The Canterbury Tales Flashcards
How many pilgrams are there?
29.
Where are they travelling to? (Where does the story take place?)
Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury.
Name seven characters.
Knight, Cook, Friar, Monk, Squire, Yeoman, Shipman.
What do the stories reflect?
The stories reflect the concerns sparked by the social upheavals of late medieval England.
Who is the narrator?
He is anonymus, a naive member of the pilgrims.
Talk about the pointof View in the stories.
The narrator speaks in first person view, and the story tellers speak in a third person view.
Talk about the tone of the tales.
The tales are satirical, comical, earthy, bawdy, pious.
When does the story play? (time)
In the late 14th centuries, after 1381.
What is the major conflict in the tales?
The struggle between characters, mostly involving clashes between social classes, differing tastes and competing professions.
What is the rising action in the tales?
The narrator encounters a group of pilgrims, and joins them. Later in the night he presents them with a tale telling competiton.
What is the climax in the tales?
There is no climax, since there are multiple tales told.
What is the falling action in the tales?
After 23 tales have been told, the Parson delivers a long sermen. Then the Chauver asks to be forgiven for his sins, which include writing the Canterbury Tales.
Themes in The Canterbury Tales.
The pervasuenessof courtly love, the importance of company, the corruption of the church.
What are some motifs in the tales?
Romance (was a popular literary genre in theth century literature) and Fabliaux (comical, often grotesque stories in which the characters most often succeed due to their sharp wits).
Symbols in the tales.
Springtime, clothing (helps define each character), physiognomy (science that judged a persons temperament basedon their anatomy).
