Geoffrey Chaucer

a cura di R. Beolè
 
 A group of pilgrims are on their way to Canterbury to visit Thomas Becket's shrine. They decide that each of them will tell a story of their own. A cross-section of the 14thcentury society, realistically highlighted in the General Prologue, and in tales such as The Knight's Tale, The Miller's Tale, The Wife of Bath's Tale, The Merchant's Tale and The Pardoner's Tale.
 A historical and linguistic presentation introduces the book; stimulating closer examinations enrich each tale.
 
 Teacher's Resources available online: Answer Key - Audioscripts - Summing-up Activities
 
 Sulla strada verso Canterbury, in visita al santuario di Thomas Becket, un gruppo di pellegrini decide di raccontare ognuno una propria storia. Uno spaccato della società inglese del XIV secolo, evidenziato realisticamente nel General Prologue e da racconti quali The Knight’s Tale, The Miller’s Tale, The Wife of Bath’s Tale, The Merchant’s Tale e The Pardoner’s Tale. Arricchiscono il reader l’introduzione al periodo e all’opera, e approfondimenti sulle tematiche presenti nei vari racconti.

Introduction to The Canterbury Tales

General Prologue

Extension: Medieval pilgrimages

Tale 1 – The Knight’s Tale

Extension: The Knight

Tale 2 – The Miller’s Tale

Extension: The fabliau

Tale 3 – The Wife of Bath (Prologue and Tale)

Extension: The loathly lady

Tale 4 – The Merchant’s Tale

Extension: Trade in the Middle Ages

Tale 5 – The Pardoner’s Tale

Extension: Stage and film adaptations

Summing-up activities

Glossary

INTRODUCTION Chaucer s times Chaucer lived in a time of incredible tension in English society. The Black Death, ravaging1 England during Chaucer s childhood and remaining widespread afterwards, killed from thirty to fifty percent of the population. As a consequence, the labour force gained2 increased influence and was able to ask for better pay. This led to resentment from the nobles and propertied classes3, who received another blow in 1381, when the peasantry4, helped by the artisan class, revolted against them. The merchants were also increasing their power over the legal establishment, as the Hundred Years  War created profit for England. Consequently, demand for luxury5 was growing. When Chaucer was growing up, London was governed by an oligarchy of merchants, attempting6 to control both the aristocracy and the artisan classes. 1. ravaging: causing great damage to. 2. gained: acquired. 3. propertied classes: people owning vast areas of land. 4. peasantry: people farming the land. 5. luxury: very great comfort and pleasure. 6. attempting: trying. The Black Death (The Toggengurg Bible, 1411) 6 

The making of Middle English Modern English has its roots in the language of the Germanic dialects of the tribes of north-western Europe   Angles, Saxons and Jutes   who invaded Britain in the 5th century after the withdrawal7 of the Romans. The term England first appears as Englaland around the year 1000. It means  the land of the Engle , that is, the Angles. In fact, at a certain point the Angles became more powerful   and so more important   than the other two tribes. The language of these tribes came to be called Englisc. In the 9th century, there was another wave of invaders, the Vikings, from Denmark, Sweden and Norway who also influenced Englisc. Today, we call Englisc Old English (OE). Old English was the language of the Anglo-Saxon people until 1066. The Norman invasion of England in 1066 brought French (F) to the land. The arrival of French accelerated changes that were already occurring in Old English. The Normans spoke French influenced by Germanic dialect. This dialect was Norman French. This led to the unusual situation in which the common people spoke one language (English), and the aristocrats another (Norman French). Naturally, the two languages began to mix together into what we now call Middle English (ME). By the 13th century approximately 10,000 French words had come into English. About three-quarters of these French loans8 are still in the language today. These new words duplicated ones that existed in Old English since Anglo-Saxon times. Sometimes one word replaced the other or both co-existed but developed slightly different meanings. For example, doom (OE) and judgment (F), hearty (OE) and cordial (F), and house (OE) and mansion (F). Spelling changes also occurred. The Norman scribes listened to the English they heard around them, and began to spell it according to the conventions they had previously used for French, such as qu for cw (queen for cwen). The scribes also introduced gh (instead of h) in such words as night and enough, and ch (instead of c) in such words as church. Another change introduced was ou for u (as in house). One more change was the use of c before e (instead of s) in such words as cercle (circle) and cell. Other changes took place as Old English evolved into Middle English, such as less freedom in word order, loss of grammatical 7. withdrawal: the act of moving away from a place. 8. loan: (here) a word coming from another language. 7 

Esplora i racconti dei pellegrini verso Canterbury e la società inglese del XIV secolo, arricchiti da approfondimenti storici e tematici.

The Canterbury Tales Collana RAINBOWS

Level B1 • Pre-Intermediate - Collana RAINBOWS

The Canterbury Tales

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