The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by

Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in prose, the
rest in verse). The tales, some of which are originals and others
not, are contained inside a frame tale and told by a collection of
pilgrims on a pilgrimage from Southwark to Canterbury to visit the
shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. The
Canterbury Tales are written in Middle English.
The work began some time in the 1380s but Chaucer stopped
working on it in the late 1390s. It was not written down fully
conceived: it seems to have had many revisions with the addition
of new tales at various times. The plan for one hundred and twenty
tales is from the general prologue. It is announced by Harry Bailey,
the host, that there will be four tales each (two on the way to
Canterbury, two on the way back to the tavern). This is not
necessarily the opinion of Chaucer himself, who appears as the
only character to tell more than one tale.
The characters, introduced in the General Prologue of the
book, tell tales of great cultural relevance. The first part of the
prologue begins with "When that April with his shores soothe"
indicating the start of spring and the end of a brutal winter. The
themes of the tales vary, and include topics such as courtly love,
treachery, and avarice.
The idea of a pilgrimage appears to have been mainly a
useful device to get such a diverse collection of people together for
literary purposes. In fact, the Monk would probably not be allowed
to undertake the pilgrimage, and some of the other characters
would be unlikely ever to want to attend. Also all of the pilgrims
ride horses, so there is no suggestion of them suffering for their
religion. None of the popular shrines along the way are visited and
there is no suggestion that anyone attends liturgy, so that it seems
much more like a tourist trip.
 Some of the tales are serious and others comical. Religious
malpractice is a major theme as well as focusing on the division of
the three estates. Most of the tales are interlinked with similar
themes running through them and some are told in retaliation for
other tales in the form of an argument. The work is incomplete, as
it was originally intended that each character would tell four tales,
two on the way to Canterbury and two on the return journey. This
would have meant a possible one hundred and twenty tales in
comparison with the twenty-four tales actually written.
While some readers look to interpret the characters of "The
Canterbury Tales" as historical figures, other readers choose to
interpret its significance in less literal terms. After analysis of his
diction and historical context, his work appears to develop a
critique against society during his lifetime. Within a number of his
descriptions, his comments can appear complimentary in nature,
but through clever language, the statements are ultimately critical
of the pilgrim’s actions. It is unclear whether Chaucer would
intend for the reader to link his characters with actual persons.
Instead, it appears that Chaucer creates fictional characters to be
general representations of people in such fields of work. With an
understanding of medieval society, one can detect subtle satire at
work.
The Canterbury Tales can also tell modern readers much
about "the occult" during Chaucer's time, especially in regards to
astrology and the astrological lore prevalent during Chaucer's era.
There are hundreds if not thousands of astrological allusions found
in this work; some are very noticeable while others are more
subtle.