1. Exam 4: The Reeve, The Summoner, The Pardoner, and The Host

2. The Reeve An estate manager Old, choleric, and thin
Skinny legs like sticks
Excellent bookkeeper
Knows what crops he can expect to yield because he is an expert at reading the weather
Sees over the dairies, stores, and cattle-pens
Sees that all of the animals are cared for properly – sheep, hens, pigs, horses
Feared by those who work under him
Has a lovely dwelling on a heath

3. The Reeve Better at bargain than his lord Has stored up a treasure
Spends money on his lord to curry his favor
A first-rate carpenter
Rides last in the cavalcade (parade)

4. The Summoner Summons people to church courts Has a fire-red face
Face is covered with carbuncles (pus-filled boils resulting from a bacterial infection under the skin)
Black, scabby brows
Children are afraid of him
Uses quicksilver, lead ointments, tartar creams, boracic, and brimstone (sulfur) to cure his facial pustules

5. The Summoner Eats garlic, onions, and leeks
Drinks strong wine until he is drunk
Shouts and jabbers the few Latin phrases he knows
Uses his knowledge of people to take advantage of them

6. Reading Strategy: Analyzing Difficult Sentences
#31.) In The sentences in lines , what could not be cured?

7. Answer
The Summoner’s pimples could not be cured.

8. Review of Characterization
Indirect Characterization: uses details to suggest a character’s personality
Direct Characterization: specifically describes a characters personality

9. Literary Analysis: Characterization
#32.) In lines , is the characterization of the Summoner direct or indirect?

10. Answer
The characterization of the Summoner in this passage is indirect.
The passage describes how he behaves – drunkenly and unintelligently – and encourages the reader to extend that description to his character

11. Reading Check
#33.) How does the Summoner turn religion to personal profit?

12. Answer
The Summoner will allow immoral activity to go on, provided he gets paid to look the other way.

13. The Pardoner Sings well
Has waxy, yellow hair that hangs down like rat-tails
Has bulging eyeballs like a hare
Has a holy relic on his cap
Has just returned from Rome
Cannot grow facial hair
Sells fake pardons
Has a high-pitched, goat-like voice
Might be a gelding or a mare
Can make more money in one day than a local parson
Wins money from the crowd in church when he sings the Offertory

14. Critical Viewing
#34.) How well does this picture of the Pardoner match Chaucer’s description of him in lines ?

15. Answer
The picture matches Chaucer’s description quite well. The Pardoner has stringy blonde hair, lacks a beard, and has a relic or pilgrim’s medal attached to his cap.

16. Literary Analysis: Characterization
#35.) What facts in lines indirectly characterize the Pardoner?

17. Answer
The facts of the Pardoner’s tricking “poor up-country” folks and making “monkeys of the priest and congregation” indirectly characterize him as a dishonest person.

18. Reading Strategy: Analyzing Difficult Sentences
#36.) Why does Chaucer apologize in the sentence starting with line 745?

19. Answer
He apologizes because he is going to report matters frankly, without euphemisms
euphemism: the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt.
ex. “To pass away” is a euphemism for “to die.”

20. The Host Owns and runs the Tabard Inn Serves fine victuals
Has bright eyes a wide girth
Merry-hearted
Proposes that each of the pilgrims tell two stories on the way to Canterbury and two stories on the way back to Southwark
Decides to ride with the pilgrims and to judge the storytelling contest
Wakes the pilgrims early on the first day of the pilgrimage
Has the pilgrims draw straws to see who will tell the first story

21. Reading Check
# 37.) What concern does the Host raise?

22. Answer
The Host raises the concern that they will be riding without much to amuse them.

23. Literary Analysis: Characterization
#38.) What does the Host’s decision to accompany the pilgrims suggest about him?

24. Answer
The host is a generous, curious fellow.