General Prologue:

Click here to read part or all of the General Prologue in Middle English and (by clicking the speaker symbols to the right) listen to each passage read aloud. (This is a very interesting site that you may want to explore further.  Try clicking on Images.)  Click here to read a summary of the frame story as a whole.

1.      What time of year provides the setting for the frame story?

2.      Where did the English often go in spring during the Middle Ages? Why?

3.      Why is the narrator in Southwark at the inn?  What is the inn’s name?  (We call the narrator “Chaucer,” but he is a comical character, not the real poet himself!  Actually, several of the characters seem to be based on real people.)

4.      The Knight, who is an example of someone who lives by the code of chivalry, is characterized by his _____, ______, and ________ (l. 44).

5.      His son the Squire is an attractive, well-dressed young man who shows promise as a knight, but he seeks to excel in order to please _______ (l. 86), and he doesn’t __________ much on nights when the moon shines bright.

6.      The Yeoman, who accompanies the Knight and the Squire, is a free-born worker or woodsman from their manor whose main weapon is his __________. (He represents the kind of English fighting man who would soon make medieval knights obsolete.)

7.      The Prioress is neat and has good manners, but her motto, which is _____, seems a bit ambiguous, and her rosary sounds rather too ornamental.

8.      The richly dressed Monk enjoys _____ and is not particularly concerned with obeying the rules of his order. What opinion of his behavior does the narrator express in ll. 179-84?  Do you think we are supposed to agree?

9.      The Friar, whose name is Hubert, enjoys the company of ___ and ____, not beggars and lepers. In ll. 208-09 we learn that he has provided dowries to allow many poor girls to get married. Why do you think he does this?

10.  The Merchant is such an impressive businessman that no one would guess he is in ___.

11.  The Oxford Student (usually called the Clerk of Oxford) spends his money on ____, not food or amusement. Although he is a comic figure, what Chaucer says about him is what most teachers would like to deserve: "And gladly would he ___ and gladly ____."

12.  The Lawyer is very impressive but seems much _________ than he really is.

13.  The wealthy Franklin, who has been a member of Parliament, lives in comfort and is particularly careful to have good wine and _____________.  (Notice the reference to rich franklins as hosts in the description of the Friar, l. 212.)

14.  The Guildsmen, all prosperous tradesmen from a town, include a __________, a __________, a ____________, a ____________, and a __________________.

15.  They have with them a skilled Cook, who unfortunately has a(n) ___ on his leg.

16.  The Skipper (also called the Shipman) is a good sailor, but what do ll. 386-90 suggest about his ethics?

17.  The portrait of the  Physician is complex.  He is a good doctor who knows the medical authorities of his time, including Arabic doctors, who were far more advanced than medieval Europeans at this time.  His diagnoses are based on the “science” of _____________ (l. 402) and the theory of the humors, according to which disease was the result of an imbalance among the bodily fluids.  (The easily angered Reeve is described as a “sclendre colerick man,” a slender, choleric man, in the original language.)  Although the Physician is good at his work, he is accused of being in collusion with the _________, not respecting the ________________, and loving __________ — because it is used in medicine, of course!

18.  "A worthy woman . . . from near the city / of Bath," better known as the Wife of Bath, is a skillful ______________. (She comes from basically the same social group as the Guildsmen.) She is an experienced traveler and has had five __________.  Notice her stockings, her teeth, and her hat.

19.  The Parson is a truly __________ man (ll. 465-66) who believes that before he teaches (or preaches) he should _______________ his beliefs.  (This seems to go beyond even the idea of practicing what one preaches.)  How does his attitude toward rich sinners compare with that of the Friar?

20.  His "brother" (perhaps his sibling, but more likely his "brother in Christ")  is the Plowman, a poor man who ranks low in the medieval social scale but loves __________ and loves his _________ as himself.  As is the case with the Parson, the Plowman's Christianity shows  in his actions.

The list ends with five “rascals” who are rather more sinister than the pilgrims described before them.  Oddly, our narrator “Chaucer” lists himself along with them.

21.  The strong, tough, stout Miller, who cheats his customers, has a bright _____ beard and a ____ on his nose. He leads the pilgrims out of town playing his ____________.

22.  The Manciple is the purchasing agent for one of the Inns of Court (a law school and organization of lawyers). Although his employers are qualified to manage huge estates, he manages to ____ them all.

23.  The Reeve described as slender and ___________, was a carpenter when he was younger. He rides at the _____ of the group.  (Some scholars think we are to believe that he and the Miller have already begun the quarrel that breaks out between them later.)

24.  The Summoner (an official of the church courts, which enforced church, or canon, law with fines and punishments) is an ugly fellow whose face is ____ and who can be _____ (ll. 631-40).

25.  The Pardoner’s  pardons for sins and saints' relics are ____________, but he is good at _____________ (ll. 689-96).

These 26 pilgrims, along with the priest and nun who accompany the Prioress–see ll. 159-60–make 28. In some versions there are more pilgrims with the Prioress, perhaps accounting for the number 29, given in l. 23. To them we add "Chaucer" and the Host, whose name is Harry Bailey or Bailly, so that about 31 people will be riding toward Canterbury.

26.  Whom does “Chaucer” say we should blame if we find any of the pilgrims’ words or stories offensive?

27.  What plan does the group agree to? Who will be in charge? What is the prize?  What is the penalty for not accepting the leader’s judgment? 

Back to study questions list  (Study guides for the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale may be accessed here.)

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Last updated 03/01/06