Canterbury Taless summary

Pagan Antiquity Classical figures -The Gods- constantly unfair. No moral governing of the universe

Romance (highly philosophical)highly stylized manner of courtly love

Palamon asked Venus for Emily, is imprisoned for life but escapes after 7 yearsEmily prayed to Diana (huntress) to remain a maidenArcite asked Mars for victory, principle squire to theseus after being set free as a favor and disguising himselfTheseus King is Emelye's Brother in low, often equated to a christian figure

Fabliau: simple, vigorous , straight-forwardTime: presentSetting FamiliarTota inversion of the Knight's Tale

does not coincide with conventional moralitypunished: greed, hypocrisy, pride, old age, halfwits, presumption of a husband who attempts to guard his wife's chastity

Misdirected Kiss-Absolon kisses Alison's buttThe second flood- Nicholas tricks John into thinking this so he may sleep with Alison and the towns people this him crazy

Hende Nicholas: Clerk, student of astronomyAlison: the carpenter's young wifeAbsolon: another clerk in the parish, another suitor of AlisonJohn: the carpenter and Alison's husband, punished for taking a young wife , religion should be blind belief (God's pryvetee)

Fabliau.

Possibly the worst of the downward movement of Fragment 1. Theme of the sexual and ecumenic working together

A series of tragedies, compilations of short narratives.

protagonist is victim rather than hero. He is raised up and then cast down by Fortune. Avoid happiness because Fortune is in control of it all.

Prologue: Apologia, literary confession, dramatic monologueTale: A Romance

Named AlisonReady for her 6th husband Belongs to the tradition of the Old BaudKickstarts the marriage group

Uses Masculine Texts.Authorities are Doctrine, biblical and classical texts

Long ago, King Arthur rules and elves run around impregnating maidens

King Arthur's Knight: rapes a maiden, marries the old ugly ladyThe Queen: asks the knight what women really wantLothly lady: married the knight and tells him the secret to what women want, eventually gains maistry over her husband and becomes beautiful for him

Originally meant for The Wife of Bathgenre: fabliau

The Merchant, very prosperous and thriftyMerchant's Wife, cuckolds him with the monk, duan JohnDuan John, the monk who claims to be the merchants cousin to get closer to his fair wife.

Fabliau Cast in High Style: rhetorically advanced

January: Old bachelor that Marries May, eventually goes blindMay: January's young wife, cuckolds JanuaryDamian: January's squire who is in love with MayPluto: wants to restore Js sight so he can see he is being cuckolded Proserpina: wants May to have sex with Damian

Proserpina uses authorities to argue that may should have sex with Damian, good women exist. The evils of woman are not comparable to the evils of man.

Pear tree: female fertilityHortus conclusus: wall around the garden, symbol of virginity and the vrigin mary, also Eden Genesis: The 1st marriage, the first female betrayal of marriageForbidden fruit alluded to with the pear

Brenton Lay: short romances, love and the super natural.Also possibly the culminations of the marriage group

Averagus: the knight who hold trouthe and honor above all elseDorigen: Averagus' wife who makes a promise that she cannot keep to Aurelius Aurelius: a squire who is in love with Dorigen and asks her to be with him The Philosopher: Makes the cragged cliffs disappear because Aurelius pays him to create the allusion

Takes the middle road between the Wife of Baths Tale and the Clerks TaleThemes of Honour and trouthe are readily accepted as being necessary in marriage

Romance, Custance belongs to the tradition of exiled queens.

Custance: the ultimate sufferer, marries Alla by showing that christianity exists King Alla: Marries Custance and eventually his son succeeds her father thrown Various evil mother in laws, sulteness, DonegildWarden and Dame Hermenglyd take custance in and are eventually persuaded by her christian doctrine

Parody of popular English Romance also unfinished.

the tail rhyme: lends its intense rhythm doggerel the diminishing fitscomic scenes: fleeing from the elephant man, falling in love longing with someone he doesn't knowdescription of the knight: effeminate and childlike, yet females are still in love with him

The miracle of the virgin, devotionalanti-semetic emphasis on pathos (litel)

The latin got Hail mary and the title of the christian song sung y the child in the prioress's tale

young boy and widow