The Canterbury TalesBackground information on the Middle Ages

Canterbury Tales

Written by Geoffrey Chaucer (born about 1342)

Insight into all walks of life during the Middle Ages

Wanted to educate the masses on the corruption in the Church

Frame (story within a story) Tale Usually satirical

Satire Literary technique in which behaviors or

institutions are ridiculed for the purpose of improving society.

What sets satire apart from other forms of social and political protest is HUMOR.

Satirists use irony and exaggeration to poke fun at human faults and foolishness in order to correct human behavior

Common Satirical Targets Wealthy

Greed

Politics

Vanity

Writers

Stupidity

Vanity

Hypocrisy

Corruption

Arrogance

Pursuits of idle wealthy

Irony Verbal and situational irony are often used for

emphasis in the assertion of a truth.

Situational- character/reader expects one thing, but something else happens

Verbal- when a writer/character expects one thing, but means another

TECHNIQUES: hyperbole, understatement, sarcasm

Canterbury Tales

Story begins in the Spring at Tabard Inn Pilgrims on a voyage to the Shrine of Thomas

Becket (martyr) Each pilgrims tells 2 tales on the way and two

tales back Host will judge stories

Pilgrims

The narrator

Knight Squire Wife Of bath The Pardoner

The Miller The Prioress The monk The friar The Yeoman

Chaucer’s England Social Structure

Society was divided into 3 states: clergy, aristocracy, and the commons

Positions in the hierarchy were well defined

Clergy - responsible for people’s spiritual well-being

Aristocracy - responsible for defending the nation through military might.

Commons - laborers and producers

Feudal System

Included aristocrats and commoners

King owned all the land in the country

King granted land holdings to aristocratic tenants in exchange for military support

Aristocrats would grant land holdings to commoners in exchange for labor services that would allow the lord to cultivate and maintain the land

Clergy (1.5 %)No one was born into the clergy

Regular clergy: (monks and friars) the regular clergy were male and were sworn to a life of celibacy and poverty

Secular clergy: parish priests (parsons) and clerics. Nuns didn’t have the same rights as the male clergy The clergy were expected to take vows of:

Poverty Chastity Obedience

Aristocracy (1%) Warrior class or those descended from the

warrior class.

Titled nobility: dukes, counts, barons

Knights: lacked hereditary titles. Less than 1,000 in Chaucer’s England. A burdensome rank.

Squires: the backbone of the English and French armies. Moderate landowners and men of gentle birth who were not knighted.

The Commons (97%) Most of England’s Population lived in the country

side People in the commons were loosely ranked

according to how much land they had Franklins/Yeoman (freemen who had more

then 50 acres) Husbandmen/Cotters (free or servile men

who held 10 to 40 acres) At the bottom of rural society were those who

held no land and were dependent upon their earnings as laborers (plowmen, herdsmen, etc)

Religion

Being apart of society in the middle ages meant being apart of the church

Catholic Church- official church

All Christians in that part of the World were under the authority of the pope

Compare and Contrast

How was the society during the middle ages different from our modern-day society?

Religion Types of jobs politics

Thomas Beckett archbishop of Canterbury by King Henry II King Henry hoped that Thomas would side with

him over the pope The King’s plan backfired and Thomas ended up

taking the side of the Church/pope over the King Murdered in 1170 Was idolized as both Saint and martyr The Shrine of Saint Thomas of Beckett became a

popular destination for religious pilgrimages during the Middle Ages

Crusades

Occurred during the the 11th,12th, and 13th centuries

A series of military campaigns called by the Pope

GOAL of the crusades: to restore Christian control of the Holy Land

Crusades had an enormous influence in Europe during the Middle Ages

Effects of Crusades Political: helped undermine feudalism Social: allowed for romantic adventure

(Chivalry) Commerce/trade: opened up trade

throughout Europe and created a constants demand for the transportation of both men and supplies

Catholic Church: increased the wealth of the Catholic church and the power of the Papacy.

Chivalry Chivalry- system of ideals and behavior that

governed both knight and gentleman Included things such as:

oath of loyalty to overlord rules of of warfare adoration of a particular lady (not necessarily

one’s wife) Courtly Love- Belief that acting in the name of

a lady would help a knight be more brave and successful

Review What was Chaucer’s purpose for writing the Canterbury Tales?

Which LITERARY device does Chaucer primarily use to get his point across?

What makes satire different from other forms of political or social protest?

Who was more powerful, the king or the pope?

Where are the pilgrims going?

Why was St. Thomas of Beckett murdered?