender hierarchy and domestic
violence.
In her prologue, Chaucer’s Wife defends marriage against religious teachings that claim
that it is inferior to celibacy, maintaining the association of marriage with sex but
embracing a more modern perspective that sexual pleasure is a virtue and rejecting the
idea that wives should always obey their husbands. The Prologue presents both the
challenges to women’s agency posed by medieval marriage and, conversely, the ways
existing practices of medieval marriage could be manipulated to empower women.
6. In the Prologue Chaucer shows the traditional class structure of medieval society:
 Upper class
Close to the top of the system are the knights covered in their bright and
shining armor filled with padding to help sooth the pain. Knights typically
travel around the world, stay in castles, and serve their king. Chaucer
describes the knight like none other; the narrator uplifts the knight more than
any other character. “A KNYGHT ther was, and that a worthy man, That fro
the tyme that he first bigan To riden out, he loved chivalrie, Trouthe and
honour, freedom and curteisie. Ful worthy was he in his lords were, And
therto hadde he riden, no man ferre” (Chaucer, 2007). In other words the
knight is someone who is generous and holds a high value in truth and
honor. 
 middle class
Next in the feudalism system would be certain members of the church, or “the
clergy”. The clergy is mostly made up of the church but wasn’t really
considered one of the social classes of the Middle Ages seeing the
differences in positions. Bishops being the highest and the wealthiest who
would be considered noble followed by the priest, monks, then Nuns who
would be considered in any class above peasants and serfs. Bishops weren’t
as powerful in the church as the priests were but wore nicer clothes, involved
with the court, and lived in the same areas as the nobles. Bishops were
considered to be involved with the nobleman class because of their influence
on the society, bishops also were extremely wealthy due to the fact that they
collected taxes. 
 lower class and ruffians
Next in the feudalism system would be certain members of the church, or “the
clergy”. The clergy is mostly made up of the church but wasn’t really
considered one of the social classes of the Middle Ages seeing the
differences in positions. (Newman, 2018). The clergy has its own ranking
system within. Bishops being the highest and the wealthiest who would be
considered noble followed by the priest, monks, then Nuns who would be
considered in any class above peasants and serfs. Bishops weren’t as
powerful in the church as the priests were but wore nicer clothes, involved
 with the court, and lived in the same areas as the nobles. Bishops were
considered to be involved with the nobleman class because of their influence
on the society, bishops also were extremely wealthy due to the fact that they
collected taxes. 
Last but not least are the peasants, had a tough life in the Middle Ages. It was
it wasn’t rare to see a peasant working as a farmer or doing hard labor work,
but it was common to see a peasant without freedom. All Peasants didn’t
have underwear, meals contained bread, porridge, vegetables, and maybe
meat. They were people who had a strong belief in religion and died from
either harsh weather conditions or starvation (The Middle Ages, 2008). There
aren’t any characters who are called peasants but fit the description very
much so. The ploman, the oxford cleric, and the parson each is very poor,
tends to help other people, and is very religious people.
Who are the characters of each division?
7. When are the pilgrims traveling and for what reason? Why is this time of year appropriate for
a pilgrimage?( The pilgrims are traveling in the spring in order to visit the

shrine of Thomas à Becket )

1)The reason that all of the travelers are going to Canterbury is to pay their respects to
Saint Thomas a Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Becket went down in history as
a martyr and a saint for standing up for his faith, and the 30 travelers are on a
pilgrimage to see the tomb of Becket. Click to see full answer.
2) Spring time (April to be exact). Why is this a good time of year for such a trip?
Because of the spiritual/religious nature of pilgrimage, spring time is new beginnings
and they are taking their journey to be absolved of sins and to be forgiven. Also can be
a reference to Easter time.
8. What point of view does the narrator use.( The narrator is speaking in the first
person, and seems to be taken in by the deceptive characters)
How does this point of view affect the details that readers learn?( Since this Prologue is
written in the first person, the narrator tells us a limited number of things we
might not know otherwise, and perhaps things the characters themselves
might not want others to know about them)
9. What details does Chaucer use to describe the Knight and the Squire? What do these
descriptions suggest about the characters?
1) The Knight is the father to the squire, lord of the Yeoman, fights
in crusades, is loyal to his king and God, and follows rules of
chivalry (minor nobility)
As a young man of 20, his colorful clothing and love of poetry suggests he's
more interested in winning the heart of his lady than serving the Lord in
battle-knight
10. How does Chaucer describe the Prioress and the Monk? ( The Prioress is described as
doing everything just right but to an extreme. She speaks French extremely
daintily. She does not let one tiny morsel fall when eating and wipes every trace of
grease from her lips so that no mark at all can be seen on her cup. She weeps over
the tiniest mouse's suffering or the injuries of her lap dogs (which she keeps
against the rules of her order). Yet her manners and feelings do not come from
within, as an honest expression of her inner virtue. They are "seemly"—
they seem to be real but are not. She strains "to counterfeit a courtly kind of grace"
and to "seem dignified." In general, she tries too hard to appear noble and courtly,
as the very model of what a Prioress should be. But to Chaucer all of her actions
are more like a show than the real thing. His description suggests that her elevated
status as a member of the first estate has gone to her head). ( Attended by the Nun,
the Monk, and 3 priests, the Prioress is described with an emphasis on her worldly
interests, rather than as a superior of nuns)
(Chaucer tends to emphasize the worldly interests of the prosperous Monk, an avid
hunter who manages the estates of the Prioress and the monastery (clergy)
In what ways are they different from the lower-ranking Friar and Cleric? (Hubert the Friar is
supposedly a religious man who has taken a vow of poverty, and is helpful to others,
though Chaucer subtly suggests he has ulterior motives, seeing lepers or the homeless
as scum (clergy)
Cleric- He is a long-term (professional) student and religious scholar--his faith seems
more genuine than that of the Monk or Prioress (clergy)
11. Theme Connections Whose stories would you expect to be more interesting—those of
Chaucer’s humble characters or heroic characters? Give reasons for your answer.
12. What is the basic purpose of the "General Prologue?" (To set the scenes for the tales to come.
It explains how there is a pilgrimage in which people were going on, on April 11th, and how on
the way there the pilgrims were to tell two stories (on the way there and on the way back) and
the winner (chosen by the host) would win a free dinner)
The purpose of the prologue is to give readers a general overview of
the characters that are present, why they are present there, and what they will be
doing. The narrator begins by telling us how it is the season in which people are getting
ready to make a pilgrimage to Canterbury.
13. In what way are the season and the nature imagery important factors?
It is for spiritual renewal. The pilgrimage is in April, the springtime, because during
spring everything thing from winter is being born again and becoming new. Both are a
rebirth.
14. Regarding the description of the Pardoner:
a. How is the Pardoner described? What are his physical attributes? Of what "color"
is he?
A less than masculine personal who my be a homosexual (having a
relationship with the Summoner). He is yellow such as his hair and wears a
"holy relic" in his cap to advertise his "trade" in a way, because he has a
business in fake relics. He preaches very well, and uses his real rhetorical
gifts to "stir the people to devotion" so that they will give their pennies "namely
unto me".
b. Whose companion is he, and what are the implications of this?
His companion is the Summoner because while the Pardoner sells fake relics and
tickets into heaven, his companion sells tickets into heaven if they have sinned, and
blackmails them into doing so if they haven't already.
15. How does the host affect the nature of the journey, if he does? What does he propose to the
pilgrims, and what will the "winner" receive?

In the "Prologue," much of the humor springs from the narrator's tone, which is detached and
ironic. Instead of openly criticizing the scoundrels of his age for their greed and hypocrisy, he
understates his opinions about them or says the opposite of what he really thinks. His seemingly
impersonal attitude forces readers to draw their own conclusions.
For example, the narrator describes the Monk:
He was a prelate fit for exhibition,
He was not pale like a tormented soul.
He liked a fat swan best, and roasted whole.
 His palfrey was as brown as is a berry.
The narrator's tone reinforces the discrepancies between the Monk's life and the ideal monastic
life of humility and self-sacrifice.

Look for evidence in the form of particular words and phrases. Organize your ideas in a chart
like this one.
Character What Narrator says What Narrator means

Literary Criticism
Scholars have noted that “The Prologue” is an estates satire, a type of medieval literature that pokes
fun at the professions and classes, or “estates” of society, in order to expose their flaws. Why is a
pilgrimage an effective framework for an estates satire? What societal flaws is Chaucer exposing?

Characterization
Writers use various techniques to construct vivid characters. In direct characterization, the author
tells something outright about a character’s personality. In indirect characterization, the author
suggests traits by describing a character’s words, thoughts, actions, or appearance, as well as the
reactions of other characters. As you read about a character, remember that by carefully selecting
details, an author controls the kind of impression the reader gets. Find examples of characterization
in “The Prologue” that use the following techniques:
1. a direct statement
2. a character’s actions
3. a character’s physical appearance