Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

The language of Chaucer

After Chaucer had retired about 1390 he began working on the Canterbury Tales: his innovation was that he wanted to create an English poetry that would be accessible to everybody. Until then most of literature was either written in French, the official language, or in Latin, the clerical language. Chaucer wrote his Canterbury Tales in Middle Enlish, which was what people spoke in and around London in his days. This vernacular language was also used by Dante and Boccaccio, who wrote in Italian vernacular.

Middle English is very close to Old English, the language of the Anglo-Saxons, and Norman French, the language of William the Conqueror. Nevertheless students often read the original also because of the language’s beauty and humor of the poetry, which would be lost in translation.

When the language changed in 1400 it was not until the 18 ^th century that Chaucer’s metrical technique was appriciated. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales were a great success and the first major secular work that was printed in 1478 after this technique was introduced by Caxton in England.

As John Dryden says:

“…he is the father of English poetry, I hold him in the same degree of veneration as the Grecians held Homer, or the Romans Vigil. […] he has taken into the compass of his Canterbury Tales the various manners and humors […] of the whole English nation in his age. Not a single character has escaped him…” http://ccsun7.sogang.ac.kr (06.05.2005)

Structure

The Canterbury Tales are structured as a frame narrative. The General Prologue mainly builds the frame where all the characters are introduced and the story-telling competition was invented.

Its structure is very simple. After an introduction in lines 1-34, the narrator begins the series of portraits (lines 35-719). Afterwards the Host

suggests the tale-telling contest which is then accepted by the pilgrims (lines 720-821). In the following the pilgrims gather and decide that the Knight should tell the first story.

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The frame in which the story is embedded has a long tradition. Boccaccio’s “Decamerone” was for example written in this style and Chaucer read it when visiting Italy.

Originally Chaucer wanted each of the pilgrims to tell two stories on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back. This would have led to 120 single stories, but he never finished this enormous work. In fact there are only 23 tales, some of which are even incomplete.

Although there is an uncertainty about the order of the tales there is a simple structure that almost all versions have in common:

Fragment I

General Prologue, Knight, Miller, Reeve, Cook Fragment II Man of Law Fragement III Wife of Bath, Friar, Summoner Fragment IV Clerk, Merchant Fragment V Squire, Franklin Fragment VI Physician, Pardoner Fragment VII

Shipman, Prioress, Chaucer: Sir Thopas, Melibee, Monk, Nun’s Priest Fragment VIII Second Nun, Canon’s Yeoman Fragment IX Manciple Fragment X Parson

As mentioned before the structure varies in the different manuscripts but I, II, VI, VII and X are almost always found in this order.

Regarding the structure one could say that the Canterbury Tales is a kind of Human Comedy. This thesis can be confirmed in that way that the Canterbury Tales is a

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cultural answer to Dante’s “La Divina Commedia”. The pilgrims are dramatis personae and their stories simply entertaining speeches, because they show the speakers’ characters and their relation between each other. Therefore it is also necessary to ask wheather the tales are not only influenced by the speaker himself but also by the situation in which the story is told and the interactions between the pilgrims. The narrative forms of the tales are very mixed and include a variety of medieval genres. There are for example knightly romances, saint’s legends, fablioux, prayers and animal allegories. Through these different forms it is stressed that the tales highlight individual consciousness and experience as against received authority.

Characterization techniques

The characters in the Canterbury Tales are often typicalized and idealized. On the other hand they are described in a very realistic way. Another aspect is the psychological characterization, which is based on physiology. Chaucer equals for example physicall unattractiveness with morally uglyness. Also does he make use of the character’s professions. A miller was is those times always said to be stealing corn which Chaucer used to characterize the miller. The same technique is used for the merchant, who is in this story corrupt, like merchants were said to be in Chaucer’s time.

Although each Tale has its own style it does not fully reflect the narrator’s character. Nevertheless the Tales are mostly constructed suitable to the teller. Especially the Knight’s Tale, which is a romantic royal one, matches well with his noble character.

Characters

The pilgrims come from all layers of society and therefore the whole Tales show a range of individualized portraits, which make it very lively. The social rise of the middle class in the 14 ^th century is reflected in Chaucer’s choice of the characters which mainly are from this class as for example the cook, carpenter, miller, priest, prioress, pardoner, lawyer, merchant and clerk. As Chaucer was very interested in realism he described all the individual differences and foibles of his characters. This range of people can be found in every period from Chaucer’s own until today. In the following text I would like to explain and describe the main characters and their tales in detail.

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