preview

Silgrim In The Canterbury Tales

Decent Essays

At the end of the 14th century, England’s first great poet, Geoffrey Chaucer assembled a collection of over twenty stories into the novel The Canterbury Tales. During the Hundred Years’ War, Chaucer composed these tales in Middle English. The Canterbury Tales is a collection of fictional stories presented by a group of English men and women as they travel along on a religious pilgrimage. The purpose of this trek was to seek the martyred saint’s blessings and to express thanks to the saint for helping them live through such harsh winter conditions. Throughout the “General Prologue,” Chaucer creates a challenge for the pilgrims as they embark on their expedition to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at the Canterbury Cathedral as a way to provide entertainment. For this tale-telling contest, each pilgrim would tell four tales: two on the way to the Canterbury Cathedral and two on the return home. Upon their return, the best storyteller would receive a free meal at the Tabard Inn, courtesy of the other pilgrims, as a reward. “The device of a springtime pilgrimage provided Chaucer with a diverse range of characters and experiences, with him being both a narrator and an observer” (123HelpMe). Chaucer gives vivid detail of each member of the pilgrimage in order to set a “frame” for the tales that follow. …show more content…

“Many of Chaucer’s characters end their stories by wishing the rest of the “compaignye,” or company, well” (SparkNotes). Friendships among knights were an incredibly important part of chivalry, the code of conduct that the knights were supposed to obey. Friendships between two knights that develop into rivalry play vital roles in many of the tales throughout this work. This can be seen in “The Knight’s Tale”, the “Miller’s tale”, and also the “Pardoner’s

Get Access