The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

by Geoffrey Chaucer

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Introducing the Selection

Literary Focus: Characterization

Literary Focus: Frame Story Reading Focus: Analyzing StyleKey Details Writing Focus: Think as a Reader-Writer

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

by Geoffrey Chaucer

Chaucers Canterbury Pilgrims (1810) by William Blake. Engraving.

What moves a hero to act?

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

by Geoffrey Chaucer

Click on the title to start the video.

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Introducing the Selection

For the most part, only the light characters travel. Who are you that have no task to keep you at home?
Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Introducing the Selection

Take a Tour

If you went on a tour today, what types of people would you meet? Do you think you might come across a character or two? Chaucers characters are the kinds of people he would have known in real life and observed riding toward Canterbury on the old pilgrimage road.

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Introducing the Selection

Chaucer used the East Midland dialect of Middle English. This dialect was the most common colloquial language at the time and became the basis for modern English.

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Introducing the Selection

Twenty-nine pilgrims are on their way to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury. The time is April, and the place is the Tabard Inn in Southwark (SUTH erk), just outside London.

London Canterbury

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The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Literary Focus: Characterization

Chaucer uses indirect characterization when he tells how each character

looks and dresses
This yeoman wore a coat and hood of green, And peacock-feathered arrows, bright and keen

speaks and acts

Her greatest oath was only By St. Loy!

thinks and feels

And gladly would he learn, and gladly teach.

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Literary Focus: Characterization

Chaucer also uses direct characterization, when he comes right out and tells us what a characters nature isvirtuous, vain, clever, and so on.
There was a Friar, a wanton one and merry, A Limiter, a very festive fellow. In all Four Orders there was none so mellow, So glib with gallant phrase and well-turned speech.

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The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Literary Focus: Frame Story

A frame story is a literary device that binds together several different narratives. It is a story that contains other stories.
In The Canterbury Tales, the Prologue serves as the frame story. The Prologue introduces each pilgrim and describes the journey they will all begin the next day.

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Literary Focus: Frame Story

Following the Prologue, the characters tell their own stories.

The pilgrims tales are stories within the frame.

Their individual stories are united by the frame.

Each tale has its own theme that supports the theme of the larger work.
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The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Reading Focus: Analyzing Style: Key Details

With twenty-nine pilgrims to introduce, Chaucer couldnt develop any one character at great length. Instead, he provides a few well-chosen details to make each character stand out vividly.

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Reading Focus: Analyzing Style: Key Details

Identifying key details about these characters can help you determine what Chaucer thinks about his characters and their experiences. How do details of dress, appearance, and behavior influence your first impression of each pilgrim? Note that some details contradict what the characters think of themselves (or want others to think of them).

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Reading Focus: Analyzing Style: Key Details

Into Action: As you read, use a chart like the one below to note one or two key details about the main characters in the Prologue. Briefly describe what you think each detail emphasizes about the character.
Character
the Knight

Key Detail
He had done nobly in his sovereigns war / And ridden into battle.

What Detail Emphasizes

It tells us hes a brave man, a strong warrior, and someone of great experience.

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The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Writing Focus: Think as a Reader/Writer

Find It in Your Reading

Describing each characters appearance is one method of characterization that Chaucer uses. As you read, consider how Chaucer describes each characters physical appearance. Make notes on the

different types of physical details he provides.

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Vocabulary

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Vocabulary

eminent adj.: great; of high standing. benign adj.: kind; gracious.

guile n.: sly dealings; skill in deceiving.

obstinate adj.: unreasonably stubborn. frugal adj.: thrifty; careful with money.

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Vocabulary

The word eminent is often used to describe an important person.

It comes from a word related to hill, suggesting that an eminent person stands out from the crowd. The Lincoln Memorial expresses Americans regard for this eminent president.

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Vocabulary

I would like to introduce our eminent speaker, said the principal. Are people in the audience likely to know who the speaker is?

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Vocabulary

The word benign comes from a French word meaning good. It is related to words like benefit

benevolent
beneficial Yolanda wore a benign smile as she petted the chick.

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Vocabulary

If a doctor says a growth is benign, is that good news?

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Vocabulary

The word guile comes from a French word meaning trick.

In Aesops fables, the fox often succeeds in tricking other animals because it is full of guile.

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Vocabulary

A person who is full of guile is a. trustworthy

b. easy to fool
c. skilled at deception

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Vocabulary

A person who is full of guile is a. trustworthy

b. easy to fool
c. skilled at deception

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Vocabulary

Mules are well-known for sometimes refusing to head towards danger, as the mule sees it. People are sometimes said to be as stubborn as a mule. Stubborn people could also be called as obstinate as a mule.

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Vocabulary

A obstinate person is a. easy to persuade

b. hard to change
c. eager to try new things

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Vocabulary

A obstinate person is a. easy to persuade

b. hard to change
c. eager to try new things

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Vocabulary

The word miser comes from a Latin word meaning pitiful or wretched. A miser would rather hold on to money than spend it. A related word is miserable.

The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Vocabulary

According to legend, King Midas was rich, but he wanted to be richer. A god gave him the power to turn everything he touched to gold. Of course, this made it hard to eat. So the king was miserable until the god took his golden touch away. Was Midas a miser?
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The End