The Canterbury Tales Life and Times

Characters’ Prologues and Tales

• Chaucer meant for each character to share 4 tales in total, but died before he could achieve this
• Before each tale, Chaucer includes a prologue or introduction of the person who will tell the tale
• Each has a short introduction in the General Prologue, but here he or she is more fully developed
• Narrator’s observations
• Character’s words, actions, and interactions
• Follows with shared tale told to the whole group of travelers.

Types of Tales

• ALLEGORY
• A story with the purpose of teaching a moral lesson
• Characters and events represent abstract qualities or ideas. The writer intends a secondary meaning.
• Characters are often personifications of abstractions like greed, envy, etc.
• Example: The Pardoner’s Tale

The Pardoner

The Pardoner’s Sketch- General Prologue

• Hair as yellow as wax, straight like flax, hung down in driplets, but bald on top
• Let his hair flow in the wind- riding without a hood
• Shiny eyes like a hare
• Voice sounds like a goat
• No beard, can’t grow one
• Good “ecclesiast” who sings well in church, or at least loudly
• Knapsack full of relics/ pardons
• Pillow case he claims is Mary’s veil
• Piece of sail from St. Peter’s boat
• Pig bones in a jar
• Makes money selling them on the journey

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• Do a litel daunse. Make a litel love. Gette thee doune thys nighte.
•  What do alliteratif poetes have for lunche? Caesura salad