Chaucer & Medieval English Literature

🟢 Lite — Quick Review (1h–1d)

Rapid summary for last-minute revision before your exam.

The Canterbury Tales — core text for this topic. Chaucer wrote it in Middle English (c. 1387–1400). The work comprises 24 tales told by pilgrims on their journey to Canterbury.

Key facts to memorise:

• Chaucer (c. 1343–1400) — Father of English Literature
• The Canterbury Tales — frame narrative with 24 tales
• General Prologue introduces 29 pilgrims (the Knight, Wife of Bath, Parson, Miller, etc.)
• The pilgrimage is both a religious journey and a social microcosm
• Middle English features: “whan” (when), “thanne” (then), “-eth” verb endings
• Social satire targeting Church corruption, materialism, and class hypocrisy
• Irony and humour as Chaucer’s primary techniques
• The Host (Harry Bailly) acts as the master of ceremonies

⚡ Exam tip: Questions on the General Prologue’s character sketches and Chaucer’s satire are very common. Be ready to quote a brief line (e.g., the Prioress’s “milke swete” description) to illustrate techniques.

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🟡 Standard — Regular Study (2d–2mo)

Standard content for students with a few days to months.

Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343–1400)

Chaucer served under King Edward III and Richard II, working as a clerk, courtier, and diplomat. He wrote in Middle English at a time when French and Latin dominated formal literature. His achievement was legitimising English as a literary language. His major works include The Book of the Duchess, Troilus and Criseyde, and The Canterbury Tales.

The Canterbury Tales: Structure and Form

The work uses a frame narrative (stories within a story). The pilgrims agree that each pilgrim will tell two tales on the way to Canterbury and two on the return. The Host judges the best storyteller. This structure allows Chaucer to present multiple voices and perspectives across social classes.

The General Prologue is essential reading. It presents vivid character sketches using a technique called indirect characterisation — Chaucer describes characters’ appearances, clothing, speech patterns, and behaviours to reveal their moral qualities without explicitly judging them. Notable portraits include:

• The Knight — dignified, modest, truth-loving; represents ideal chivalry now in decline
• The Wife of Bath — married five times, seeks dominance in marriage; her tale critiques patriarchal views on female sovereignty
• The Parson — a humble, learned priest who lives by Gospel poverty; the only pilgrim without obvious flaws
• The Miller — rude, boisterous, physically large; tells an obscene tale that parodies courtly romance
• The Prioress — delicate, sentimental, overly refined; her piety is sincere but somewhat performative

Themes of Social Satire

Chaucer satirises the social hierarchy of 14th-century England. The Church is a prime target: monks and friars who should be poor and devout are depicted as wealthy, gluttonous, and corrupt. The Merchant, Manciple, and Franklin represent professional and class ambition. Chaucer shows society’s moral contradictions without preaching directly — he lets the portraits speak for themselves.

The Pilgrimage Motif

The pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas à Becket at Canterbury Cathedral was a genuine religious practice in medieval England. The journey symbolises the spiritual life — a quest for grace, healing, or self-understanding. Yet Chaucer subverts the sacred purpose: the pilgrims’ tales reveal moral weakness, vanity, and hypocrisy, suggesting the spiritual quest has been hollowed out by worldly concerns.

Chaucer’s Irony and Humour

Chaucer employs several irony techniques:

• Dramatic irony — characters’ self-descriptions contradict their behaviour
• Situational irony — the most “holy” characters often tell the most immoral tales
• Parody — the Miller’s Tale parodies the Knight’s courtly romance
• Understatement — Chaucer downplays scandalous behaviour with calm, neutral language

The humour is earthy and inclusive — Chaucer laughs with, not just at, his characters.

Middle English — Key Features

The Canterbury Tales is written in the London dialect of Middle English. Students should recognise:

• Pronouns: “he” (he), “she” (she), “they” (they)
• Verb endings: “-eth” or “-th” for third person singular (“he speaketh”)
• Vocabulary: “whilom” (formerly), “worthy” (noble), “精” (noble)
• Pronunciation differences: final “-e” was often pronounced

⚡ Exam tip: When analysing character, link the General Prologue portrait to the tale the character tells — the Miller’s portrait (rude, strong) matches his tale’s boisterous obscenity.

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🔴 Extended — Deep Study (3mo+)

Comprehensive coverage for students on a longer study timeline.

Historical Context: 14th Century England

Understanding Chaucer requires knowing the tumultuous context of 14th-century England:

• The Black Death (1348–1349) killed roughly one-third to one-half of England’s population. Labour shortages gave surviving peasants leverage, destabilising the feudal order.
• The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 — Wat Tyler uprising exposed deep resentment against taxation and class oppression. Chaucer, writing just after this upheaval, navigates a society grappling with inequality.
• The Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453) against France shaped national identity and chivalric ideals — which Chaucer both celebrates and critiques.
• The weakening of the Church’s authority (culminating in the Lollard movement and later the Reformation) made religious hypocrisy a charged satirical target.

Chaucer moved in royal and mercantile circles, giving him insider knowledge of multiple social classes. His career as a customs official in Dover and later as a king’s esquire provided material for his character portraits.

Narrative Techniques in The Canterbury Tales

Chaucer uses several sophisticated techniques:

1. Unreliable narrators — pilgrims often interpret their own tales in ways that reveal their biases. The Wife of Bath’s Prologue is a sustained self-defence that inadvertently exposes her manipulation.

2. Free indirect discourse — Chaucer blends narrator’s voice with character’s voice, so it becomes unclear whose opinion is being expressed. This creates rich ambiguity.

3. The “lying” motif — several tales involve deception through disguise or false identity (the Merchant’s Tale, the Manciple’s Tale), raising questions about truth and performance.

4. Variety of genres — Chaucer moves between chivalric romance, beast fable, fabliau (coarse comic tale), saint’s life, and sermon parody, showcasing range while using genre to create meaning.

The Wife of Bath’s Tale and Prologue — Detailed Analysis

The Wife of Bath is Chaucer’s most complex female character. In her Prologue, she pre-empts clerical arguments against remarriage (from Jerome’s Adversus Jovinianum) by asserting women’s right to sexual and marital fulfilment. Her weapon is experience (authority of lived life) versus book-learning.

Her Tale, set in King Arthur’s Britain, concerns a knight who must learn “what women most desire.” He discovers the answer is “sovereignty” — the desire of women to control their own lives and relationships. The ugly old woman he marries reveals herself as a “queen” only when treated as an equal. The tale’s message (female autonomy) and its teller’s personal history (male domination) exist in productive tension.

Critical Perspectives

• Humanist reading: Chaucer reveals universal human failings across class boundaries — satire is not class warfare but moral observation.
• Feminist reading: The Wife of Bath’s challenge to patriarchal marriage represents early feminist consciousness; her voice exposes systemic female oppression.
• Marxist reading: The Canterbury Tales maps class conflict; pilgrimage becomes a metaphor for social climbing.
• Postcolonial reading: Canterbury itself — a site of martyrdom (Thomas Becket) — connects English national identity to martyred resistance against royal authority.

Passages to Memorise for the Exam

1. General Prologue, lines 1–18 (opening description of spring)
2. Wife of Bath Prologue, lines 1–18 (opening on marital authority)
3. Wife of Bath’s Tale, the old woman’s speech on sovereignty

⚡ Exam tip: Sri Lanka A/L questions often ask you to show how Chaucer uses language to create character. Revise 3–4 key portraits in detail. Practise short essay plans: one for a character-based question, one for a theme-based question.

Literary Terms to Know:

Term	Definition
Frame narrative	A story that contains other stories
Fabliau	A short, comic, often indecent tale
Indirect characterisation	Revealing character through description, not direct statement
Dramatic irony	Audience knows more than characters
Pilgrimage motif	Journey as spiritual quest or social spectacle
Chivalric romance	Medieval tale of noble adventures and love
Social satire	Critiquing society’s flaws through literature
Middle English	English language used c. 1150–1500