Top 4 The Canterbury Tales quotes
“When in April the sweet showers fall/And pierce the drought of March to the root, and all/The veins are bathed in liquor of such power/As brings about the engendering of the flower,/When also Zephyrus with his sweet breath/Exhales an air in every grove and heath/Upon the tender shoots, and the young sun/His half-course in the sign of the Ram has run,/And the small fowl are making melody/That sleep away the night with open eye/(So nature pricks them and their heart engages)/Then people long to go on pilgrimages...”
Prologue
The book begins with a famous description of the pleasantness of spring, and the author claims that this wondrous time is exactly when people like to go on pilgrimages. He suggests that although pilgrimages are undertaken for spiritual reasons, yet there exists an underlying animal instinct to be out and about when nature blooms so beautifully during the time of spring. This theme of spring continues to be developed through the other tales that the pilgrims share, particularly those that feature love and fellowship.
“For take my word for it, there is no libel/On women that the clergy will not paint,/Except when writing of a woman-saint./By God, if women had but written stores/Like those the clergy keep in oratories,/More had been written of man’s wickedness/Than all the sons of Adam could redress.”
The Wife of Bath’s Tale
A vast majority of the stories shared by the pilgrims in the book are focused on women, who are either described as virtuous or outright wicked. In this regard, the Wife of Bath’s tale acknowledges that men are susceptible to the same evils and virtues as women. It is also important to understand the historical context of these recurring themes, especially about how women were viewed in society. The two model women figures in the time came from Christianity, the first was the virtuous Mother of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, while the other was Eve, who had damned all of mankind. Thus women often were likened to one or the other.
“Hear how my author ends the tale he told: ‘This story does not mean it would be good/For wives to ape Griseld’s humility,/It would be unendurable they should./But everybody in his own degree/Should be as perfect in his constancy/As was Griselda.’ That is why Petrarch chose/To tell her story in his noble prose./For since a woman showed such patience to/A mortal man, how much the more we ought/To take in patience all that God may do!”
The Clerk’s Tale
In The Clerk’s Tale, readers are presented with the account of a woman who bore all of her husband’s unreasonable suspicions and atrocities without losing her patience. He emphasizes that the tale’s moral is not to preach an impossible level of virtue in women, but rather to elucidate the suffering that one is often subjected to in human life. He lauds the Wife of Bath’s steadfast perseverance in the face of violence and betrayal that she had suffered at the hands of her husband.
“You’ll get no fable or romance from me,/For Paul in his Epistle to Timothy/Reproves all those who wave aside the truth/For fables that are wretched and uncouth./And why unclench my fist on your behalf,/I that can scatter wheat, to give you chaff?/And therefore if you care to hear my preaching/I’ll offer virtuous matter, moral teaching./So if you’ll hear me, granting that sufficed,/I would be glad in reverence of Christ/To give you lawful pleasure if I can.”
The Parson’s Tale
The simply spoken Parson ends the storytelling competition with a rather surprising and unexpected sermon about confession and God’s love for mankind. In one way, his sermon can be seen as an answer to the many questions that the other tales have raised about human nature and sins. He elucidates the various sins that pester mankind, and how a devout individual could overcome them and find salvation in God.
