The Medieval Period A.Introduction 1. the medieval mind—”post apocalyptic” 2. bad times / hard...
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The Medieval Period A. Introduction 1. the medieval mind—”post apocalyptic” 2. bad times / hard times
Transcript of The Medieval Period A.Introduction 1. the medieval mind—”post apocalyptic” 2. bad times / hard...
The Medieval Period
A. Introduction1. the medieval mind—”post apocalyptic”
2. bad times / hard times
A. Introduction to Medieval Literature
3. The allegorical mind--seeing the great code
--spiritual reality behind the physical world
4. The concept of God in the medival culture
5. The concept (personification) of Death
B. Chaucer: the Father of English Literature
B. Chaucer
1. Biographical background
2. Father of English Literature—Why?a.
b.
c.
B. Geoffrey Chaucer
3. The Canterbury Talesa. The use of the “frame story” device
1. what it is
2. Chaucer’s Frame Storya. The frame is as important
b. pilgrims are a cross section of med-
ieval life
The Canterbury Pilgrims—Representing All of Us on the Great Journey, Telling Stories
by William Blake
3. The Canterbury Tales
3. The Art of the Canterbury Talesa.
b.
c.
The travelers at the Tabard Inn
4. The Prologue
a. Characters as types
b. Rich detail
c. Allegorical level ofthe pilgrims and theirjourney
5. The Pardoner’s Tale
a. What was a pardoner?
1.
2.
b. Chaucer’s Pardoner –a complete
fraud
6. The Miller’s Tale
a. What is a miller?
b. The genre—fablieau
c. Two stock plots
7. The Reeve’s Tale
a. Response to the Miller
b. What is a reeve?
c. The unity of the tale’s theme with the frame’s
theme
8. The Wife of Bath’s Tale
8. The Wife of Bath’s Tale
a. The Character of the Wife of
Bath (what’s Bath?)
1. archetypal (Venus and
Mars)
2. married five times
(nos. 1, 2, and 3—
elderly and dominated)
no. 4—cheated, but she brought him back by pretending her own affair
8. Wife of Bath’s Tale (continued)
no. 5—the only one she truly loved (he was young) and who made her miserable
3. worldly, honest, plain-spoken, sexual (uses it for pleasure and for power)
4. Fifth marriage (to Jankin) mirrors the marriage in the tale
8. Wife of Bath
b. The Tale
1. the tale mirrors the pilgrim
2. medieval romance
3. character of the knight (all men)--ugly
8. Wife of Bath’s Tale
3. character of the knight (all men)--ugly
no honor
no respect
no gratitude
no courage
snobbish
thinks only of self
8. Wife of Bath’s Tale
4. character of the old woman*reflection of the Wife*rebukes knight’s
snobbery three ways:
5. Main theme of the Tale
6. The Fairy Tale Aspect
C. Conclusion
What makes Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales great?
1. the scope of his vision and achievement
2. the allegory of the travelers
3. Chaucer’s humanity
