The Doctor's through the Parson's Tales; The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer

Why you might read The Canterbury Tales?

The Canterbury Tales is the most well-known work of Chaucer. And Chaucer is the father of English literature. So if you are going to read any of his work here is the place to start. No Self-Education project is complete without this classic. Be warned though it is rather long, and if you don't want to read middle English find a good modern translation.

Synopsis of The Canterbury Tales(Part 2)

The Doctor's Tale:

A corrupt judge lusts after a virgin daughter and puts together a plot to get her in his power. He puts together a case with the story that she is a slave that her father has abducted. The father sees through this plot and kills the daughter to save her. The judge then conspires to put the father to death but the people rebel and through the judge in jail. In jail he kills himself. 

The Pardoner's Tale:

Three friends go to kill death after another friend dies. They find him under an oak tree beside him is a pile of gold. They quickly forget about death and plan to take the money in the morning. They draw straws for someone to go to town for food and drink. The two left then plan to stab the one fetching food and drink. But the one who went to town poisons the wine. So the two kill the third and then die from the poison in the wine.

The Shipman's Tale:

A Shipman's wife spends too much money and ends up in debt. She asks a monk, a close friend for money. He borrows it off the shipman and gives it to her. He tells the shipman he has repaid the money to the wife. The shipman confronts his wife and she returns the money and says she will pay the debts with her body.

The Prioress' Tale:

Jews abduct a Christian boy. When he doesn't stop singing to the virgin Mary they kill him by slitting his throat. They throw him in the sewer, but he keeps singing. His family find him and he explains the virgin Mary helped him keep singing.

Chaucer’s Tale of Sir Thopas:

A parody of romantic poems. This start with Sir Thopas searching for the Elf Queen. He is distracted by fighting with the giant Sir Olifaunt. Here the tale ends as the Innkeeper interrupts Chaucer and begs him to stop.

Chaucer's Tale of Meliboeus:

Unlike every other tale, this one is told in prose. This tale is a conversation between a husband and wife. The wife is trying to convince the husband to forgive a wrong and not seek revenge. They go back and forth with both appealing to historical and biblical figures. Eventually, the husband concedes but still chastises the wrongdoers before forgiving them.

The Monk's Tale:

The monk tells 17 short tales. These come from the bible and historical tales. They range from Adam to Lucifer, and Nero to Julius Caesar.

The Nun's Priest's Tale:

A cock and his hens are looked after by a simple family. The cock is showy and proud. The cock has a dream about being killed but the hens convince him it was nothing. He exits the henhouse that morning and meets a fox and is alarmed. But the fox convinces him that he is a friend and asks him to sing. While he is singing the fox grabs him by the neck and runs off into the forest with him. The cock escapes into the forest and the fox tries to trick him again but he is too smart for that.

The Nun's Second Tale:

A Christian maid is married to a pagan man. She on their wedding night tells him of her guardian angel. He doesn't believe her so she sends him on a pilgrimage to see a saint. He converts upon meeting with the saint. He returns to her and see's her angel who gives him one wish. He wishes his brother to have faith in God. The brother converts and travels to the saint to be baptised. The brothers are then martyred.

The Canon's Yeoman's Tale:

An Alchemist swindles a priest with a powder to turn mercury into silver. The con is rather elaborate and the priest is convinced and pays a large sum. The Alchemist gets away before the deception is uncovered.

The Manciple's Tale:

A jealous husband keeps his wife at home but she stays and takes a lover anyway. This husband owns a snow-white crow that can mimic human speech and voice. The crow tells the husband of his wife's infidelity and in a rage, the husband kills his wife. He then feels remorse for this and blames the crow. He then plucks the bird and turns it black.

The Parson's Tale:

This is not a tale but rather a treatise on the deadly sins and repentance in Christ. The translation I was working from does not give it in full. Instead mixes summary with full text in what is otherwise a very long text.

Reflections on The Canterbury Tales(Part 2)

The treatise that is the Parson's Tale really drives home the position of the Parson as a teacher of the faith. We have seen other religious men tell tales. By contrast, the parson chooses to preach rather than do something as frivolous as telling a tale or jape. He even says as much in his introduction.

Chaucer's prayer at the end of the text is interesting. He seems to ask forgiveness for his works. It starts out as a meaty prayer, which is to be expected of his time when the church was so much more dominant.

The self-insert of Chaucer feels a little out of place. Yet at the same time, it gives the author a first-hand look at the tales he is telling. It becomes a retelling of something that could have happened rather than a story made up of whole cloth.

What others have to say about The Canterbury Tales

"One character specifically used to reflect Chaucer's views on  Scottish culture, the lower class, and corrupt businessmen is the Miler" From Bartleby

"He along with other pilgrimages gathered on a spring evening at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, the place of departure and arrival for the pilgrimages to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury." From Poem Analysis

Comparisons with other texts

The Legend of Good Women is also a collection by Chaucer. It is much more compact and tells Chaucer's versions of stories of well-known women. By contrast, the Canterbury Tales is focused more on men. The Canterbury tales are a mix of well-known tales as well as more original ones. It is also held together by a meta-narrative rather than a theme. 

Like the Everyman and Miracle Plays we see a set of tales that tell us as much about the author and his times as they do about the stories themselves. The Everyman and Miracle Plays however have a biblical theme and a multitude of authors. By contrast, while priests and monks may be characters in the Tales the themes are not religious.

Conclusion

This second half of the Canterbury tales covered a variety of stories. These often invoke another pilgrim to tell a story in response. They are not linked by theme but rather by a meta-narrative told between each story. These tales come from a diverse group of pilgrims heading for Canterbury. It ends with Chaucer praying.

Have you read The Canterbury Tales? If so what did you think of it? 
 
Want to read The Canterbury Tales but haven't? Please leave me a comment and let me know why you want to read it.

Hopefully, this post inspires you to take the time to look into it on your own journey of Self Education.

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