Introduction to Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales

Medieval Context - worldview

• Physical universe: created by God for man. Understandable.• The Ptolemaic system: cosmological model (Egyptian astronomer

Ptolemy), 9 concentric transparent crystal spheres with Earth at centre. God controlled clock-like mechanism with Heaven outside.

• Great Chain of Being: hierarchical order of God – Angels – Man – Animals – Plants – Inanimate matter. Duty to obey. Fall of man entailed fundamental violation to Chain.

• Hierarchies within these groups: (secular) King – Nobility – Professionals – Tradespeople – Peasants. Different for ecclesiastical.

• 3 estates model: those who fought, those who prayed and those who laboured – basis of feudal society.

• Medieval women: virgin, wife, widow (whore?)• Shifting in these estates during Chaucer’s time.

Medieval Context - social

• The Black Death (1348-49): early in Chaucer’s life. Approx. 40% of England’s population died.

• The Peasants’ Revolt (1381): rebellion caused by increased taxation. Demonstrated change in social hierarchy.

• Language: English re-emerged as official language of court and law (from French). Reflected in Chaucer’s choice of English for all his major works.

• The Church: subject to upheaval. 1378 – Great Schism, election of two popes (Italian and French) – questioned authority of absolute power.

• Wycliffe (1328 – 84): reformer, encouraged individual examination of Bible. Led to heretical movement, Lollardy.

Medieval Context - beliefs

• The seven deadly sins: pride, envy, wrath, sloth, avarice, gluttony, lust.

• The four humours: Earth (Melancholy), Air (Blood), Fire (Choler), Water (Phlegm).

Pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral

• Site of the ‘martyrdom’ of Thomas a Becket, slain by men of Henry II in 1170 (conflict over church v. state authority).

• Miracles were said to occur at the shrine of Thomas a Becket, leading to it becoming a pilgrimage destination.

• Pilgrimages were often inexpensive, and even the poor partook (paid by a village whip-round).

• Pilgrimages were recommended as penance following the confession of sin (along with other monetary methods of penance.

• Often religious aspect was incidental – pilgrimages were a social opportunity, where people of all classes and professions could meet.

• Pilgrimage would take a considerable amount of time (57 miles) by horseback. Pilgrims would rest in religious houses or inns on the way, leading to some rather “un-Christian” behaviour…

Illustration from Lydgate’s additions to The Canterbury Tales

Chaucer’s Career

Chaucer's political career

• Diplomatic service • 1367: first royal mission abroad • 1372-'73, 1378: missions to Italy

• Royal Functionary • 1374: appointed to Customhouse • 1376-'77: on "king's secret business" in France • 1381: royal marriage negotiations in France • 1385-'86: member of peace commission in Kent • 1386: end of Customs post; elected "Knight of Shire"

from Kent • 1393-'98: favour of Richard II• Richard II deposed, accession of Henry IV; Chaucer's grants

renewed and increased

Chaucer reading a manuscript of his work at the court of

Richard II.

The audience for Chaucer’s CT included royalty, nobles, churchmen (men and women), and increasingly, literate merchants and middle class scholars.

The ‘frame narrative’ to CT

• 40 pilgrim storytellers were planned, each telling two tales (one on the way and one returning from Canterbury).

• Tellers are derived from all ranks of society, and there is a balance of male and female tellers, eg. Friar, Merchant, Cook, Prioress, Knight … They are argued to be written in ‘moral’ order.

• Chaucer died without completing his work - 29 tales exist in full/draft framework, in itself a remarkable achievement.

Why so many ‘tales’?

• Harry Bailey, the host of the Tabard Inn in Southwark, London (from where the pilgrims set out on their journey to Canterbury), proposes a competition to keep the pilgrims entertained on their way to and from Becket’s shrine.

• He offers the prize for the best tale - a meal, paid for by the other pilgrims.

The General Prologue• Chaucer wrote a brief satirical introduction or ‘Portrait’ to each of the

pilgrims (compiled in the GP). Each portrait describes the pilgrim’s physical appearance, key character traits, and some background history.

• The portraits give The Canterbury Tales their striking sense of realism, as if the tellers are ‘real people’ and only their tales are the fiction.

• Critics have long debated the relationship between tale and teller – did Chaucer intend the tale to tell us something of the teller? Should what we know of their character from the GP influence the meaning of their tale?

• The complete tales were written up as fragments of manuscript, with conversations and disputes between pilgrims interspersed throughout the whole collection (The Canterbury Tales is considered dramatic in its form)

• The Ellesmere manuscript (oldest surviving c. 1400) included an artistic portrait of each pilgrim.

‘Layers’ of narration (always have these in your head):

TALE

PROLOGUE

PILGRIM INTERACTION

PORTRAITS

CHAUCER THE PILGRIM

+ CHAUCER THE POET

Chaucer the writer

• ‘the father of English poetry’ (Dryden)• Realistic characters and themes• Iambic pentameter and rhyming couplet (natural

speech) in Middle English• Also wrote Troilus and Criseyde (love poem)• Widely read, including European works (Boccaccio

and Petrarch).• Two other major English writers at the time –

William Langland and the Gawain poet.• Rhetoric, exempla, formal vocab., blasphemy,

humour (parody, bawdiness), irony

The Gothic Element

• A2 exam = Gothic • Just The Pardoner’s Tale (although we will cover

prologue and portrait)• 30% of total A Level• Equal weighting of AOs• Closed book• 2 hours – 2 sections• A = text specific question• B = comparing an aspect of the Gothic across at least

three texts• You must write about one 1300-1800 text

The Gothic ElementExample questions:A.Discuss the view that The Pardoner’s Tale effectively combines the macabre with a sermon on avarice.

Discuss the view that, as a medieval text, The Pardoner’s Tale cannot be properly described as Gothic. B. Gothic texts show the supernatural intertwined with the ordinary. Discuss this view in relation to the texts you have been studying. Gothic literature is concerned with the breaking of normal moral and social codes. Discuss.

If a text is to be labelled as Gothic, it must convey a sense of fear and terror. Discuss this view in relation to the texts you have been studying.

The Gothic Element

Task 1

In groups of 2 or 3, quickly come up with as many Gothic terms as you can think of …

write them on the board around this slide.

The Pardoner’s Tale + Gothic

Task 2

Link these Gothic terms to The Pardoner’s Tale – having read the text in translation, what would you explore in an exam response?

The Pardoner’s Tale + Gothic

• The macabre – emphasis upon death

• The old man - strangeness

• Bodily corruption

• The supernatural

• Personification of death

• Attractiveness of evil

Medieval Tomb