The Canterbury Tales and the pilgrimage narrated in the poem is not just a piece of literature but a representation of the modern world outlook in a nutshell. Basically pilgrims are commonly referred to people who flock together and travel to a shrine for religious purposes.
Geoffrey Chaucer had used this device of social interaction very dexterously to spin his own tale. Check out the summary of The Canterbury Tales!
The Canterbury Tales summary
Contents
The Canterbury tales is the tale about the pilgrimage of twenty-nine pilgrims. Most of the people set their mind up for pilgrimage in the month of April, the narrator also decides to go to the Canterbury cathedral. He spent a night before starting the journey in a tavern, Tabard Inn. There he met a group of pilgrims.
The pilgrims were also going to Canterbury, they happily included narrator to their group. In the next morning Harry Bailey, the host proposed them to tell a tale to reduce the fatigue of the path. He also added that the best storyteller will get a free meal at tabard upon their return.
Chaucer then invokes the muse through the storytelling contest. That contest is the real Icing-on-the-cake in the respect of this immortalized creation. Each story has a different literary genre. The book thus becomes an anthology of literary genius from great paraphernalia of people.
Cathedral of the pilgrims of the tale of Chaucer
In the tale, pilgrims are going to Canterbury Cathedral to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket.
Who were the 29 pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales pilgrims chart
We can see the diversity among the pilgrims. They are not from a single class, not from the same status. It is like whole London is travelling together and that is why Canterbury Tales is largely celebrated till now.
Let us have a look on the list of the characters of the, there were twenty-nine pilgrims who were
the knight,
the miller,
the reeve,
the cook,
the man of laws,
the wife of bath,
the friar,
the summoner,
the clerk,
the merchant,
the squire,
the franklin,
the physician,
the pardoner,
the shipman,
the prioress,
sir Thopas Melibee,
the monk,
two nuns,
the knight’s yeoman,
the manciple,
the parson,
the tapestry maker,
the dyer,
the weaver,
the carpenter,
the haberdasher and
the host Harry Bailey.
What were the names of the pilgrims in Canterbury Tales?
There were 29 pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales. All of the pilgrims do not have a name. some of the ones who had names were Harry Bailey, the host, Sir Thopas Melibee, the monk and the narrator is Chaucer himself.
The other characters are just mentioned by their profession and that is enumerated in the previous section.
Where did the pilgrims meet in Canterbury Tales?
The pilgrims met at Tabard Inn in Canterbury Tales. The inn is a tavern situated in London.
Canterbury tales characters facts
Before discussing the pilgrims we must make this sure that Chaucer was unable to complete his book and the return journey from Canterbury is not mentioned.
Chaucer had used different meters for different characters. For knight, he used iambic heptameter.
“Ther was a duc that highte Theseus;
There was a duke who was called Theseus;”
For the wife of bath he used iambic monometer.
“Of why I tore from out his book a leaf
For which he struck me so it made me deaf.”
Conscious use of these meters is very significant. It not only distinguishes the characters but also help the readers to understand the psychology of the characters.
What is the rhyming scheme of Canterbury Tales?
The general narrative of the work is written in a strange format. Every line has ten syllables. Every syllable has an alternating accent. Every line ends with a regular rhyming scheme.
This adjustment of syllabic vocabulary was noire in England those days. Though later we came to know this arrangement of words as “Heroic Couplet”. In this sense, the story is a pathfinder too!
Besides this, there are as many as eight different literary genres discovered in the writing of Chaucer. They are:
- religious legend
- courtly romance
- racy fabliau
- saint’s life
- allegorical tale
- beast fable
- medieval sermon
- alchemical account
Why are the pilgrims going to Canterbury?
After the previous discussion, there is nothing new in this discussion. The fact what makes us more contemplative that why did Chaucer choose Canterbury Cathedral and more significantly why Thomas Becket?
Let us study about the real-life stories of Canterbury cathedral and sir Thomas Becket.
What is the story of Thomas Beckett of Canterbury Cathedral?
Thomas Beckett was the archbishop of Canterbury. He was also a friend to the king Henry the second. The strife between the two began with the question of the supremacy of the almighty over Human beings.
Henry presided over the clergy at the Clarendon Palace. There he proclaimed himself the highest and wanted to shun the connections with the Roman Church. All the other members of the clergy admitted to the superiority of the regality but Beckett. Beckett said that God was Almighty and the king should in no way encroach that position.
The King of France wished to give refuge to him and he went to Pontigony. The King’s increased threats to rage war compelled Beckett to return to Sans. He went on saying that he shall never bow down to the supremacy of a King over God.
The people supported Beckett as they were vexed with the autocracy of the king. The people deemed Beckett as purgatory to all their sufferings. To the commoners, Beckett was a heroic figure.
King Henry openly had proclaimed that he wanted to get rid of this “turbulent priest”. He said that how could a son of a low cleric, fed on royal seeds, be such a traitor!
On the 29th of December 1170, four knights attacked Beckett in the hall for Vespers and murdered him. Ever since then Beckett is deemed as a free voice. His courage to speak against the great Royal Power is taken as a voice of discord against all wrongs inflicted upon people. People deem him to be a saint for God!
Why did Chaucer take the Pilgrims to Canterbury cathedral?
The intriguing question which keeps tickling us is that why among all did Chaucer take his pilgrims to the Canterbury Cathedral? Geoffrey Chaucer was himself silent on this proposition.
We might assume that there must be a reason behind such an action. If we throw some light upon the time when the stories were being written we shall see that the year 1633 was also inflicted with a growing discontent against the policies of the King.
People were unhappy with the decisions. The rise of the Bourgeoisie class was a threat to the age-old hierarchy of the King. The Bubonic plague had left people’s lives devastated.
In this conjecture when Chaucer, who as usual in critiquing the King many times and oft, chooses that church as the destination where the clergyman had revolted against the king and was assassinated, we might draw a conclusion though Chaucer did not himself edifice any strong inference.
We might ascertain that this was a deliberate action trying to prove to people that it is never late or less for a revolt against the tyranny. Chaucer might have intended to create a subtle indication to the people that if the nation where there were people like the archbishop of Canterbury, you can always raise your voice against state atrocities.
This is a hypothesis but art in its essence gives us indications rather than clear cut explanations. It depends on the later generations to unlock the hidden signals. Chaucer was a successful writer that he had kept a part of mysticism in construction the destination as the church of Canterbury.
Who are the pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales
When we give a reading to this immortal creation of Geoffrey Chaucer, we clearly understand that the pilgrims were 29 people coming from different classes of the society.
On second thought we can come to this conclusion that these people coming from different stands of life can represent the whole world. Here we find a miller, a knight, a monk, a woman all in the same journey. We find people from high ranks, knighted people to people of lower ranks.
As we have already enumerated, the pilgrimage is the sole tool in the hands of the creator through which he can amalgamate so many people in one bracket. The pilgrims are thus, hypothetically as per the analysis of many scholars, the representatives of men all around the globe.
These people are coming together and going to the famous cathedral of Saint Thomas Beckett who had raised his voice against the king. It might be possible that Chaucer, through his subtle sense of literary genius had tried to indicate this to the minds of men that it is never late to form a group and know people. It is never late to be human!
