English literature Canterbury Tales usefull tips for exam

 

THE CANTERBURY TALES 

When we study the literature we must understand the great writer Chaucer for his valuable work Canterbury Tales

 INTRODUCTION AND EXPLANATION: After study the work Chaucer's diction and historical context, it looks to develop a critique of society during his lifetime.it has many angles of society to get knowledge through his descriptions, his comments can appear complimentary in nature, but through clever language, the statements are ultimately critical of the pilgrim's actions. It is unclear whether Chaucer would have intention for the reader to connect his characters with actual persons. 

1.  The Canterbury Tales is Chaucer’s longest and best work, extending to 17,000 lines of verse and prose. It is the combination of both literary forms like poem and prose that show the greatness and versality of the author.
2.  The story opens with a general Prologue that describes the meeting of 31 pilgrims at the Bard Inn in South Wark, a suburb of London on the south side of the river Thames. 
3.  The characters in The Canterbury Tales were on a 60-mile, four-day trip to Canterbury Cathedral, to the shrine of Thomas Becket. 
4.  The host, Harry Bailey, told the travelers that they were to compete by telling stories. The prize was a supper at the Tabard Inn, to be paid for by all of the other travelers. 
5. . The general prologue, the beginning of the book, introduced all of the pilgrims except the Canon and the Yeoman. 
6. The characters and their tales were arranged as follows: Knight, Miller, Reeve (Estate Manager), Cook, Man of Law, Wife of Bath, Friar, Summoner; Clerk, Merchant; Squire, Franklin (landowner), Physician, Pardoner; Shipman, Prioress, Sir Thopas, Melbee, Monk, Nun’s Priest; Second Nun, Canon’s Yeoman; Manciple (Business Manager), and Parson. 
7. . Chaucer started the tales with a knight who was honorable and courteous to all, courageous in war, and who understood the religious significance of a pilgrimage. His son the Squire was a courtly lover who knew how to sing, dance, and joust. He was dressed in the latest fashion. His hair was “curled as if taken from a press” and he “blazed like a spring meadow to the sight.” Next, readers met the Prioress, Madame Eglantine, who spoke French with a perfect accent and was a perfect lady. Chaucer obviously loved this character, who had several little dogs. She was tender-hearted and had a small red mouth, a straight nose, blue eyes, and the high forehead that all the ladies desired to have. In her innocent heart, the church and the world existed comfortably side by side. The Miller had his bagpipes; the Monk had his hunting dogs; and the Wife of Bath wore a shady hat. 1064. The Knight’s Tale is the longest tale in The Canterbury Tales. 
8. . The Prioress Tale is the shortest tale in The Canterbury Tales. 
9. “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” was an example of a beast fable, in which animals behaved like human beings. 
10. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer described the friar as corrupt and hypocritical. 
11. The knight, among all the characters, was the noblest of the pilgrims. 
12. “The Monk’s Tale” expressed Chaucer’s scorn for disrespectful and unruly commoners. 
13.  The Pardoner was painted as the evilest of the pilgrims because he used the church and sacred objects for personal profit. 
14. The clergy on the whole were supposed to be closer to God, but often the contrary was true. 
15.  Priests were underpaid, so they were quick to sell their services. Offerings were expected for every service they performed, even for Communion. They also took bribes. 
16.  Franklin’s message about marriage is “Love creates success”. 
17.  Bonita M. Cox wrote in an essay on Chaucer, “He entertains, he informs, he instructs, and he makes us laugh—but in the final analysis he remains mysterious.”
18. . The most famous of these is “The Wife of Bath’s tale,” which engenders a debate on marriage that is joined by the Clerk, the Merchant and the Franklin. 
19. . John Dryden who exclaimed on Chaucer that “here is God’s plenty.” 
20. . “The Knight’s Tale” belongs to the genre of chivalric romance. 
21. “The miller’s tale,” a bawdy fabliau, narrates the attempts of two men, a student named Nicholas and a clerk named Absalom, to seduce Alison, the wife of a naive old carpenter. One of them, Nicholas, is successful. Absalom ends up kissing her behind and being farted on by Nicholas. 
22.  “The Pardoner’s tale,” in which three young rioters go out in search of Death, intending to kill him and thus put a stop to his ravages. They are distracted from their mission, however, when they find a large quantity of gold lying unattended in a field. They selfishly plot against each other to keep from having to divide the gold three ways, and, as a result, they all end up dead. 
23.  In “The shipman’s tale,” a merchant’s wife borrows money from a corrupt monk (John the Monk). The monk, who poses as a family friend, borrows the sum from the merchant and then gives it to the man’s wife (who is unaware of the money’s source) in exchange for sexual favors. When the monk tells the merchant he has repaid the loan by giving the money to his wife, she is unable to deny receiving it, but claims to have believed it was a gift. 
24. “The tale of melibee,” which relates the debate that takes place between Melibee and his wife, Prudence, over how he should respond to the men who broke into his house and attacked his family. 
25. “The manciple’s tale” is a story derived from Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
26. Churchmen of various kinds are represented by the Monk, the Prioress, the Nun's Priest, and the Second Nun. Monastic orders, which originated from a desire to follow an ascetic lifestyle separated from the world, had by Chaucer's time become increasingly entangled in worldly matters. Monasteries frequently controlled huge tracts of land on which they made significant sums of money, while peasants worked in their employ.   *******************************************************************