Courtly Love and Chivalry

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1 McNair s Honors English 12 Canterbury Tales Test Review Guide General Prologue: You should know the following terms and characters from the Prologue Framing (frame story) Juxtaposition Physiognomy Direct Characterization Indirect Characterization Theme (as it applies to each of the tales) Satire Allegory Fabliau Exemplum Courtly Love Be able to explain why Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales Know what each pilgrim represents in the time period Know the reasons why the pilgrims were going on the journey Know the significance of Springtime in the story Thomas a Beckett What is the overall message Chaucer is trying to discuss in the tales? How does Chaucer treat those characters connected to the church? What are the three levels of society represented? The order the characters were chosen to tell their tales (and why significant). How the characters outside characteristics match their inside personalities. Courtly Love and Chivalry Know the following courtly love traits and how they affect the stories It is not proper to love any woman whom one would be ashamed to seek to marry. A man in love is always apprehensive. He who is not jealous cannot love. When one lover dies, a widowhood of two years is required of the survivor. No one should be deprived of love without the very best of reasons. That which a lover takes against the will of his beloved has no relish. When made public love rarely endures. A true lover considers nothing good except what he thinks will please his beloved. Know the code of chivalry and it relates to the Canterbury Tales. Medieval Code of Chivalry the Oaths made during the Knighthood Ceremony The entry into Knighthood was highly ritualized which started with a Night Vigil in the Chapel of the Castle. The Knight swore an oath of allegiance to the lord and swore the following oaths: Never traffic with traitors Never give evil counsel to a lady, whether married or not; he must treat her with great respect and defend her against all To observe fasts and abstinences, and every day hear Mass and make an offering in Church The Public ceremony of Knighthood followed a deeply religious ceremony with blessings from the Church to go forward and protect the church by the use of arms.

2 Wife of Bath, Pardoner, and Miller s Tales Who are the rioters? Describe their situation. Explain the situational irony that their story is centered around. (Pardoner s Tale) What is avarice and how does it affect the rioters in the story? How is our Pardoner different than how you would expect him to behave? Know the role of the old man and of Death. Know the morale of the all three of the tales. Know the significance of the Midas tale and the importance of women in the WOB tale. In The Wife of Bath s Tale, what is the knight guilty of? What are the conditions of his punishment? What does he learn through the course of the story? (Wife of Bath s Tale) How is The Miller s Tale considered a fabliau? In the blank, write the name of the pilgrim being described, and the lines from the Prologue where each description is found. Be able to match pilgrims by their description from the Prologue. 1. Yet he was rather close as to expenses And kept the gold he won in pestilences. Gold stimulated the heart, or so we re told He therefore had a special love for gold. Pilgrim Scavenger Hunt 2. His was a master-hand at stealing grain. He felt it with his thumb and thus he knew Its quality and took three times his due 3. Garlic he loved, and onions and leeks, And drinking strong wine till all was hazy. Then he would shout and jabber as if crazy 4. His house was never short of bake-meat pies, Of fish and flesh, and these in such supplies It positively snowed with meat and drink And all the dainties that a man could think 5. He knew the taverns well in every town And every innkeeper and barmaid too Better than lepers, beggars and that crew, 6. His wits to work, none knew he was in debt. He was so stately in negotiation. Loans, bargain, and commercial obligation. 7. She used to weep if she but saw a mouse Caught in a trap, if it were dead or bleeding And she had little dogs she would be feeding 8. He was also a learned man, a clerk, Who truly knew Christ s gospels and would preach it Devoutly to parishioners, and teach it.

3 9. He sewed a holy relic on his cap; His wallet lay before him on his lap, Brimful of pardons come from Rome all hot. He had the same small voice as a goat has got. 10. In company she liked to laugh and chat And knew the remedies of love s mischances An art in which she knew the oldest dances. 11. Greyhounds he had, as swift as birds, to course Hunting a hare or riding at fence Was all his fun, he spared for no expense 12. But what a pity so it seemed to me, That he should have an ulcer on his knee. As for blancmange, he made it with the best. 13., a most distinguished man, Who from the day on which he first began To ride abroad had followed chivalry, Truth, honor, generousness, and courtesy. 14. The nicer rules of conscience he ignored. If, when he fought, the enemy vessel sank, He sent his prisoners home; they walked the plank. 15. Whatever money from his friends he took He spent on learning or another book Nowhere there was so busy a man as he; But was less busy than he seemed to be. He knew of every judgment, case and crime recorded 16. And he would help the poor for the love of Christ and never take a penny He paid his tithes in full when they were due On what he owned, and on his earnings too 17. He gave us great welcome; everyone was given a place and supper was begun. He served the finest victuals you could think 18. A better hand at bargains than his lord, He had grown rich and had a store of treasure Well tucked away, yet out it came to pleasure His lord with subtle loans or gifts of goods Quotes know the following and what it means (especially the irony/satire) 19. When in April 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,

4 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 And palmers long to seek the stranger strands Of far-off saints, hallowed in sundry lands, And specially, from every shire s end Of England, down to Canterbury they wend To seek the holy blissful martyr, quick To give his help to them when they were sick. 20. Thrice in the lists, and always killed his man. This same distinguished knight had led the van Once with the Bey of Balat, doing work For him against another heathen Turk; He was of sovereign value in all eyes. And thought so much distinguished, he was wise And in his bearing modest as a maid. He never yet a boorish thing had said In all his life to any, come what might; He was a true, a perfect gentle-knight. Speaking of his equipment, he possessed Fine horses, but he was not gaily dressed. He wore a fustian tunic stained and dark With smudges where his armor had left his mark; Just home from service, he had joined our ranks 21. He knew the way to sit a horse and ride. He could make songs and poems and recite, Knew how to joust and dance, to draw and write. He loved so hotly that till dawn grew pale He slept as little as a nightingale. Courteous he was, lowly and serviceable, And carved to serve his father at the table. 22. He was embroidered like a meadow bright And full of freshest flowers, red and white. Singing he was, or fluting all the day; He was as fresh as is the month of May. He also could make songs and poems and recite Knew how to joust and dance, to draw and write. 23. And she spoke daintily in French, extremely, After the school of Stratford-atte-Bowe; French in the Paris style she did not know. 24. Pleasant and friendly in her ways, and straining To counterfeit a courtly kind of grace, Her nose was elegant, her eyes glass-grey;

5 Her mouth was very small, but soft and red, Her forehead, certainly, was fair of spread, Almost a span across the brows, I own; 25. She was indeed by no means undergrown. And she had little dogs she would be feeding With roasted flesh, or milk, or fine white bread. And bitterly she wept if one were dead Or someone took a stick and made it smart; She was all sentiment and tender heart. Her veil was gathered in a seemly way, Her nose elegant, her eyes glass-grey; Her mouth was very small, but soft and red, Her forehead certainly, was fair of spread, Almost a span across the brows, I own 26. Aye, and as loud as does the chapel bell, Where my lord Monk was Prior of the cell. The Rule of good St. Benet or St. Maur As old and strict he tended to ignore; He let go by the things of yesterday And took the modern world s more spacious way Was he to study till his head went round Poring over books in cloisters? Must he toil As Austin bade and till the very soil? Was he to leave the world upon the shelf? Let Austin have his labor to himself. 27. Hunting a hare or riding at a fence Was all his fun, he spared for no expense. I saw his sleeves were garnished at the hand With fine grey fur, the finest in the land, His prominent eyeballs never seemed to settle. They glittered like the flames beneath a kettle. 28. Had hair as yellow as wax, Hanging down smoothly like a hank of flaz. In driblets fell his locks behind his head Down to his shoulders which they overspread; Thinly they fell, like rat-tails, one by one. His chin no beard had harbored, nor would harbor, Smoother than ever chin was left by barber. 29. Is it a bargain, said the first, or no? For I can tell you in a word or so What s to be done to bring the thing about. Trust me, the other said, you needn t doubt My word. I won t betray you, I ll be true 30. Do no more harm to an old man than you, Being now young, would have another do When you are old if you should live then. And so may God be with you, gentlemen, For I must go whither I have to go.

Cambridge University Press Stories from Chaucer: Re-Told from the Canterbury Tales Margaret C. Macaulay Excerpt More information

Cambridge University Press Stories from Chaucer: Re-Told from the Canterbury Tales Margaret C. Macaulay Excerpt More information THE PROLOGUE WHEN April showers have pierced the drought of March, moistening each root, and bathing the veins of every plant so that the flowers begin to bud; when the sweet breath of the west wind has