Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales is about an unrelated group of twenty-nine pilgrims traveling together on a pilgrimage. One of the major aspects of the journey is the unique diversity of the characters. There are knights, nuns, monks, lower-class tradesman and single women. They interact together and tell each other their tales.
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According to the Norton Anthology, "Chaucer's original plan for The Canterbury Tales projected about one hundred twenty stories two for each pilgrim to tell on the way to Canterbury and two more on the way back. Chaucer actually completed only twenty-two, although two more exist in fragments" (Norton 79). One of the characteristics that makes Chaucer's work so convincing is his ability to present characters that have real life qualities. Many women can relate to the Wife of Bath, and many college students can relate to the Squire with his lady friends.
The narrator of the tales is Geoffrey Chaucer himself: but he speaks though a variety of media: "...
