In the prologue, Chaucer introduces a long list of pilgrims who will be travelling to Canterbury together from London. Very different people will share days and nights and stories, as they decide to avoid boredom explaining tales. All kind of men and women, rich and poor, good and bad, literate and analphabet, from the city and the countryside, religious and warriors, merchants and peasants… a wide range of representatives from medieval society come to meet us in one of the most important texts of English literature.
Hi!
I’m going to write a summary about the prologue, but it’s really a description about the characters.
In April, when the good weather comes, the people want to go on pilgrimages.
One day Geoffrey Chaucer was staying in London at The Tabard Inn, and he saw a group of pilgrims that were going to go to Canterbury. There was all kind of people:
There was a Knight. He is a brave man who had fought for chivalry, truth and honor. Although he was a famous man, he was modest, sincere and polite.
He rode a horse and he was going on the pilgrimage to thank God for his victories.
The Knight’s son was a Squire (a young man who served a knight) and rode with him.
He was a handsome young man and all the girls loved him.
There was also a Countryman riding with him.
Then there was an elegant Prioress (like a nun), her name was Madam Eglantine. She had very good manners and gave good food to her dogs, but did she give any to the poor people?
There was another nun, a secretary, three priests, a rich monk, a merry Friar who loved pretty girls and drinking better than praying, a rich Merchant and a Oxford Cleric who preferred books than money and a Franklin (a land-owner).
After them, there was a good Cook, a Sea-captain who looked like a pirate and a doctor.
Then there was the wife of Bath, who has had lots of husbands, enough to become rich and pay all the pilgrimages she has done.
There was a Miller as well. He loved drinking and telling jokes, and knew how to play the bagpipes.
There was a Parson that loved God and helped poor people, but behind him there were two bad men. One was a Summoner. His job was to punish people who broke the religious laws. The other man was the Pardoner. His job was to forgive people, but those that gave him money, in name of the church.
So all this pilgrims and others began their journey, but before they left, the Host gave them an idea: everyone must tell a story on the way to canterbury, and another one on the way back.
And with this idea, the knight become the first teller.
Hope it’s useful!
María!!
THANKS MARIA, SURELY IT WILL BE HELPFUL!