Who Are The 29 Pilgrims In The Canterbury Tales?

• The Narrator. The narrator makes it quite clear that he is also a character in his book. ...
• The Knight. The first pilgrim Chaucer describes in the General Prologue, and the teller of the first tale. ...
• The Wife of Bath. ...
• The Pardoner. ...
• The Miller. ...
• The Prioress. ...
• The Monk. ...
• The Friar.

Who are the pilgrims in Canterbury Tales?

The use of a pilgrimage as the framing device enabled Chaucer to bring together people from many walks of life: knight, prioress, monk; merchant, man of law, franklin, scholarly clerk; miller, reeve, pardoner; wife of Bath and many others .

What does Pilgrim mean in Canterbury Tales?

The Canterbury Tales and Pilgrimages

The characters in The Canterbury Tales meet while on a pilgrimage , which is a journey taken for a spiritual purpose to a spiritually meaningful destination. Among Christians of the Middle Ages, pilgrimages to Israel were particularly popular.

How many pilgrims are in The Canterbury Tales?

Written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century, The Canterbury Tales tells the story of a group of 31 pilgrims who meet while travelling from the Tabard Inn in Southwark to the shrine of St Thomas Becket in Canterbury.

How does Chaucer describe the Pilgrims?

Chaucer describes the pilgrims of The Canterbury Tales as a “sondry folk” , meaning a very diverse group. They all come from different walks...

Where are the pilgrims going in the Canterbury Tales?

The tales (mostly written in verse, although some are in prose) are presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together from London to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral .

Who is Madame Eglantine?

Madame Eglantine, or The Prioress, is a central character in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. Madame Eglantine’s character serves as a sort of satire for the day, in that she is a nun who lives a secular lifestyle . It is implied that she uses her religious lifestyle as a means of social advancement.

What do the pilgrims represent?

On the allegorical level, the pilgrimage represents people’s journey through life . In The Canterbury Tales, after setting themselves to leave from the courtyard of the Tabard Inn, the pilgrims agree to tell the stories: two on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back.

Why do pilgrims visit Canterbury Cathedral?

During the Middle Ages thousands of pilgrims came on a journey to Canterbury each year to visit the shrine of Thomas Becket to pray and seek help for their problems . Many would come long distances, including from all over Europe. Some would come on foot, while those who could afford it might ride on horseback.

Why did the pilgrims decide to tell tales?

Congregating at the Tabard Inn , the pilgrims decide to tell stories to pass their time on the way to Canterbury. The Host of the Tabard Inn sets the rules for the tales. Each of the pilgrims will tell two stories on the way to Canterbury, and two stories on the return trip.

How many tales did pilgrims tell?

He lays out his plan: each of the pilgrims will tell two tales on the way to Canterbury and two more on the way back. Whomever the Host decides has told the most meaningful and comforting stories will receive a meal paid for by the rest of the pilgrims upon their return.

Where did the Canterbury Tales journey begin?

The action begins at a tavern just outside of London , circa 1390, where a group of pilgrims have gathered in preparation for their journey to visit the shrine of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury. The narrator, Chaucer, encounters them there and becomes one of their company.

Who tells the first tale in Canterbury tales?

The Knight – a man of honor, truth, and chivalry; tells the 1st tale.

How many pilgrims did Chaucer Pilgrim meet and join on the pilgrimage?

Terms in this set (28) Who did the narrator meet in the Tabard inn? He met 29 pilgrims .

What are the different types of pilgrimages?

Three types of pilgrimages – Regional, National, and Intemational – are defined on the basis of the percentage of pilgrims who have traveled specified distances.

Where did the pilgrims meet to begin their journey?

The book tells the story of some pilgrims who went to Canterbury together. On their journey from London, they each told a story – a tale. The pilgrims met at a house called the Tabard Inn in London .

Where did the Pilgrims come from?

Some 100 people, many of them seeking religious freedom in the New World, set sail from England on the Mayflower in September 1620. That November, the ship landed on the shores of Cape Cod, in present-day Massachusetts.

Who is the narrator of The Canterbury Tales?

The Canterbury Tales uses the first-person point of view in the General Prologue and the frame narrative; Chaucer , the narrator, speaks from his own perspective on the events of the story contest and the pilgrims who tell the tales.

Where are his pilgrims going and why?

Many devout English pilgrims set off to visit shrines in distant holy lands , but even more choose to travel to Canterbury to visit the relics of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, where they thank the martyr for having helped them when they were in need.

How does the pilgrims before to the Canterbury?

The initial 30 pilgrims are all gathered at the Tabard inn prior to starting their pilgrimage. The end goal of their travels is Canterbury, which seems like a cop out answer. The reason that all of the travelers are going to Canterbury is to pay their respects to Saint Thomas a Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Who is the monk in The Canterbury Tales?

The Monk, one of the thirty pilgrims travelling on a pilgrimage to Canterbury in The Canterbury Tales, is nothing like the usual monk many people imagine. He is rebellious, ignores rules, and lives and controls his own life.

Who travels with the nun in Canterbury Tales?

The Prioress is traveling with a nun and two priests, but even though she is supposedly a woman of faith, her story serves as evidence of her anti-Semitism.

Why are the characters in The Canterbury Tales going on a pilgrimage to Canterbury?

The characters in The Canterbury Tales tell stories to pass time on their pilgrimage to Canterbury and to compete for a free supper . As the Host observes, “rid[ing] . . . dumb as a stone” is no fun, so the travelers naturally plan to “amuse [themselves]” with stories on the days-long trip to the Canterbury Cathedral.

Why did Chaucer write The Canterbury Tales?

The tales could be described both as social realism and as estates satire. At the same time that Chaucer takes care to honestly show the perspective of each of his characters, he also aims to critique the hypocrisy of the church and the social problems posed by Medieval politics and social custom.

Who were the Pilgrims in the heart of darkness?

The pilgrims in Heart of Darkness are anything but spiritual beings . They are “cynics” who believe that “goodness and faith [are] unrealities.” The “pilgrims” are actually Company men. They look like pilgrims because they carry staves (long sticks or poles) with them wherever they go.

Who started the tradition of the pilgrimage to Canterbury?

Chaucer introduces his pilgrimage by saying that people want to travel in spring on pilgrimages, especially to the shrine of St Thomas Becket in Canterbury – who has helped them when they were sick (I 18).

What’s the plot in The Canterbury Tales?

In The Canterbury Tales, a group of pilgrims traveling to Canterbury Cathedral compete in a storytelling contest . This overarching plot, or frame, provides a reason for the pilgrims to tell their stories, which reflect the concerns sparked by the social upheavals of late medieval England.

Where did the pilgrims assemble?

The Tabard Inn in The Canterbury Tales

At the beginning of The Canterbury Tales, the pilgrims gather in Southwark, England at The Tabard Inn before they embark on their pilgrimage, or journey to a religiously significant place. The characters are traveling to Canterbury Cathedral to see the shrine of Thomas Becket.

What does Canterbury Tales start with?

The Canterbury Tales begins with a Prologue (which means “a few words to begin”). In the prologue Chaucer describes the time of year, which is April, when the weather begins to get warmer after winter. He says that it is at this time that people begin to go on pilgrimage.

When did the pilgrimage start?

Aside from the early example of Origen in the third century , surviving descriptions of Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land date from the 4th century, when pilgrimage was encouraged by church fathers including Saint Jerome, and established by Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great.

How do the pilgrims decide who will tell the first tale?

Harry Bailly proposes a way in which the pilgrims can entertain each other on their journey. ... The other pilgrims agree that Harry Bailly should judge who tells the best tale. In order to decide who will tell the first story, Harry Bailly asks the Knight, the Clerk and the Prioress to draw straws.

Where does the Pilgrims Way start and finish?

Which characters pilgrims are in the first estate?

The First Estate was the Church and members of its religious hierarchy. The five characters in The Canterbury Tales who fall into this class include the Prioress, Monk, Friar, Parson, and Pardoner . These characters were born into one of the other two Estates and chose to commit their lives to the Church.