The Canterbury Tales - Dr. Regulus Allen PDF

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Summary

Dr. Regulus Allen...

Description

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Jeffrey- narrator ○

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Chaucer ○ born in the middle class ○ exposure to upper and working class (look at multiple classes) ○ Based in London, In Greenwich ○ Spoke English, French (language of aristocratic class) ○ Knew Latin, Italian

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Opening of General Prologue ○ Read out loud 3 Parts ○ Introduction ○ Portrait of each Person ■ Focuses on: ■ What they are wearing ■ Shows what estate they’re from ■ Occupation, usually referred to by this ○ Host’s Proposal

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Superlatives ○ Most Moral ■ Knight ■ Parson - Lines: 482 ■ Plowman - Lines: 531 ○ Attractive ■ Squier ■ Prioress ■ Wife of Bath ○ Biggest Gourmand / Foodie ■ Franklin ■ Monk - he was fat ○ Wealthiest ■ Merchant ■ Friar ○ Athletic ■ The Miller - Line 548 ■ The Knight - Line 163 ○ Biggest Ladies Man ■ Squire ○ School Bully ■ The Miller - Lines: 562 - 565 ○ Most Book Smart

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■ The Doctor - Lines: 416 - 424 ■ The Clerk - Line 295 Most Street Smart ■ The Manciple - Lines: 572 - 588

10 Knight Squire Prioress Monk Friar Wife of Bath Miller - 3rd estate Reeve Summoner Pardoner

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Artistic features: ○ Estate Satire ■ 3 Estates in european history ■ Clergy, Nobility, Commoners ■ Satire: An attack by means of fiction on a recognizable victim ■ Expose and pillory typical levels of corruption at all parts of society ■ But what what’s different about Canterbury Tales is that Chaucer doesn’t ridicule corruption but rather seems to admire it, so that the reader has to pull out the ironic parts of Chaucer’s judgement ○ Verbal Irony ■ implies the opposite of what you’re saying ● But is different than sarcasm ● Irony (Stated meaning is not intended) ● Sarcasm (The kind of verbal irony where you have praise or dispraise) ○ Situational Irony ■ The opposite from what you’re expecting happens ■ Like when the fire station burns down ○ Framing Device ■ The pilgrimage to bridge all these stories of the individuals ○ Lanval - 8 Syllable Couplets ■ AA BB CC ○ Beowulf - Alliteration ○ Iambic Pentameter ■ 10 Syllable Couplets

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■ u = unstressed ■ ` = stressed Apology ■ Jeffrey asks reader not to take words offensively ■ He apologizes for vulgar language

Midterm: Objective questions- there is only one answer Multiple choice and short answer Rough idea of different periods

1) Chaucer’s critiques a) Pardoner i) Sells pardons and relics ii) 701 iii) Represents the clergy estate (most important) b) Summoner i) Described as a grotesque character ii) Accepts bribes to put people in jail iii) Clergy (first estate) iv) Hypocritical, gets around c) Monk i) Line 165 ii) Outdoorsman, likes to hunt, untraditional iii) He’s superlative, finely dressed with material good, but is supposed to be living humbly iv) Criticism of clergy again v) Clergy live more of an earthly life than a spiritual life. Don’t deserve to be part of first class. d) Knight i) Nobility (2nd estate) ii) Line 48 iii) Describes him as a nobleman with good virtues iv) Lacks rudeness v) First one who gets to tell his tale, fate favors him. vi) Fate favors the greatest / courageous - from beowulf vii) Kinda like a mercenary (shown through verbal irony). Will kill anyone if he’s paid

The Wife Of Bath Prologue and maybe even more significant than the tale How does it promote or contradict a long history of anti-feminist literature? Talks a lot about how bible is anti-women by using examples Line 719: Mankind is bad because of eve (from the bible) Wife from Bath’s Prologue Three sections: Line 1 - 67 She defending the fact she’s had 5 husbands. Bath is the place in England she’s from. Said she was a good wife. Experienced from her 5 marriages. Literary Authority (Bible) vs. Experience Says that God wants us to be fruitful and multiply Women were not usually writers so she’s trying to buck that tradition Feels the bible can be interpreted in many ways Line 26: Glosen - Gloss Men always gloss things as they like but she’s going to gloss according to her experience; men could interpret things differently There is no problem with having multiple husbands. Line 44: happy to have a sixth husband Lines 68-120 Looks down on virginity; why should women be vigins, why can’t men couciled to be virgins. She criticizes virginity. Line 65 - 78: She’s saying that virginity is bad and that without it more virgins couldn’t be born Line 120 - 130: Why have private parts if we aren’t supposed to use them? Some people say male and female parts are used only to go to the bathroom or identify male and female. She says experience tells her those aren’t the only reasons. Equates money and sex. Thus talks about sex in financial terms Line 169 - 198: Interruption from the pardoner. Pardoner says he’s been thinking about getting married. She says “do what you please” Lines 199 - 240: Her first three old husbands. She would torture them. She got all their money, land, property by being widowed. The only way a woman can own property is by becoming a widow. Lines 241 - 384: Sample speech to one of her husbands. Complains about not having nice enough clothes. Asking where the husband was Line 266 - : Anaphora (when succeeding lines or phrases all begin with same word) “And som for” Line 309 - Jenkyn is her fifth husband but at this point she says she would’nt want him even if he were dead.

Line 384 - Why does she treat them this way? Sometimes drunkenness. I don't want to be accused so I accuse first. Line 459 - Describes 4th husband. He wasn’t as old. Kinda a player. Had a mistress. Husband was cheating on her. She pretended that she was having an affair to get back at him. Turned the tables. And he died when she got back from Jerusalem Line 509 - Describes 5th Husband. Married him because she actually loved him. He was a student at oxford university Line 580 - 588 - He had enchanted me. Told him that she dreamed about him. Bribes him with money. Line 511 - He beat her, she felt it in her ribs. But he’d win her back by being like me and being bomb at sex ;) ;) Line 640 - She says that she hit her so hard in the head that she went deaf because she ripped a page out of his book Line 699 - Refers to a fable by Aesop’s. Women didn’t write those books so of course they’re going to portray women unfavorably. Line 817 - How does she finally win him over? She pretends to be dead after a fight and had him promise to give her his land, burn his books, 2) In what ways does her character support or contradict anti-feminist literature? Contradicts by making her a representation of everything bad men think about women. Supports because it makes her seem kinda evil even though she has all the power - it’s an ironic portrait. Contradicts because she doesn’t have a child yet has a ton of sex and husbands, yet she says she wants to be fruitful and multiple 3) Appropriate or inappropriate to her character? Genre? Arthurian Romance. Negative power relationships between men and women. Starts with knight raping a womn Line 931 - anaphora “Some saiden” What do women want? Question In the tale Women want power and control. Line 1219 - Be happy Im ugly since I won’t cheat on you...