The Prologue
to The Canterbury Tales
by
Geofery Chaucer
(Summary)
Summary
Going
through ‘The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales’ is like visiting a
portrait-gallery. In a portrait-gallery we see portraits of a large number of
persons on display. These portraits impress us by a variety of dresses, and
with their vividness. Each portrait is like a real human being sits or stands
before us. These human beings possess certain universal qualities also. They
appear before us as living and believable characters. Their apparel lends
realism to the portraits.
There
are, first of all, the Knight, the Squire, and the Yeoman, all of whom conform
to certain known types of human beings in the fourteenth century but all of
whom also have certain distinctive features. The Knight represents the code of
behavior prevailing in those days among members of this class of society. As
for his individual characteristics, he is depicted as modest like a maiden and
wearing a doublet of coarse cloth. The Squire has distinguished himself in
battles as he was expected to, but he can also compose songs and he can dance
and draw and write well. The Yeoman is described as a true forester, but he
also wears the medal of Christopher.
From
these characters who are associated with the medieval code of chivalry, we pass
to the Prioress whom, however, we shall consider along, with the Wife of Bath.
The next character is “the hunting Monk” who, ignoring the rules of monastic
discipline, neither labours with his hands nor pours over a book in the
cloister, and who “loves a fat swan the best of any roast”. Such, indeed, were
a large majority of the monks of the period.
The
Monk is individualized too. He wears an intricate pin of wrought gold in the
shape of a love-knot. He is fat and has a bald head which shines like glass.
His eyes are sharp and roll in his head. We do certainly get the feeling that
we are standing face to face with this man, so vividly is he represented to us
by Chaucer. The Monk’s sleeves are trimmed with the finest gray fur. The
portrait of the Friar is no less realistic or vivid. This Friar misuses his
authority to hear confessions and he sells absolutions. Like most friars of the
time, he carries ornamental knives and pins to be given to pretty women. He
associates only with the rich people, keeping the beggars and the lepers at
arm’s length. He is capable of extracting some money, however little, even from
a destitute widow, and he settles disputes of a worldly nature on love-days,
obtaining substantial fees for his pains. The Friar wears a half-cape of double
worsted. After a perusal of this description, we begin to feel that we have
really met this man such is Chaucer’s skill in characterization.
Going
through the character-sketches of the Lawyer and the Doctor, we find it
possible to identify them with certain professional men of our own
acquaintance. We have all dealt with lawyers and doctors, and we find Chaucer’s
characterization of these two men to be most realistic and lifelike. This
Lawyer has enriched himself with fraudulent transactions in land, and he always
tries to pretend to be busier than he really is. The Doctor allows the
apothecaries to send him sub-standard drugs and medicines, so that both he and
they can make profits out of the sales. The Doctor specially loves gold, and he
has not missed the opportunity to make money during the pestilence. Indeed,
these features of the Lawyer and the Doctor are universal and have been valid
through the centuries. As for their clothes the Lawyer wears a motley-coat
belted with a girdle of silk with small stripes, while the Doctor is clad in
blood-red and blue-gray-lined with taffeta and fine silk.
The
Miller, the Manciple, and the Reeve may be considered next. The Miller is
described as a man of a robust physique, as a ribald joker, as stealing his
customer’s corn and over-charging them, as having a thumb of gold, as having a
wart on the tip of his nose, and so on. He too is a mixture of typical and
individual characteristics, and a perfectly convincing person. The Manciple is
shrewd enough to be able to outwit fifty law-students, while the Reeve goes one
step further in the direction of fraud. The Reeve is a very skillful
manipulator of accounts and no auditor can find fault with him. He gives and
lends to his lord the lord’s own goods in such a way as to make the lord
believe that the Reeve had done him a favour. The Reeve has accumulated
sufficient private wealth and has built himself a house in a fair part of the
countryside. Physically he offers a contrast to the Miller, as his legs are
very long and lean while the Miller is a stout fellow. We can easily visualize
all these three characters, but the Miller and the Reeve are more vividly drawn
than the Manciple.
The
Summoner are the Pardoner and memorable figures. The treatment of the Summoner
begins with a visual description, but there is more to it than simple
visualization. His physical disorders are described in such a way as to suggest
inner or spiritual corruption. He has incurable pimples on his face. He is fond
of garlic, onions, and strong wine; when drunk, he makes a show of his meager
knowledge of Latin; for a quart of wine, he will allow a fellow to keep a
mistress for twelve months; he teaches people not to stand in awe of
arch-deacon’s curse because the curse can be rendered ineffectual by paying
money; he knows the secrets of the young people of his district; and so on. The
Summoner indeed vibrates with life and vitality. The Pardoner is a fitting
companion for him. They both join in singing a love-song. The Pardoner has thin
hair, and shining eyes like a hare. He carries fake pardons and bogus relics in
order to make money. But he is able to read out a passage from the Bible or the
life-story of a saint eloquently, thus creating an impression of piety in the
church. He too is fully alive. Both the Summoner and the Pardoner represent
certain well-known types of the Middle Ages, and clearly convey to us the
abuses that were prevalent in the church in those days. But both of them have
their individual characteristics to mark them off from the others. The Summoner
has, besides the pimples, scabby black brows and a shaggy beard, while the
Pardoner has a voice tiny as a goat’s and a face without a beard.
There
are women too among Chaucer’s pilgrims. The Wife of Bath is an unforgettable
character. Like many other members of this band, she is both a type and an
individual. She is skillful at clothmaking; she is quite aggressive in claiming
her right to go to the collection box before anybody else; she wears scarlet
stockings and carries a heavy weight of kerchiefs on her head on a Sunday. But
she is somewhat deaf; she has visited many shrines in the past; she has had
lovers in her youth, and has married five husbands; she is gap-toothed and has
large hips. And she can laugh and joke in company, besides having completed
knowledge of “the remedies of love”. It is true that the character of the Wife
of Bath is developed further later in The Canterbury Tales, but even the brief
sketch of her in the Prologue conveys to us an impression of an energetic, full
blooded, highly sociable, and self-assertive woman. The Prioress is easily
distinguished from her. In the case of the Prioress, her feminity and womanly
charm are emphasized more. The Prioress has sweet features, knows aristocratic
manners, is fashionable in her dress, gets, sentimental over her pet dogs and
so on. But alive though she is, she is a shadow beside the Wife of Bath. The
wives of the Guildsmen are merely mentioned in the Prologue, but a universal
trait of all women is indicated when we are told of these wives’ desire to the
socially recognized and respected.
There
is a Merchant in this company. He speaks mainly of the increase in his profits
and is worried about the sea route being kept open to ensure the flow of trade
on which business depends. He is in debt, but he takes care not to set this
secret leak out. The Franklin is a recognizable type also. His chief interest
in life is exquisite food and drink and by virtue of this interest, he may be
regarded as “Epicurus’s own son”. He is very hospitable and may therefore be
called “the Saint Julian of his country” : his bread and his ale are always uniformly
good, and a man with a better wine-cellar does not exist.
Nor
should we ignore the Cook who has an ulcer on his shin, or the Shipman, the
master of the Madelaine, who is certainly. “a good fellow”, being
well-experienced in stealing his clients’ wine.
The
parson and the Plowman represent, like the Knight and the Squire, some of the
finest aspects of human nature. The Parson is benign, patient, and helpful to
his parishioners. He sets a noble example to his “flock”. He actually practices
what he preaches. He is not in the least mercenary and does not hire out his
benefice in order to become a chantry priest in London. The Plowman lives in
peace and charity loving God and then his neighbour exactly as himself. These
are idealized portraits.
Thus,
the variety and range of Chaucer’s characterization is amazing. The poet has
selected characters from various classes of contemporary society and given them
an eternal life. We are given the impression that we have actually met and
known them. We get the feeling that we have called on them and talked to them.
We carry both pleasant and unpleasant memories of them. The mention of any one
of them stirs certain responsive chords in us. Here is God’s plenty, indeed.
And Chaucer takes us to a marvelous portrait-gallery without doubt.
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