Chaucer Page

Geoffrey Chaucer (1342-1400)

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) & Geoffrey Chaucer (1342-1400): The Two Greatest Writers of the Middle Ages

Similarities Differences

Both Upper Middle Class/ Landed Gentry Dante is Italian; Chaucer is English

Both Active in Public Affairs, Envoys of Government Every one of Dante's subjects (except himself) is dead; Chaucer's are all alive.

Both Laymen with Orthodox views Dante used Bitterness, Chaucer used Humor to criticize religious hypocrites.

Both Aware of Injustices resulting from Abuses of System
Both Exposed Scoundrels and Frauds with Enthusiasm Dante's portraits "are more decisive, more limited, more exclusively concentrated on ethical definition; Chaucer's have room for more mundane, personal, and morally neutral detail" (Norton 1894).

"General Prologue"
Cast of Characters:

Name Page Introduced/Described

Narrator 555

Knight 555

Squire 555

Yeoman 555

Prioress 556

Priest 556

Nun 556

Monk 556

Friar 556

Merchant 557

Oxford Student/Clerk 557

Lawyer (Sergeant of Law) 557

Franklin 557

Haberdasher 557

Carpenter 557

Weaver 557

Dyer 557

Upholsterer 557

Cook 557

Shipman 557

Physician (Doctor of Physic) 558

Wife of Bath 558

Parson 558

Plowman 558

Reeve 559

Miller 559

Summoner (Sumner) 559

Pardoner 559

Manciple 559

Innkeeper/Host 560

General Things to Consider:

Characterization: Relative "Goodness" and "Badness"

Comparison to Dante

Fabliau

Piety vs. Hypocrisy

Generational Differences

Relation of Story to Storyteller

Definition of Terms

** Homework Questions **
General Prologue:

What is a fabliau?

553:

What is a frame tale?
What overriding focus permeates Medieval Literature?

555:

When do people tend to go on pilgrimages? Why?
Where do they go? Why?
How are the Knight and the Squire different?

556:

Is the Prioress described like a "typical" nun? Explain.
What does "Amor vincit omnia" (556) mean?
How is the Monk one who "followed the ways of a newer world" (556)?

559:

Describe the Summoner's appearance. Does it fit his personality? Explain.

Other Discussion Questions:
555:

How do all the pilgrims here meet?

556:

Explain: The Friar "was an easy man to give penance, when he looked to have a good dinner" (556).
Why is it "unbecoming" for him to go "slumming" with the lepers? Should he feel otherwise?

557:

Explain the symbolic significance of this description of the Oxford student: "His little outer cloak was threadbare" (557).
What is a Franklin?
Who is Epicurus?

558:

On what field is the Physician's medical practice based?
Who was Hippocrates?
How does the Plowman compare to his brother, the Parson?
What do gaps in a woman's teeth signify?
How does the Parson compare to the Friar?

559:

What is a Manciple? a Miller? a Reeve? a Summoner? a Pardoner?
What kind of character does the Manciple have?

560:

Explain this reference to the Pardoner: "I trow he was a mare or a gelding" (560).
What does the Pardoner carry with him? Why?
Whose idea is it to tell tales? Why?

Back to Top

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

Similarities	Differences
Both Upper Middle Class/ Landed Gentry	Dante is Italian; Chaucer is English
Both Active in Public Affairs, Envoys of Government	Every one of Dante's subjects (except himself) is dead; Chaucer's are all alive.
Both Laymen with Orthodox views	Dante used Bitterness, Chaucer used Humor to criticize religious hypocrites.
Both Aware of Injustices resulting from Abuses of System Both Exposed Scoundrels and Frauds with Enthusiasm	Dante's portraits "are more decisive, more limited, more exclusively concentrated on ethical definition; Chaucer's have room for more mundane, personal, and morally neutral detail" (Norton 1894).