Canterbury Tales: (Notes,
General Prologue, Prologue and Tale of Wife of Bath, and Miller’s tale – AKA what
we talked about in class. The rest is up to y’all)
1)
Background:
a)
Geoffrey Chaucer
b)
Circa 1400
c)
24 tales
d)
Some say they’re the first short stories
2)
Evolution of the English Language:
a)
Old
English:
i)
Anglo-Saxon; 500ad-1066; The Fall of the Roman
Empire left the English Empire defenseless
ii)
Scandinavian immigrants came to these lands –
their language mixed with the Roman creating “Old English”
iii) The
French Period:
(1) William
the Conqueror overtook Harold in the Battle of Hastings (which was incredibly
unexpected)
(2) William
became King of England – made French England’s official language.
(3) French
and English merge to form…
b)
Middle
English:
i)
Around 1400; middle English replaces French for
the common people (more slowly for the Aristocrats and Scholars)
ii)
Chaucer chose to write in the vernacular, rather
than using the French that was generally taught in schools
c)
Modern
English:
i)
1500-present; the invention of the printing
press standardized the English language
ii)
Shakespearean English is considered modern
English.
3)
Modernity:
a)
Again, some say these are the first are the
first short stories
b)
More about individualism and secularism
c)
Less about the church, and being perfect in
God’s eyes
4)
Terms:
a)
Pardoner
– person who sold documents to sinners to take years off of their time in
purgatory.
b)
Summoner
– calls people to Ecclesiatical courts
c)
Cuckold
– A man whose wife has cheated on him or vice versa
d)
Misogyny
– disdain for women
e)
Charlatan
– Fraud; person who pretends to be something he’s not to gain power or money,
etc.
f)
Poetic
Justice – When punishment for the crime fits so perfectly that it’s really
only plausible in literature
g)
Fabliau
– raunchy bedroom escapades, dirty stories (a genre)
5)
General Prologue
a)
29 people going to Canterbury Cathedral
i)
Saint Thomas Becket
(1) A
high priest who was murdered by King Henry’s men while worshipping at his alter
b)
Traveler’s enjoying the spring air, and the time
to socialize
c)
These people wouldn’t talk to each other
normally – only are now because they happen to be traveling together
d)
Entertain each other by telling tales
i)
Makes it a contest – whoever can tell the best
tale gets free meal, etc.
e)
Travelers provide a “colorful slice of medieval
life”
i)
Some spiritual, some not at all
ii)
Some intellectual, most not
iii) Some
likeable, some despicable
(1) The
worst you hear comes from their own mouth
(2) Chaucer
puts them in a light light – leaves judgment to reader
f)
Chaucer depicts the emerging middle class more
so than anyone else
g)
Almost all people fall into these three
categories:
i)
Urban: Artisans, housewives, merchants
(middle class)
ii)
Ecclesiastical: The vast hierarchy of the
Catholic church
iii) Feudal:
Associated with Feudal lords and farms (Knights, squires, peasants, etc).
6)
Wife of Bath:
a)
Prologue:
i)
She’s had five husbands
ii)
Defends herself by mentioning Solomon, a
character in the Bible who had more than one wife
iii) Says
she’ll marry a 6th time (defiance)
iv) Spends
an entire two pages talking about virginity and about how sex isn’t a sin
v)
Tended to marry old rich men to gain their
riches after they died.
vi) Spends
a good 3 or 4 pages talking about the hypocrisy of men
vii) Talks about her different husbands (I hope you
read/payed attention in class – I’m too lazy to type all this out)
b)
Tale:
i)
She was insulted by the Friar for having a long
prologue
ii)
To get back at him, she starts by setting her
tale in the “land of the elf queen” where elves and sprits used to roam
iii) Now
the only people around are stupid Friars – you can’t escape them
iv) She
also [quite strongly] suggests that Friars take advantage of women.
v)
Medieval Romance:
(1) A
story of a knight; light tone; supernatural; improvement/education of knight;
usually involves a knight
(2) In
the Wife’s tale, the Knight rapes a lady and disregards her dignity
(3) At
court, the first punishment suggest is death, but the Queen comes in and saves
him
(4) She
says he has to go on a quest to find himself
(5) He
meets a Shapeshifter
(a) Typical
supernatural/magical power – agent of transformation for Knight
(6) The
Shapeshifter tells the Knight the answer: Women want the same equality with
their husbands as they had with their boyfriends
(7) The
Knight goes back to the court and tells them this; all the ladies agree
(8) So
then, the Shapeshifter/Hag tells him he has to marry her, but he has two
choices:
(a) Marry
her young and beautiful, but she won’t be faithful
(b) Marry
her as she is now, and she will be forever faithful
(9) The
Knight says that it’s her choice to be as she pleases
(10)
This answer shows that he really has learned, so
the hag becomes young and beautiful and she promises to be faithful.
7)
Miller’s Tale
a)
Miller tells a tale about a carpenter, because
the Carpenter told a tale about the miler
b)
Immature tone – raunchy jokes, potty jokes, etc
c)
The carpenter is married to this young,
beautiful, awesome wife
d)
He’s super duper protective
e)
Nicolas, a student, comes to live with them
f)
The carpenter is super helicopter-ish when
Nicolas talks to his wife
g)
So the student tricks the carpenter into locking
himself out, naked
h)
The carpenter falls and ends up breaking some
sort of appendage
i)
Carpenter is appropriately humiliated, but
Nicolas got branded as punishment for what he did
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