Canterbury Tales: the Prologue, characters, composition, genre system

Between 1386 and his death Chaucer sought to complete Canterbury Tales. The poem is one of the great literary achievements of the Middle Ages. It has been suggested that Boccaccio, so often Chaucer’s immediate inspirer, was his inspirer in this case also, by the scheme and framework of the Decameron. However, there is no certain evidence that Chaucer knew this work. It would be more useful to remember that the plan of collecting individually distinct tales, and uniting them by means of a framework of central story, was immemorial tradition in the East; and at least one example of the kind had been naturalized in Europe, namely the collection known as The Seven Sages. In Italy, the device of framing stories was tried several times in the 14th century. This device together with the still universally popular motif of pilgrimages offered an artist, desirous of painting character and manners on less elaborate and more varied scale, required possibilities.

Chaucer’s poem consists of General Prologue, in which the plan of the whole is sketched, the important characters delineated and the action launched, and a collection of 24 tales told to pass the time during a spring pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket in Canterbury. The Prologue shows how the narrator found himself at the Tabard Inn, in Southwark (outside London). There he met 29 other pilgrims who agreed to liven up the journey by story telling. Each of them was to tell 4 stories – 2 on their way to Canterbury and 2 on the return journey. Since the company consists of 30 people (29 pilgrims and the host of Tavern besides the narrator), this would provide for 120 tales. Instead, there are only 21 complete tales and 3 unfinished ones.

The characters are chosen to represent all ranks of the English society: the upper orders – the Knight, the Squire, the Man of Law, the prosperous Merchant, the Franklin; the clergy – the Prioress, a Monk, a Friar, a country Parson, the Clerk of Oxford, still a student; folk – the Wife of Bath, the Miller, the Cook, the Manciple. All of them are delineated in the Prologue by a combination of typical traits and vivid, individual details. There cannot be any doubt, that it was not a mere mechanical conception of unity. Chaucer sets his narrators into motion along the route to Canterbury, constantly changes the background, and thus, opens many possibilities for by-play and conflicts of personality among the pilgrims. It was stated, that this moving frame adds the III dimension to the traditional technique. Besides, the tales of pilgrims are connected from I to last by the pervading personality of the host, Harry Bailly, who gives a unity of the character and directs storytelling, inviting, criticising, admiring, denouncing, but always keeping himself in evidence. Moreover, nothing is more remarkable in the poem than the intimate connection between the tales and Prologue. They comment and complete each other with unfailing punctuality.

The amount of satire is striking indeed, sharp in effect but expressed mildly, which is introduced in the character descriptions. Many of the pilgrims are shown as abusing their jobs or offices: 3 of the clerks are charged with corruption, the Physician is thirsty for gold, the Pardoner sells the sheep’s bones as relics, and the Cook sells and resells stale pies. The tales of the poem may be separated into groups, not as they occur in manuscripts, but according to the literary genres, they represent:

Romances – the most typical secular product of the medieval literature is represented in Canterbury Tales by the Knight’s Tale, the Squire’s Tale, the Wife of Bath’s Tale, the Franklin’s Tale. The Knight’s Tale is based on Boccaccio’s romantic epic Teseide about the rivalry of Palamode and Arsita, their tournament, and the death of Arsita. The Wife of Bath’s Tale is miniature Arthurian romance, and the Franklin’s Tale is called by Chaucer a Breton lai.

Saints Lives and Pious tales – very popular in Chaucer’s time narratives for education – are the Prioress’s Tale, the Man of Law’s Tale, the Physician’s Tale. The Prioress’s Tale is a miracle story (connected with a cult of the Virgin) about a little boy, devoted to the service of the Virgin, who was done to death by Jews out of pure hatred, but continued to sing “Alma Redemptoris Mater” even after his throat was cut.

Exempla – didactic in their intention, directly used to illustrate a sermon, thesis or argument. In Canterbury Tales, it is represented by Monk’s Tale, the Manciple’s Tale, the Pardoner’s Tale, the Nun’s Priest Tale. The Monk’s Tale is a collection of anecdotes – Biblical, historical, mythological contemporary – illustrating the downfall of eminent persons from prosperity to a miserable death.

Edifying prose tracts – 2 prose “tales” which are not real stories but didactic essays – Milebeus and the Parson’s Tale.

The Fabliaux is essentially anti-romantic story of ordinary life with a preferably farcial tendency, frequently satirising women, clergy, and tricksters of various sorts, and designed to evoke merriment. Chaucer’s fabliaux – The Reeve’s Tale, the Miller’s Tale, the Cook’s Tale – demonstrate the enormous difference with those included in Boccaccio’s Decameron. The characters in these Tales live, their social environment is real, and their conversation is conducted in easy colloquial style. The action the Miller’s Tale, for instance, hinges on a double deception practised by Alisoun, the young wife of a prosperous elderly carpenter, with the aid of her lover, a student of Cambridge who lodges with the family. In the Merchant’s Tale the elderly knight, named January, foolish to the point of senility, marries a young girl and attempts to keep a jealous watch over her actions. When he becomes blind his wife May and a young squire Damian contrive to outwit him and satisfy their desire in his very presence. In the end, the husband’s sight supernaturally restored, the wife persuades him that she acted thus to restore his sight to him, and he even thanks May for her infidelity.

As it is seen, Chaucer was not a man to be monotonous in his variety. He as the greatest English men of letters appreciated the value of a mixture of tragedy or romance with farce or comedy, an exquisite pathos and a delicate humour. One of the most important Chaucer’s innovations was to suit the style of the story to the individual teller, greatly adding to the psychological variety and dramatic vigour of the tales.

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 2409