The Canterbury Tales Prologue - Chaucer’s Tale
Prologue
The book begins with a famous evocation of spring, which is described as a beautiful season of bloom and fragrance. In the months of spring, the people of England often set out for pilgrimages, just as the Narrator had once done himself. He begins to describe a pilgrimage that he had undertaken to the Canterbury Cathedral, where the healing shrine of St. Thomas Becket is located. The journey began at a London Inn called the Tabard Inn. It so happened that twenty-nine other pilgrims intended to make the same journey, and since they all got along so well, the pilgrims decided to accompany make their pilgrimage together. The narrator then proceeds to describe each of the pilgrims and provide a brief introduction to their vocations and personality. He speaks the most highly of a humble Parson, who travels with his brother, a plowman. The pilgrims include a vast array of members from all sections of English society.
The host of the Inn, Harry Bailey, proposes that they all tell tales during the journey to speed the journey. He offers to travel along with them, and judge which of the tales can be considered the best. Furthermore, he offers a free dinner upon their return for the winner of the competition. All of the pilgrims accept the proposition gladly, and they all draw straws to determine the order in which they shall proceed. The knight is chosen to tell his tale as he draws the shortest straw.
The Knight’s Tale
The Knight shares a tale of romance set in ancient Greece, when Theseus ruled over Athens, with his wife, Hippolyta by his side. Theseus attacks the city-state of Thebes, and upon winning the battle, he takes two noble cousin knights as his prisoners, Arcite and Palamon. The two of them are lodged in the same prison in Athens, but strife soon comes between them in the form of love. Both men fall in love with Emily, the younger sister of Queen Hippolyta, and spend the duration of their prison watching her and expressing their love for her. The two of them argue constantly amongst themselves about who truly loves and deserves the love of noble Emily. Their argument is ended by an unexpected intervention, as Arcite is set free due to a powerful relative who intervenes on his behalf Theseus. Arcite is unhappy with the arrangement because it means he can never again see Emily. He is allowed to leave Athens but exiled from the land under threat of death.
Arcite returns to Thebes but he cannot bring himself to live without the sight of Emily. He disguises himself and returns to Athens under a different name. Arcite becomes a royal page under Theseus with the sole intention of being close to Emily. Meanwhile, Palamon continues to languish in prison and laments his poor fate that he must watch Emily from afar while Arcite is free to find a means to marry her. Eventually, Palamon finds a means to escape after six long years in prison and takes himself into a nearby forest. He runs into Arcite in the forest, and they decide to fight to the death the following day to decide once and for all who will wed Emily.
The following day, they begin their duel, but they are interrupted by the arrival of Duke Theseus and his train. The two knights confess their identities and their intent. Theseus has mercy on them and grants them a pardon, given their motivation of love. He directs them to return with an army of a hundred knights each and to decide once and for all who will wed Emily, through a competition of arms. Theseus constructs three temples and a formidable arena for the competition. He also builds temples for Venus, Mars, and Diana. Emily prays to Diana to preserve her virginity, but Diana refuses to grant her with although she promises Emily happiness. Palamon prays to Venus for love, and receives a positive response, while Arcite prays to Mars for victory which she is granted. These prayers set off a conflict on Mount Olympus, and Saturn intervenes between the warring god. He promises them a solution. Arcite is defeated in combat by Palamon the following day, but he suffers an accident and passes away. With his final breath, he urges Emily to marry Arcite. Theseus weds the two of them, and they live happily ever after.
The Miller’s Tale
The host enjoys the Knight’s story and invites the monk to tell his tale, but he is interrupted by the drunk Miller. The Miller begins to tell a bawdy story, and the Reeve recognizes the story. He attempts to stop the Miller but he continues without a care. The Miller tells the story of an old and jealous carpenter who marries a young, beautiful woman called Alison. The carpenter has a lodger, a young scholar named Nicholas, who has the reputation of being skilled at wooing women. Nicholas manages to woo Alison, but she refuses to be with him since her husband is so watchful. Nicholas comes up with a strategy to distract the carpenter by concocting a story about a flood. He convinces the carpenter that the only means to survive is to fashion three wooden vessels and fasten them to the rafters so that the three of them can be safe when the flood begins. He insists that the carpenter must not look at his wife before the flood, or he would doom them all.
The carpenter agrees and sets to work. All three of them climb into their respective boats and prepare to wait for the flood, but the fatigued carpenter falls asleep quickly. Nicholas and Alison quietly sneak away to the bedroom, but they are constantly interrupted by the parish clerk, Absalon, who is also trying to court Alison. He insists that he would leave her if she were to kiss him, so Alison sticks out her butt for him to kiss. Absalon realizes what has been done, and returns to Alison’s window with a red-hot poker. He knocks again, and Nicholas sticks his butt out of the window. He farts in the clerk’s face, who then brands him with the hot iron. The hubbub wakes the carpenter, and he finds Nicholas and Alison in his bedroom. He faints and the two lovers try to hide their deceit by claiming that the carpenter has gone mad.
The Reeve’s Tale
The Reeve, an elderly carpenter, tells his story next and hopes to pay back the insult that the miller had dealt him with his story. His story focuses on a duplicitous Miller called Simpkin, who lives with his wife, a baby son, and a pretty daughter. The Miller supplies flour to a college, but he begins to cheat them quite severely and so the college sends two scholars, John and Alan, to supervise their flour. They pretend to be stupid, but Simpkin suspects their true purpose and so plays a trick on them by releasing their horses. The scholars spend the whole day recovering their horses and are forced to lodge with the miller for the night. Simpkin drinks himself to sleep, and the whole family snores so loud that the two scholars are unable to sleep. Alan decides that he is going to get back at the miller by sleeping with his daughter and so sneaks into her bed.
John doesn’t wish for Alan to think too less of him, and so moves the baby’s cradle next to his bed. In this way, Miller’s wife ends up coming to John’s bed when she briefly wakes up. John makes love to the Miller’s wife, while Alan learns from the daughter where the Miller had kept their stolen flour. Alan attempts to return to John, but he ends up in Simpkin’s bed and proudly informs him of how he had been with Simpkin’s daughter. Simpkin begins to fight Alan, but he is struck in the head by his wife, who mistakes him for one of the scholars.
The Cook’s Tale
The Cook laughs delightfully at the Reeve’s Tale and begins his tale. He tells of a depraved cook’s apprentice who is fired from his apprenticeship for his attitude, and he leaves to stay with a friend whose wife makes a living as a prostitute. The Cook’s Tale remains uncompleted by Chaucer.
The Man of Law’s Tale
The Man of Law tells a romantic tale about the beautiful daughter of the Roman Emperor, Constance. A visiting Syrian sultan falls in love with Constance and ends up marrying her after converting to Christianity. Upon their return to the sultan’s kingdom, the sultan’s mother poisons everyone at her son’s wedding feast to seize power. The surviving Constance is set afloat on a boat and sent into the ocean, but God preserves her. Constance ends up in the pagan land of Northumberland, where she receives refuge from a constable and his wife. A dishonest Knight’s attention falls on her for her, and he attempts to have her to himself but she refuses him. He kills her benefactor and frames her for his murder.
Constance is presented before King Alla, and he comes to believe that she is innocent. He asks the evil knight to swear on the gospel about Constance’s guilt, but he is struck down by the hand of God as soon as he does so.
King Alla converts to Christianity upon seeing this miracle, and he weds Constance. His mother takes offense at this conversion and match. King Alla is called away from his duties when Constance becomes pregnant. She has a son and names him Maurice, but Alla’s mother sends her son a letter telling him that Constance had borne a monster. Alla replies to the letter with instructions to care for his wife and son, but his mother banishes Constance and the child. Constance and her son set out to sea, but they are rescued by a Roman Emperor. She returns to Rome and begins to live her life as a nun. Alla returns to his kingdom and executes his mother for her plot. He journeys to Rome to be blessed by the pope and runs into his son, Maurice. He recognizes himself in Maurice and finds Constance through him. They are reunited blissfully and return to England as a family. The following year, Alla dies and Constance returns to Rome to live out the rest of her life.
The Shipman’s Tale
The Host doesn’t quite enjoy the Man of Law’s story and turns to the Parson to ask him to tell a story. The Shipman interrupts and begins to tell his tale instead. He tells the pilgrims of a merchant who did not enjoy paying for all of his wife’s fine clothes. The merchant has a handsome friend who is a monk and comes to his home often. The merchant’s wife asks John for some money for her clothes since she isn’t satisfied with the merchant financially or sexually. They agree that John would give her the money if she would sleep with him. So John borrows the money from the merchant and gives it to his wife. The merchant goes away on some business, and so John sleeps with his wife. Upon the merchant’s return, John tells him that he had returned the borrowed sum to his wife. The merchant seeks money from his wife and discovers that she has spent it all on clothes. She promises to make it up to him in bed.
The Prioress’s Tale
The host criticizes monks and turns to the Prioress, who tells the tale of a widow’s son growing up in a Christian enclave of an Asian nation. The child is deeply affected by the story of the Virgin Mary, and the hymn “O Alma Redemptoris”, which he learns by heart. The Prioress’s tale is rather antisemitic, as she goes on to add that he is killed by some Jewish people as he crosses a Jewish neighborhood while singing the hymn. His mother searches for him and is finally able to find him because even in death he keeps singing the hymn. The boy’s signing corpse is taken to a priest who converses with the corpse and learns that the Virgin Mary had come to him at the time of death and placed a grain on his tongue that would allow him to sing. The priest removes the grain from the child’s mouth and he is given the burial of a martyr.
Chaucer’s Tales
All the members of the company comment on the lovely nature of the Prioress’s tale. The host then turns to Chaucer and invites him to tell a tale. Chaucer begins to tell the story of a noble knight called Sir Topaz who decides to journey to Fairy Land to find himself an elven queen. He reaches Fairy Land and prepares to meet his first adversary in combat, but Chaucer is interrupted by Harry. The Host likens Chaucer’s verse to excrement and asks him to tell another tale. So Chaucer tells the pilgrims about Melibee, and his wife Dame Prudence. The wife urges Melibee to forgive his enemies rather than thinking of a means to win over them. Her advice turns out to be very correct as his enemies are quite affected by his forgiveness.
Analysis
The Canterbury Tales is a story about stories, a format that suggests that Chaucer places a great deal of importance on stories. The stories shared by the pilgrims are not merely about the subject being explored within their story but also about who they are as individuals. The details they choose to focus on, and how they emphasize different aspects of the story add a great depth to the characters. The beginning of the volume with the Knight’s tale and the Miller’s tale lends us to understand the diversity in their group. Through this large troop of characters, Chaucer highlights the humanity that exists in all of them irrespective of their birth, status, and occupation.
