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

5 The Pardoner s Tale Tale BEFORE READING 1 The story so far. Reorder the following paragraphs.  I preach that money is the root of all evil, but I love money so much! People give me their money, I sell them pardons, and they are happy.  After that he started his tale.  I will be glad to tell my tale, but let us eat and drink before I start it.  The Pardoner then told the company how he made money by selling people old things, which they believed to be relics of saints, and by forgiving their sins in the name of God, but only after they had paid him. He then concluded saying, The Host was disappointed by the tragic injustice of the Physician s Tale and asked the Pardoner to tell something merry. The other pilgrims contradicted the Host, demanding a moral tale.The Pardoner agreed and said, When the Merchant had concluded his tale, the Host prayed God to help him not to marry a wife like the one the Merchant had described. He then asked the Squire to say something about his favourite subject, love. After the Squire, the Franklin and the Physician told their tales. 2 Answer the following questions. a. b. c. d. 3 Do you think the Pardoner is a good or a bad person? Why? Does he really believe in what he preaches? Was it common during the Middle Ages to pay to receive pardons? What do you think Chaucer s attitude towards this character is? The main characters in The Pardoner s Tale are three  revellers . Guess what this word means and circle the right option. Then check your answer on page 75. a. People who go around and destroy things. b. Men who like dancing, drinking, gambling, etc. in public in a noisy way. c. People who steal money and gold. A priest holding a pardon (14th c.) 74 

13 The The Canterbury Tales Pardoner s Tale Tale 5  There was once a group of three young men in Flanders1 who spent their entire time gambling2, drinking, dancing and visiting brothels3. They used to drink a lot, and as you know, many bad actions come from wine. A drunken Herod ordered innocent John the Baptist to be killed. Do not indulge in gluttony4, because violence and sins come from wine. Remember Lot5, who committed incest because he was drunk, and Samson, who revealed his secret6 to Delilah because of too much wine . One night the three men were drinking in a tavern when they heard the sound of a bell, which meant that a corpse7 was being carried to the grave8. One of the men asked his servant,  Go and find out whose corpse it is.  The servant replied,  I already know that. It is your old friend. He was suddenly killed last night by a sneaky9 thief named Death. He is a very dangerous man.  The host of the tavern agreed,  That s right, everybody was killed by Death in a village near here, during the Plague10.   Death! We must go and find him!  said one of the three friends. 1. Flanders: geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. 2. gambling: betting money on card games. 3. brothel: a place where men pay to have sex with women. 4. gluttony: the habit of eating and drinking too much. 5. Lot: biblical person whose two daughters got their father drunk, had sex with him, became pregnant and eventually gave birth to two sons. 6. Samson s secret: it lay in his long hair which gave him superhuman strength. 7. corpse: body of a dead person. 8. grave: 9. sneaky: doing things in a secret and unfair way. 10. Plague: bubonic plague (also known as the Black Death), an infectious disease that killed a lot of people during the Middle Ages. 75 

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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