The Canterbury Tales

1. The Canterbury Tales By Geoffrey Chaucer

2. English in Transition • The first example of the Middle English vernacular used in a lengthy, ambitious literary effort • Chaucer was a contemporary of the Pearl Poet; however, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written in a Northwest Midlands dialect, not the London dialect of The Canterbury Tales

3. Middle English • Between the high (late 12th Century) and late (late 15thCentury) Middle Ages • Became important as a literary language in the late 14th century with poets such as Geoffrey Chaucer and others

4. The Historical Transition • Norman Conquest of 1066 • Top political and ecclesiastic hierarchies were replaced with Normans • French became the language of literacy • Added the lexicon of chivalry, feudalism, and crusading

5. Additions and Modifications to the Lexicon Old English (Anglo Saxon) Middle English Pork Poultry Forest Mansion Honourable liberty • Pig • Chicken • Wood • House • Worthy • freedom

6. Listen to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE0MtENfOMU

7. The Canterbury Tales • Chaucer pioneered “heroic verse” = consecutive rhymed couplets of iambic pentameter (aa, bb, cc, etc.) • Heroic verse becomes a commonly used form for English epic and narrative poetry

8. Chaucer creates a “frame story” of 29 pilgrims from differing socio-political echelons completing a pilgrimage from London to Canterbury = a 14th Century reality TV show! • The pilgrims compete for the best tale, each telling a tale to and from the pilgrimage site • This structure allows him to embed social and political commentary

9. Socio-Political Commentary • Chaucer satirizes the “five estates”: aristocrats, clergy, intellectuals, the middle class, peasantry • The character of the Wife of Bath allows him to satirize the “feminine estates”: virgin, wife, and widow • “Alisoun” is a middle-class, far-from-virgin figure, several times a wife and widow

10. The Wife of Bath • Represents the Battle of the Sexes • A figure of the declining matriarchy • A victim of spousal abuse • A lusty character who uses men for their wealth and gives back what she gets in kind • A weaver by trade!

12. “The Marriage of Sir Gawain” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” • What are the significant narrative differences? • How do these differences betray the decline of Gawain?