0
Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century. Some of these stories include Troilus and Criseyde, House of Fame, and Parliament of Fowls.
966 Questions
What is this stuff about the humor of hot or cold of moist or dry in Canterbury Tales by the doctor?
It means that the doctor treats his patients using medieval ideas about a balance of the four humors (or fluids) in the body. It used to be believed that illnesses were caused by an improper balance of the four fluids.
What is wife of bath position on the clergy?
The Wife of Bath criticizes the clergy in "The Canterbury Tales" as hypocritical, greedy, and corrupt. She believes they do not practice what they preach and are more concerned with accumulating wealth and power than with serving God.
Who is the pilgrim described as an epicurean who lives for pleasure in Canterbury Tales?
The pilgrim described as an epicurean who lives for pleasure in the Canterbury Tales is the Franklin. He is depicted as a wealthy landowner who enjoys the finer things in life, including food and wine.
Which character in the pardoners tale shows the most courtliness?
In "The Pardoner's Tale," the knight shows the most courtliness. He is described as noble, brave, and honorable, and his actions align with the ideals of chivalry and courtesy towards others.
What is the moral of the Friar's Tale in The Canterbury Tales?
The moral of the Friar's Tale in The Canterbury Tales is that greed and deception lead to downfall. The tale shows how a corrupt summoner faces punishment for his unethical practices, serving as a cautionary tale about the consequences of dishonesty and avarice.
What is the tabard inn in Canterbury Tales?
The Tabard Inn is the starting point for the pilgrimage in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales." It is where the narrator meets the other pilgrims and where the Host suggests they tell stories on their journey to Canterbury. The inn serves as the setting for the frame narrative of the collection.
Why is the knight on pilgrimage?
A common reason was to cleanse their soul. Pilgrimages to the Holy Lands "guaranteed" redemption. Many soldiers had no choice. Their lord/king sent them, and they had to go.
What characters are in the centerbury tales?
Some of the main characters in "The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer include the narrator, the Host, the Knight, the Wife of Bath, the Pardoner, the Miller, and the Prioress. Each character represents a different social class and tells a unique story during their pilgrimage to Canterbury.
Why aren't The Canterbury Tales in french or latin?
Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales in Middle English, as it was the common language of the time in England. Translating the work into French or Latin would alter its linguistic characteristics and cultural nuances, potentially diminishing its original impact and poetic beauty.
Who came up with the idea of telling stories in Canterbury Tales?
Geoffrey Chaucer, an English poet and author, is credited with coming up with the idea of telling stories in "The Canterbury Tales". The collection of stories is set within a framing narrative of a group of pilgrims traveling to Canterbury, each sharing a tale as part of a storytelling competition.
How was Oxford Cleric dressed in Canterbury Tales?
clerk was the one who knew pretty much all about secular stuff. in the book the without described as a well -educated man also having good renown he teaches,preaches,and devout himself greatly.
What does the narrator mean when he states I think he was a gelding or a mare. in Pardoner's Tale.?
The narrator is suggesting that the Pardoner from Chaucer's "The Pardoner's Tale" could have been a eunuch or a female horse, highlighting the Pardoner's effeminate or emasculated characteristics. This comment underscores the Pardoner's ambiguity and deceitfulness.
Did Chanticleer agree with Pertelote and with Cato?
Chanticleer disagreed with Pertelote's dismissal of dreams as meaningless, as he believed his dream was a warning. He also disagreed with Cato's advice, choosing not to flee but rather to confront the danger head-on. Ultimately, Chanticleer's actions aligned more with Cato, as he faced the fox bravely despite his earlier fear.
The knight's response to the old woman, choosing to let her make the decision for herself, shows that he has learned to respect women's autonomy and agency. He realizes that forcing his own preferences on her would not be the right way to treat a woman, understanding that true love involves mutual respect and consideration.
What does The Pardoner's Tale suggest about the Pardoner?
In the Canterbury Tales, the story the Pardoner suggests that the reason that the Pardoner is so forthcoming with information because he has been drinking.
What is the morality for the Manciple's in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales?
The first moral lesson is not to act recklessly
The second is never tell a man that his wife is sleeping with another man because he will hate you for it.
The third is to always think before you speak
The forth is that once you've said something you cannot take it back and you must accept the consequence
"Keep well thy tonge, and thenk on the Crowe"
What pilgrims does Chaucer despise?
Chaucer's character in "The Canterbury Tales," the Pardoner, is depicted as deceitful and hypocritical, prompting readers to view him with disdain. However, it is important to note that Chaucer himself does not explicitly despise any specific pilgrims in the text.
What was the significance of the nuns brooch in Canterbury Tales?
The brooch says Love Conquers All. In Chaucer's depiction of the nun he strives for the reader to recognize the irony of the character. For instance, he mocks her singing by noting it is threw the nose. He also suggests that her French is a bane attempt at impressing others because it was learned in London. Furthermore, the nun's feeding of the dogs is shameful because at the time being there was a multitude of starving children. Hence, the simple fact that the nun owns a gold brooch is eye-raising. The nun's were meant to not live lavish lives. Furthermore, what interest should a nun have in love. Her duty is to god.
What is the terrible news at the beginning of the pardoners tale?
The terrible news at the beginning of "The Pardoner's Tale" is the death of a young man due to excessive drinking, gambling, and revelry. His friends go in search of Death to avenge his death, but they encounter a different fate.
What event or circumstances causes the characters to gather in the story of the Canterbury Tales?
In April, with the beginning of spring, people of varying social classes come from all over England to gather at the Tabard Inn in preparation for a pilgrimage to Canterbury to receive the blessings of St. Thomas à Becket, the English martyr.
How does Chaucer portray the 14 century life in the prologue?
Chaucer portrays 14th century life in "The Canterbury Tales" through the descriptions and interactions of the diverse group of pilgrims. He provides a snapshot of different social classes, occupations, and personalities, offering insights into the societal norms, values, and challenges of the time. Through their stories on the pilgrimage, Chaucer captures the various aspects of medieval life, including love, religion, class dynamics, and humor.
Direct characterization of the Knight in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales describes him as a noble and distinguished figure who has participated in many battles. Indirect characterization reveals his humility and integrity through his modest attire and honorable actions.
Who was envy in The Canterbury Tales?
In "The Canterbury Tales," Envy is personified as one of the characters on the pilgrimage. Envy is described as having a malignant personality, being emaciated, and having a sallow complexion. The character of Envy serves as a symbol of the sin of envy and its destructive nature.
What are the social and religious conditions of English in the age of Chaucer?
THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS. POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS.Of the century and a half, from 1350 to 1500, which forms our third period, the most important part for literature was the first fifty years, which constitutes the age of Chaucer.
The middle of the fourteenth century was also the middle of the externally brilliant fifty years' reign of Edward III. In 1337 Edward had begun the terrible though often-interrupted series of campaigns in France which historians group together as the Hundred Tears' War, and having won the battle of Crecy against amazing odds, he had inaugurated at his court a period of splendor and luxury. The country as a whole was really increasing in prosperity; Edward was fostering trade, and the towns and some of the town-merchants were becoming wealthy; but the oppressiveness of the feudal system, now becoming outgrown, was apparent, abuses in society and state and church were almost intolerable, and the spirit which was to create our modern age, beginning already in Italy to move toward the Renaissance, was felt in faint stirrings even so far to the North as England.
The towns, indeed, were achieving their freedom. Thanks to compact organization, they were loosening the bonds of their dependence on the lords or bishops to whom most of them paid taxes; and the alliance of their representatives with the knights of the shire (country gentlemen) in the House of Commons, now a separate division of Parliament, was laying the foundation of the political power of the whole middle class. But the feudal system continued to rest cruelly on the peasants. Still bound, most of them, to the soil, as serfs of the land or tenants with definite and heavy obligations of service, living in dark and filthy hovels under indescribably unhealthy conditions, earning a wretched subsistence by ceaseless labor, and almost altogether at the mercy of masters who regarded them as scarcely better than beasts, their lot was indeed pitiable. Nevertheless their spirit was not broken nor their state so hopeless as it seemed. It was by the archers of the class of yeomen (small free-holders), men akin in origin and interests to the peasants, that the victories in the French wars were won, and the knowledge that this was so created in the peasants an increased self-respect and an increased dissatisfaction. Their groping efforts to better their condition received strong stimulus also from the ravages of the terrible Black Death, a pestilence which, sweeping off at its first visitation, in 1348, at least half the population, and on two later recurrences only smaller proportions, led to a scarcity of laborers and added strength to their demand for commutation of personal services by money-payments and for higher wages. This demand was met by the ruling classes with sternly repressive measures, and the socialistic Peasants' Revolt of John Ball and Wat Tyler in 1381 was violently crushed out in blood, but it expressed a great human cry for justice which could not permanently be denied.
Hand in hand with the State and its institutions, in this period as before, stood the Church. Holding in the theoretical belief of almost every one the absolute power of all men's salvation or spiritual death, monopolizing almost all learning and education, the Church exercised in the spiritual sphere, and to no small extent in the temporal, a despotic tyranny, a tyranny employed sometimes for good, sometimes for evil. As the only even partially democratic institution of the age it attracted to itself the most ambitious and able men of all classes. Though social and personal influence were powerful within its doors, as always in all human organizations, nevertheless the son of a serf for whom there was no other means of escape from his servitude might steal to the nearest monastery and there, gaining his freedom by a few months of concealment, might hope, if he proved his ability, to rise to the highest position, to become abbot, bishop or perhaps even Pope. Within the Church were many sincere and able men unselfishly devoting their lives to the service of their fellows; but the moral tone of the organization as a whole had suffered from its worldly prosperity and power. In its numerous secular lordships and monastic orders it had become possessor of more than half the land in England, a proportion constantly increased through the legacies left by religious-minded persons for their souls' salvation; but from its vast income, several times greater than that of the Crown, it paid no taxes, and owing allegiance only to the Pope it was in effect a foreign power, sometimes openly hostile to the national government. The monasteries, though still performing important public functions as centers of education, charity, and hospitality, had relaxed their discipline, and the lives of the monks were often scandalous. The Dominican and Franciscan friars, also, who had come to England in the thirteenth century, soon after the foundation of their orders in Italy, and who had been full at first of passionate zeal for the spiritual and physical welfare of the poor, had now departed widely from their early character and become selfish, luxurious, ignorant, and unprincipled. Much the same was true of the 'secular' clergy (those not members of monastic orders, corresponding to the entire clergy of Protestant churches). Then there were such unworthy charlatans as the pardoners and professional pilgrims, traveling everywhere under special privileges and fleecing the credulous of their money with fraudulent relics and preposterous stories of edifying adventure. All this corruption was clear enough to every intelligent person, and we shall find it an object of constant satire by the authors of the age, but it was too firmly established to be easily or quickly rooted out.
Who is the evil enemy in The Wife of Baths Tale?
The Canterbury Tales is a fictional account in a historical setting about pilgrims who tell stories on their way to a cathedral shrine. A tavern owner acts as their tour guide. The pilgrims' stories are in various genres, including chivalric romance, Arthurian romance, satire, beast fable, fabliau, and exemplum (an exhortation on morals and religion.) The Canterbury Tales opens with a general prologue introducing the storytellers after they gather at an inn. It continues the next morning. The pilgrims tell their tales to pass the time while journeying to Canterbury, about fifty-six miles southeast of London, to visit the shrine of Thomas à Becket, a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. In prologues between the tales, the travelers comment on a tale just completed or introduce a story about to be told. Sometimes they also make general observations.
