The Middle Ages

and

The Canterbury

Tales

The Middle Ages

The Middle Ages

lasted from around

the end of the 5th

century (late 400’s)

to the 15th century

(1400’s),

approximately 1000

years.

The Middle Ages: Estate

System • 1st: Clergy

(those who

prayed)

• 2nd: Nobility

(those who

fought)

• 3rd: Peasantry

(those who

produced)

Estate System: Females?

•Virgin

•Wife

•Widow

Humours (Body Fluids) Blood Yellow Bile Phlegm Black Bile

air fire water earth

hot &

moist

hot & dry cold &

moist

cold & dry

sanguine choleric phlegmatic melancholic

amorous,

happy,

generous

violent,

vengeful

dull, pale,

cowardly

gluttonous,

lazy,

sentimental

Physigonomy physical

characteristic

physiognomic

interpretation

gap-teeth bold, sexual

ram-like strength

sow-like dirty

fox-like sly

goat-like lechery

thin bad temper,

irritable

flaring nostrils passion

pus-filled sores lechery,

drunkenness

high forehead intelligence, good

breeding

white neck loose, immoral

Chivalry and Courtly Love:

Ideal but Unreal • Chivalry-system of

ideals and social codes governing the behavior of knights and gentlewomen

• Rules of warfare: never attack an unarmed opponent

• Courtly Love: Adoring a lady (not necessarily one’s wife) was seen as a way to achieve self-improvement

Chivalry and Courtly Love:

Ideal but Unreal • Courtly Love: in its

ideal form, nonsexual

• Knight might wear his lady’s colors in battle, might glorify her in words and be inspired by her, but he couldn’t cross the boundary between courtly love and physical love

• Led to an idealized view of women, but did little to improve their actual position

Chivalry and Courtly Love:

Ideal but Unreal

Refer to handouts

Religion • Catholicism

• Pope

• Virgin Mary

• Indulgences

• Confessions

• Monks: obedience, chastity, poverty (self-sufficient)

• Friars (supported by donations)

• Nuns—women of the Church

St. Thomas a Becket

Thomas Becket was Archbishop of

Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in

1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr

by both the Catholic Church and the

Anglican Communion.

Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury

Tales is set in a company of

pilgrims on their way to a shrine for

St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury

Cathedral.

A pilgrim is a person who is on a

journey for religious reasons.

Bubonic Plague

• Killed 1/3 of Europe’s

population

• Medieval society never

recovered

• Labor shortages:

peasants grew unruly

and demanded higher

wages

• Caused people to

question religious

beliefs

• Apocalyptic view of life

(doomsday)

Geoffrey Chaucer • ~1343-1400

• Father of English poetry

• Made English (Middle English) acceptable

• Born into a middle-class family in London

• Father was a vintner (wine merchant): $ for education

Geoffrey Chaucer

• Well-known

government

official-served

under 3 kings

• Sent to Europe

as the king’s

ambassador

(spy?) to France

and Italy

Geoffrey Chaucer

• Chaucer the

poet

• Chaucer the

pilgrim

• Buried at

Westminster

Abbey in

Poet’s Corner

The Canterbury Tales

• Chaucer planned to write

120 tales

• He died in 1400, leaving

only 24 tales, some of

which were not finished

• The ones that were became

known as The Canterbury

Tales

• Video on Chaucer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxqAwT5IpL8

The Canterbury Tales

Study Packet

Literary Devices for

The Canterbury Tales

Couplet

Iambic Pentameter

Personification

Simile

Metaphor

Frame Story

Satire

Social Commentary

Exemplum

Moral

Irony

Literary Elements for

The Canterbury Tales

Write the definitions for the

literary elements in the chart in

your packet. We will fill in the

examples from the text later.

Couplets and Iambic Pentameter

The Canterbury

Tales is written in

couplets in iambic

pentameter.

Couplets and Iambic Pentameter

Couplet: sets of two lines that

rhyme

• Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote

The droghte of March hath perced to the roote

• When in April the sweet showers fall

And pierce the drought of March to the root, and all

Couplets and Iambic Pentameter

• Iamb: unstressed/stressed

syllable pattern:

• Pentameter: 5 iambs per line

• Iambic Pentameter: 10

syllable line with the

unstressed/stressed pattern

SIMILE

A figure of speech involving a comparison between unlike things using like, as, or as

though

EX."MY LOVE IS LIKE A RED, RED ROSE."

METAPHOR

A figure of speech involving a

comparison between unlike

things without using like, as,

or as though

EX."MY LOVE IS A RED, RED ROSE."

PERSONIFICATION

A figure of speech which gives

something non-human or inanimate

human qualities

EX. “THE TREES DANCED IN THE WIND.”

“THE SUN SMILED DOWN ON THE WEARY

TRAVELERS.”

FRAME STORY

A story that serves to

bind together several

different narratives

SATIRE Writing that ridicules the shortcomings of

people or institutions in an attempt to bring

about a change—often uses exaggeration or

humor to invite laughter at someone’s

expense.

Exs. of shortcomings—greed, injustice,

cruelty, stupidity, deceit, etc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M-KlV5cPUo

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M-

KlV5cPUo

SOCIAL COMMENTARY

A spoken or written act of

rebellion toward an individual or

group; commentary on social

issues or society

http://prezi.com/y1oywx_fheo8/chaucer-the-canterbury-tales-

social-commentary/

MORAL

A lesson about life or human

nature

(fables, parables, and satires

often contain morals)

http://www.umass.edu/aesop/fables.php

EXEMPLUM

An anecdote (a very,

very short story) that

teaches a moral or a

lesson– a fable is an

exemplum

IRONY

The difference between

what we expect or what

seems suitable or

appropriate and what

actually happens in a

story

Irony

irony

Irony

Irony

Irony

Irony

Irony

Irony

Irony

Irony

Irony THERE ARE 3 TYPES OF IRONY:

VERBAL IRONY

SITUATIONAL IRONY

DRAMATIC IRONY

TYPES OF IRONY

VERBAL IRONY

WHEN SOMEONE SAYS ONE THING BUT MEANS THE

OPPOSITE EX. SARCASM, DRY HUMOR

TYPES OF IRONY

TYPES OF IRONY

TYPES OF IRONY

TYPES OF IRONY

TYPES OF IRONY

SITUATIONAL IRONY

WHEN AN EVENT OCCURS THAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF OR

DIFFERENT FROM WHAT WE EXPECT TO HAPPEN

TYPES OF IRONY

SITUATIONAL IRONY

http://www.youtube.com/watch

?v=VigLgJEFP8w

TYPES OF IRONY

DRAMATIC IRONY

WHEN WE KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO A CHARACTER BUT THE CHARACTER DOES NOT

KNOW

TYPES OF IRONY

DRAMATIC IRONY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGikxIaOuNQ

SATIRE WRITING THAT RIDICULES THE SHORTCOMINGS OF PEOPLE OR

INSTITUTIONS IN AN ATTEMPT TO BRING ABOUT A CHANGE—OFTEN USES

EXAGGERATION OR HUMOR TO INVITE LAUGHTER AT SOMEONE’S EXPENSE.

EXS. OF SHORTCOMINGS—GREED, INJUSTICE, CRUELTY, STUPIDITY,

DECEIT, ETC.

“THE PROLOGUE” (pg. 119-120)

The Canterbury Tales Rap (General Prologue)--In Middle English

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E-0PaK4RtI

The Canterbury Tales Prologue in Middle English

(Listen to CD #2 Track 4)

“THE PROLOGUE”

Read the “Prologue”

(pgs. 122-142)

Canterbury Tales Prologue Summary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuX-gTpWsnI

Complete the

character chart for

The Canterbury

Tales.

“THE PROLOGUE”

Complete the “Prologue”

study guide questions and the

social commentary chart for

the “Prologue.”

“THE PARDONER’S TALE” (pgs. 146-153)

(background info on pg. 145)

• Irony

• Exemplum

• Moral

• Personification

Read

“THE PARDONER’S PROLOGUE” (PG. 146)

“THE PARDONER’S

TALE” (Pgs. 147-153)

Listen to CD #2 Track 6

“THE PARDONER’S TALE” (pg. 146-153)

Complete study guide questions

and social commentary chart for

“The Pardoner’s Tale.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR52GWgLuMk

“THE WIFE OF BATH’S

TALE” (pgs. 156-166)

Read the Prologue on pg. 156

“THE WIFE OF BATH’S

TALE” (pgs. 156-166)

Listen to CD #2 Track 7

“THE WIFE OF BATH’S

TALE” (pgs. 156-166)

Complete the study guide questions

and social commentary chart for

“The Wife of Bath’s Tale.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3cvOm7qStk

THE CANTERBURY TALES

“The Miller’s Tale”

and

“The Knight’s Tale”

are EXTRA CREDIT!!

THE CANTERBURY TALES

Episodes 1, 2, and 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3zUoNG_P_0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep6tvT3NQ_o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCq6117mYqg

THE CANTERBURY TALES

REVIEW FOR TEST

1. Literary Terms

2. Power Point Info

3. Character Sheet

4. Social Commentary Sheet

5. Study Guides

THE CANTERBURY TALES

TEST ON THE CANTERBURY TALES

WILL BE ON _________

YOU WILL TURN IN YOUR PACKETS

AFTER THE TEST FOR A GRADE!