The conterbury tales

2.1 Canterbury tales
The Canterbury Tales, frame story by Geoffrey Chaucer, written in Middle English The framing device for the collection of stories is a pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury, Kent. The 30 pilgrims who undertake the journey gather at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, across the Thames from London. They agree to engage in a storytelling contest as they travel, and Harry Bailly, host of the Tabard, serves as master of ceremonies for the contest. Most of the pilgrims are introduced by vivid brief sketches in the “General Prologue.”[5;65] Interspersed between the 24 tales are short dramatic scenes (called links) presenting lively exchanges, usually involving the host and one or more of the pilgrims. Chaucer did not complete the full plan for his book: the return journey from Canterbury is not included, and some of the pilgrims do not tell stories.[5;43] The use of a pilgrimage as the framing device enabled Chaucer to bring together people from many walks of life: knight, prioress, monk; merchant, man of law, franklin, scholarly clerk; miller, reeve, pardoner; wife of Bath and many others. The multiplicity of social types, as well as the device of the storytelling contest itself, allowed presentation of a highly varied collection of literary genres:[3;45] religious legend, courtly romance, racy fabliau, saint’s life, allegorical tale, beast fable, medieval sermon, alchemical account, and, at times, mixtures of these genres. The stories and links together offer complex depictions of the pilgrims, while, at the same time, the tales present remarkable examples of short narratives in verse, plus two expositions in prose. The pilgrimage, which in medieval practice combined a fundamentally religious purpose with the secular benefit of a spring vacation, made possible extended consideration of the relationship between the pleasures and vices of this world and the spiritual aspirations for the next.[2;16] The Canterbury Tales consists of the General Prologue, The Knight’s Tale, The Miller’s Tale, The Reeve’s Tale, The Cook’s Tale, The Man of Law’s Tale, The Wife of Bath’s Tale, The Friar’s Tale, The Summoner’s Tale, The Clerk’s Tale, The Merchant’s Tale, The Squire’s Tale, The Franklin’s Tale, The Second Nun’s Tale, The Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale, The Physician’s Tale, The Pardoner’s Tale, The Shipman’s Tale, The Prioress’s Tale, The Tale of Sir Thopas, The Tale of Melibeus (in prose), The Monk’s Tale, The Nun’s Priest’s Tale, The Manciple’s Tale, and The Parson’s Tale (in prose), and ends with “Chaucer’s Retraction.” Not all the tales are complete; several contain their own prologues or epilogues literature, as opposed to French, Italian or Latin. English had, however, been. It has been suggested that the greatest contribution of The Canterbury Tales to English literature was the popularisation of the English vernacular in mainstream used as a literary language centuries before Chaucer's time, and several of Chaucer's contemporaries—John Gower, William Langland, the Pearl Poet, and Julian of Norwich—also wrote major literary works in English. It is unclear to what extent Chaucer was seminal in this evolution of literary preference The Canterbury Tales is generally thought to have been incomplete at the end of Chaucer's life. In the General Prologue, some 30 pilgrims are introduced. According to the Prologue, Chaucer's intention was to write four stories from the perspective of each pilgrim, two each on the way to and from their ultimate destination, St. Thomas Becket's shrine (making for a total of about 120 stories). Although perhaps incomplete, The Canterbury Tales is revered as one of the most important works in English literature.[5;45] The question of whether The Canterbury Tales is a finished work has not been answered to date. There are 84 manuscripts and four incunabula editions of the work, more than for any other vernacular English literary text with the exception of The Prick of Conscience.[6;87] This is taken as evidence of the Tales' popularity in the century after Chaucer's death. Fifty-five of these manuscripts are thought to have been originally complete, while 28 are so fragmentary that it is difficult to ascertain whether they were copied individually or as part of a set. The Tales vary in both minor and major ways from manuscript to manuscript; many of the minor variations are due to copyists' errors, while it is suggested that in other cases Chaucer both added to his work and revised it as it was being copied and possibly as it was being distributed.[6;76]
have been transcribed from Chaucer's working copy. Although this identification has been generally accepted, some scholars have expressed doubts. Even the oldest surviving manuscripts of the Tales are not Chaucer's originals. The very oldest is probably MS Peniarth 392 D (called "Hengwrt"), written by a scribe shortly after Chaucer's death. Another famous example is the Ellesmere Manuscript, a manuscript handwritten by one person with illustrations by several illustrators; the tales are put in an order that many later editors have followed for centuries.[5;54] The first version of The Canterbury Tales to be published in print was William Caxton's 1476 edition. Only 10 copies of this edition are known to exist, including one held by the British Library and one held by the Folger Shakespeare Library. In 2004, Linne Mooney claimed that she was able to identify the scrivener who worked for Chaucer as an Adam Pinkhurst.[4;54] Mooney, then a professor at the University of Maine and a visiting fellow at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, said she could match Pinkhurst's oath in the Scriveners' Common Paper to the handwriting in the Hengwrt manuscript, which she theorized might The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories built around a frame tale, a common and already long established genre in this period. Chaucer's Tales differs from most other story "collections" in this genre chiefly in its intense variation. Most story collections focused on a theme, usually a religious one. Even in the Decameron, storytellers are encouraged to stick to the theme decided on for the day.[4;54] The idea of a pilgrimage to get such a diverse collection of people together for literary purposes was also unprecedented, though "the association of pilgrims and storytelling was a familiar one". Introducing a competition among the tales encourages the reader to compare the tales in all their variety, and allows Chaucer to showcase the breadth of his skill in different genres and literary forms. describes not the tales to be told, but While the structure of the Tales is largely linear, with one story following another, it is also much more than that.[8;54] In the General Prologue, Chaucer the people who will tell them, making it clear that structure will depend on the characters rather than a general theme or moral. This idea is reinforced when the Miller interrupts to tell his tale after the Knight has finished his. Having the Knight go first gives one the idea that all will tell their stories by class, with the Monk following the Knight. However, the Miller's interruption makes it clear that this structure will be abandoned in favour of a free and open exchange of stories among all classes present. General themes and points of view arise as the characters tell their tales, which are responded to by other characters in their own tales, sometimes after a long lapse in which the theme has not been addressed.[665] Lastly, Chaucer does not pay much attention to the progress of the trip, to the time passing as the pilgrims travel, or to specific locations along the way to Canterbury. His writing of the story seems focused primarily on the stories being told, and not on the pilgrimage itself.[1;24] The poem opens with a grand description of springtime and nature stirring to life after the winter. This renewal inspires people to go on pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas Becket, aka St. Thomas Beckett at Canterbury, one of the most popular pilgrimages in medieval Britain. Chaucer-as-pilgrim is at the Tabard Inn at Southwark, about to set out alone on this pilgrimage, when the others arrive to spend the night.[8;32] He talks to them all at the communal dinner, and they invite him to travel with them. Their host, Harry Bailey, suggests they pass the time on the road with a story-telling contest. Each pilgrim will tell two stories on the way to Canterbury and two on the return; whoever tells the best story will win a free meal. The next morning, they all set off and the knight is chosen to speak first. The other pilgrims are either chosen by Harry Bailey (referred to as The Host) or insist on speaking next and interrupt whoever was chosen. Chaucer-the-poet gives Chaucer-the-pilgrim two of the worst tales and also makes fun of himself in the Prologue to the Man of Law's Tale in which he has the character complain that every tale he can think of has already been told, however poorly, by Chaucer.[19.76] Aside from the high literary standard of The Canterbury Tales, the work stands as a historical and sociological introduction to the life and times of the late Middle Ages. During Chaucer's time, regardless how brilliant and talented one might be, there was no way for a commoner to move from his the class into the aristocracy. Chaucer, however, made that leap as well as anyone could. As a commoner, he was familiar with and was accepted by lower classes as well as by the higher classes; thus, throughout his life, he was able to observe both the highest and the lowest, and his gifted mind made the best of these opportunities. Chaucer's genius at understanding basic human nature made him the great poet he was.[7;65] He knew the world from many aspects, and he loved most of his characters. The mature adult would find it difficult not to like such characters as The Wife of Bath, even with all her bawdiness, or the Miller with his vulgarity that amuses rather than offends sophisticated readers. Chaucer presents the world as he sees it, and he shares one quality with all great writers[4;54]: He is a delight to read. In the same way that The Canterbury Tales gives modern readers a sense of the language at the time, the book also gives a rich, intricate tapestry of medieval social life, combining elements of all classes, from nobles to workers, from priests and nuns to drunkards and thieves. The General Prologue alone provides a panoramic view of society that is not like any found elsewhere in all of literature. Students who are not particularly interested in medieval England can appreciate the author’s technique in capturing the variations of human temperament and behavior.[12;32] Collections of stories were common in Chaucer’s time, and some still exist today, but the genius of The Canterbury Tales is that the individual stories are presented in a continuing narrative, showing how all of the various pieces of life connect to one another. This entry does not cover all the tales, only some of the most studied.