1. The Canterbury Tales—Geoffrye Chaucer

2. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales A. Introduction to Medieval Period 1. the medieval mind—”post apocalyptic” 2. bad times / hard times

3. A. Introduction to Medieval Literature 3. The allegorical mind --seeing the great code --spiritual reality behind the physical world 4. A Few Medieval Concepts: a. The Four Humors 1. sanguine ( cheerful, optimistic ) 2. phlegmatic (lazy) 3. choleric (angry) 4. melancholic (sad, depressed )

4. A. Introduction—The Four Humors

5. A. Introduction—The Black Death b. The Black Death – The Plague 1. One-third of Europe’s population is wiped out 2. Death is personified as “The Grim Reaper” image

6. B. Chaucer: the Father of English Literature

7. B. Chaucer 1. Biographical background a. b. c. 2. Father of English Literature— Why? a. b. c.

8. B. Geoffrey Chaucer 3. The Canterbury Tales a. The use of the “frame story” device 1. what it is 2. Chaucer’s Frame Story a. The frame is as important as… b. pilgrims are a cross section of med- ieval life

9. The Canterbury Pilgrims—Representing All of Us on the Great Journey, Telling Stories (engraving by William Blake)

10. 3. The Canterbury Tales b. The Art of the Canterbury Tales 1. Beautiful verse 2. Curious detachment 3. Double vision (sees the paradox of life—no illusions, but no simple judgements The travelers at the Tabard Inn

11. 4. The Prologue a. Characters as types b. Rich detail c. Allegorical level of the pilgrims and their journey

12. 5. The Pardoner’s Tale a. What was a pardoner? 1. 2. b. Chaucer’s Pardoner –a complete fraud 1. pardons 2. relics

13. 6. The Miller’s Tale a. What is a miller? b. The genre—fablieau c. Two stock plots

14. 7. The Reeve’s Tale a. Response to the Miller b. What is a reeve? c. The unity of the tale’s theme with the frame’s theme

15. 8. The Wife of Bath’s Tale

16. a. The Character of the Wife of Bath (what’s Bath?) 1. archetypal (Venus and Mars) 2. married five times (nos. 1, 2, and 3— elderly and dominated) no. 4—cheated, but she brought him back by pretending her own affair

17. 8. Wife of Bath’s Tale (continued) no. 5—the only one she truly loved (he was young), and he made her the most miserable 3. worldly, honest, plain-spoken, sexual (uses it for pleasure and for power) 4. Fifth marriage (to Jankin) mirrors the marriage in the tale

18. 8. Wife of Bath b. The Tale 1. the tale mirrors the pilgrim 2. medieval romance 3. character of the knight (all men)--ugly

19. 8. Wife of Bath’s Tale 3. character of the knight (all men)--ugly no honor no respect no gratitude no courage snobbish thinks only of self

20. 8. Wife of Bath’s Tale 4. character of the old woman *reflection of the Wife *rebukes knight’s *Knight’s three way snobbery: 5. Main theme of the Tale 6. The Fairy Tale Aspect

21. C. Conclusion What makes Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales great? 1. the scope of his vision and achievement 2. the allegory of the travelers 3. Chaucer’s humanity