GEOFFREY CHAUCER

(1340-1400)
He was born in London, in the family of a
wine merchant. At 17 Geoffrey became a
page to a lady at the court of Edward III. At
twenty, Chaucer was in France, serving as
an esquire. During 1373 and the next few
years he travelled much. He went to
France, made three journeys to Italy.
Italian literature opened to Chaucer a new
world of art.
His work is divided into three periods. The
French period lasted up to 1370. His
early works were written in imitation of the
French romances and based on French
models. His chief work during this time
was the “Book of the Duchess”, an
allegorical lament written in 1369 on the
death of Blanche, wife of John of Gaunt,
his patron.
The second period of Chaucer’s
literary work (up to 1387) was that of
the Italian influence. To this period
belong the following poems: “The
House of fame”, “The Parliament of
Fowls”, a poem satirizing Parliament,
“The Legend of Good Women” and
others.
• When Chaucer came back to England, he
received the post of Controller of the Customs in
the port of London. Chaucer held this position for
ten years. Later Chaucer was appointed “Knight
for the Shire of Kent”, which meant that he sat in
Parliament as a representative for Kent.
• He often had to go on business to Kent and
there he observed pilgrimages to Canterbury.
• The third period of his creative work
begins in the year 1384, when he started
writing “The Canterbury Tales”.
• The book is an unfinished collection of
stories in verse told by the pilgrims on their
journey to Canterbury. Each pilgrim was to
tell four stories. Chaucer managed to write
only twenty-four instead of the proposed
one hundred and twenty-four stories.
Going on pilgrimages in Medieval England was a
way of combining religion with pleasure. People
of different professions formed a group and
travelled by cart and on foot to a holy shrine.
There was a holiday atmosphere about
pilgrimages because for most people it was the
only time they could get away from their daily
routine. In “The Canterbury Tales” a group of
pilgrims is on its way to visit a cathedral in the
southern city of Canterbury.
• All his characters are typical
representatives of their classes. When
assembled, they form one people, the
English people. The prologue is the most
interesting part of the work. It acquaints
the reader with medieval society. The
pilgrims are people of different social
ranks and occupations. Chaucer has
portrayed them with great skill as types
and as individuals true to their own age.
There is a knight, a yeoman (a man who
owned land; a farmer), a nun, a monk, a
priest, a pardoner, a miller, a merchant, a
clerk, a sailor, Chaucer himself and others,
31 pilgrims in all. Each of the travellers
tells a different kind of story showing his
own views and character. Thus, the knight
tells a romance, the miller - a fabliau, the
pardoner - a moralizing tale.
 Why it is a masterpiece
• 1) it is written in London dialect (unlike all other
works written in Latin or French);
• 2) it is a valuable social document as it gives us
an insight into a cross-section of fourteenth-
century English society;
• 3) it includes experimentation with rhyme and
rhythm (the tales are of different genres –
religious legend, romance, fabliau, saint’s life,
allegorical tale, beast fable, medieval sermon,
alchemical account, and, at times, mixtures of
these genres).
• The genre of “The Miller’s Tale” is fabliau. It is a brief
comic and satirical tale in verse. It often involves
triangles between a wife, her lover and a cuckolded
husband.
• The genre of “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” is Arthurian
romance. It is a mixture of myth, adventure, love,
enchantment, and tragedy. The narrative focus often
shifts from King Arthur himself to other characters, such
as various Knights of the Round Table.
• The genre of “The Friar’s Tale” is exemplum, or
teaching story. It is a moral anecdote, brief or
extended, real or fictitious, used to illustrate a point.
Exemplum was a short tale incorporated by a medieval
preacher into his sermon to emphasize a moral.
 THE MILLER’S TALE
• Generation gap
• Jealousy
• Love, types of love
• Competition
• Cunning and cleverness
• Religion
 THE WIFE OF BATH’S TALE
• Power / sovereignty
• Rules and order (Arthur’s
kingdom)
• Appearances
• Women and femininity
• Old age as a symbol
 THE FRIAR’S TALE

• The corruption of church

• Hypocrisy of the clergy
• Justice and judgment