The Prologue
to The Canterbury Tales
by
Geofery Chaucer
(Questions & Answers)
1.
To which age does Chaucer belong?
-
The age of Chaucer covers the period from
1340 to 1400. He was born at the middle of the transition period and the
elements of renaissance were breeding.
2.
What kind of a writer do you consider
Chaucer to be?
-
Chaucer is the true representative of his age
as Pope is of the eighteenth century and Tennyson is of the Victorian era.
3.
What are the main features that are
represented by Chaucer in his works?
-
Chaucer’s works breathe the political, social,
economic and religious tendencies of his time. He stands on the threshold of
the new age, but is still hedged in a backward gazing world.
4.
What were the main characteristics of
the fourteenth century England?
-
The fourteenth century in England was the
most important of the mediaeval centuries. It covered the period of the Black
Death and Peasant’s Revolt, the Hundred years war with France and the great economic
and social changes which we associate with the decay of villeinage. Two kings
were murdered and deposed and the authority of church was questioned and there
was a demand of freedom of thought. Even the Renaissance and Reformation were
on their way.
5.
What was Chaucer’s intention while
writing this great Prologue To The Canterbury Tales?
-
The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales is a
work of supreme importance, as created by Chaucer for the understanding of the
English history in a dramatic, piquant and all-embracing picture of a real
mediaeval life before the great changes should arrive.
6.
How many pilgrims contribute to the
pilgrimage and to the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales?
-
There are thirty persons with the addition of
Chaucer himself and the Host of the Tabard, makes in all thirty-two.
7.
Comment on Chaucer’s humour?
-
Chaucer’s humour has three main qualities in
his writings:
i.
A humour which is sometimes gentle, sometimes
sly, often satiric, but never vicious.
ii.
An understanding of human beings which is
warm and compassionate but never sentimental; and
iii.
An acuteness of observation which is
unfailing in its ability to discern the most significant detail.
8.
What was behind Chaucer ‘s portrayal of
his pilgrims and narratives?
-
To have each of his characters tell two tales
on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back, to while away the time.
9.
What does the Prologue to Canterbury try
to depict?
-
The general Prologue shows how fully Chaucer
grasped it in his own mind. It is not merely an introduction but a mature and
highly finished work in its own right – the liveliest, most convincing picture
of life in the middle-ages.
10.
What language has Chaucer used in his
Prologue To The Canterbury Tales?
-
The language used by Chaucer comes from the
middle English rather different from the modern English we know.
11.
Did Chaucer complete his Prologue To The
Canterbury Tales?
-
Chaucer did not live to complete his
ambitious project.
12.
What is a “Satire”? Is the Prologue a
piece of satiric composition?
-
It may be defined as a literary composition, the
principal aim of which is to ridicule folly or vice. It is a light form of
composition, intended to keep the reader in a good humour even when it is of
its most caustic. It may be inspired by either a personal grievance or a
passion for reform. It is like a dome, holds the mirror up to nature and lashes
out at contemporary follies and foibles. Yes, Chaucer’s prologue is a great
satiric piece of work.
13.
Chaucer’s group of pilgrims constitute a
picture of the society of his times.” Discuss how many groups of people are
there?
-
The pilgrims in the “Prologue” may be
classified into three groups, which throw a lot of light on the social
structure of England in the fourteenth century.
The
first group represents agricultural feudalism founded on land ownership and
service to the king and the country e.g., The Knight, the Squire, the Yeoman,
the Franklin, the Miller, the Reeve and the simple Plowman.
The
second group represents the growth of a new, urban society that came to rise in
the fourteenth century e.g., Doctor, Lawyer, Manciple, Merchant and even Wife
of Bath along with the Haberdasher, Carpenter, Weaver and the Dyer.
The
third group represents the church, which was in those days one of the most
powerful forces in the society. Eight of the Chaucer’s pilgrims belong to the
church, e.g., Prioress, her Chaplain, the Monk, the Friar, the Clerk, the
Parson, the Summoner and the Pardoner.
14.
Do you think that Chaucer was a social
reformer? How?
-
Chaucer is generally regarded as a painter of
life in his age, but not as a social reformer. Although a good deal has been
written about the social life of the second half of the fourteenth century in
England – its ecclesiastical troubles, its dynastic and military frauds, the
evil consequences of the Black Death, the Peasant’s Revolt, the growing power
of the trading classes. But all these things make their appearance on the
fringe of Chaucer’s poetry: they are referred to in passing and everything
represented in marginal. In fact, the Prologue clearly shows that Chaucer is
interested only in portraying characters as they are. He does not, anywhere,
urge people to improve themselves morally or in any other way.
15.
Write a short note on the ecclesiastical
characters in The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.
-
There are eight ecclesiastical characters
dealt with by Chaucer in the Prologue. These eight characters, in the order in
which they appear before us are; the Prioress, the Monk, the Friar, the Clerk
of Oxford, the Parson, the Summoner and the Pardoner. Chaucer represents the clergymen
of his times in a very un-favourable light. The only ecclesiastical characters
whom Chaucer admires and whom we admire also are The Clerk and the Parson for
whom the author has nothing but praise. The other characters belonging to the
church are ridiculed and satirized.
Chaucer
exposes the follies, the absurdities, the monetary greed, the hypocrisy and on
the whole, the unreligious nature of these men. Indeed, we feel greatly
depressed and dismayed by the spectacle of these clergymen who are not only
most worldly minded but dishonest, immoral and corrupt. It is the abundance of
humour in the portrayal of these persons that relieves the depression and
dissolves it in laughter. When we consider that the character of the men of religion
all over the world even today is no better than it was in Chaucer’s time, we
are driven to the conclusion that human nature has not changed much since then
and that religion has served largely as a cloak for the nefarious. Actually, it
is a group of unscrupulous people who resort to the “religions profession to
promote their selfish ends.”
16.
What are the main features of Chaucer’s
characterization?
-
Chaucer is the first character delineator in
English literature. His characters are drawn from his observation of men and
women he saw around him. He was a man of keen observation and that represents
his creativity and he represented men and women as they really are:
(a)
Real characters: Chaucer’s character are real, full blooded personalities. We
see them laughing, moving, talking, eating and gossiping as we do in our lives.
(b)
Universal types: They are timeless creations on a time determined stage. His
pilgrimage is the pilgrimage of the world and the pilgrims the epitome of
mankind. The knight represents the species of character, which in every age
stands as the guardian of man against the oppressor. The good parson, a real message
of heavy covers in every age of the illumination of divine light etc.
(c)
Types and individuals: The characters of Chaucer, though well-defined types of
contemporary society and of the universal traits of mankind, are also vividly
delineated individuals. All the characters have strongly individual tastes and
contrasting social backgrounds. Chaucer endows life like individuality to his
pilgrims through form of speech appropriate to them a rank and personal
temperament.
17.
Comment on the character of the Wife of
Bath.
-
The universal characteristics of the Wife of
Bath are obvious. She represents not the virtuous or pious class of womanhood,
but the class of women, who, having an amorous nature, care little for
chastity, who are fond of merry making and fun, and who enjoy gossip. The wives
of the guildsmen possess the universal trait of vanity they wish to be given a
measure of respect, which they think is their due. These wives wanted to be
addressed as “Madome” and they wanted to lead ceremonial possession. This
desire for social recognition and for precedence is common to most women.
18.
Discuss Chaucer’s contribution to
English Literature.
-
Chaucer’s abiding contribution to literature
may be summed up as follows:
i.
He is the creator of English language and
poetry.
ii.
He is the first great material artist.
iii.
He is the first great realist who breathed a
free secular spirit in the poetry.
iv.
He is the first great character painter.
v.
As a narrator in verse, he is superb. He is
also the father of English novel.
vi.
Chaucer was a dramatist before the dome proper
was born.
vii.
Greater humorist and humanist.
viii.The first national
poet of England.
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