For our next class, read "The General Prologue," which is the overall Preface to the entire work that follows. Here we meet all the people going on a pilgrimage to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Thomas of Beckett (who was assassinated by Henry II in 1170). Some of these pilgrims don't get stories of their own, though quite a few them do, and even Chaucer tells a story of his own (which is so bad the pilgrims interrupt him!). So enjoy this overview of the entire crew and Chaucer's sly comments about each one, some of which he likes more than others...
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: Toward the end of the Prologue, the poet-narrator (Chaucer himself?) protests that "But first I pray you...that you not blame my own vulgarity...Whoever tells a tale after a man,/He must repeat, as closely as he can,/Every last word, if that is his duty,/Even if he has to speak quite rudely,/Or otherwise, he makes his tale untrue" (23). What do you make of this excuse, since these are all fictional pilgrims, and he is making up all the stories and language? Why is he hiding behind an excuse of truth, and how might this compare to the Gawain poet's claim that he is just telling the story as he heard it in town and in other books?
Q2: Which pilgrim’s description did you find most appealing or interesting? How does Chaucer’s language create this character and help us ‘see’ him or her? What do you feel he wanted us to connect with or admire/dislike about the character?
Q3: Where in the Prologue do we see social criticism and/or outright satire of individual pilgrims? How might this connect to the belief of the ‘common’ English man/woman, particularly regarding topics such as the nobility, the Church, fashion, and manners?
Q4: Compare the style of narration of “The General Prologue” to that of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Both were written around the same time, though in very different parts of
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