English Literature

The Canterbury Tales The General Prologue Summary & Analysis

The Canterbury Tales Summary

The Canterbury tales summary will help us in learning about the General Prologue. It gives a description of the twenty-nine people. These people are pilgrims that are going on a journey to Canterbury. What’s interesting in the Canterbury tales summary is that we learn of the tales each of them tells along the way.

The narrator is describing the pilgrims very skilfully. He lists them as per their rank and status. Thus, it contains a lot of interesting stories which will reveal the character of many pilgrims. In addition, it also tells us what the narrator thinks of them. As the group of pilgrims comprise of different personalities, clashes happen and we see the host struggling to solve them. Moreover, it is a great way of learning about the characters in detail.

The Canterbury Tales Summary in English

canterbury tales summary

The Canterbury tales summary will take us through the General Prologue in a brief manner. The General Prologue is the first part of The Canterbury Tales written by Geoffrey Chaucer.

The play starts at a tavern outside London. A group of pilgrims are present there to prepare for their journey to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury. Chaucer is the narrator of the play who meets them there.

Thus, they convince him to accompany them and so he agrees. Through the Canterbury tales summary of the General Prologue, Chaucer gives a description of the pilgrims in a pleasant and grotesque manner.

At dinner with the pilgrims, the Host proposes a plan to the group. He says that on the way to Canterbury, each pilgrim must tell two tales and then two on the return journey. The Host will be the judge of the tales he says.

Further, he goes on to say that the pilgrim with the best tale will get a free dinner at the tavern when the journey ends. Moreover, he also states that anyone challenging his judgment will have to pay the bill for the whole pilgrimage.

This excites the pilgrims and all of them agree to this proposal. Moreover, they also swear to follow the rules of this game. They ride out of Canterbury the next morning when the tale-telling session begins.

However, in no time, a pilgrim challenges the authority of the host. At the end of the first tale, the Monk is asked to tell a tale but the drunken Miller wishes to take the next turn or leave.

Further, we go on to see the Host’s authority being challenged. After all, it was inevitable with drunken pilgrim and mystifying strangers put together. On the journey, we get to hear different types of stories from the pilgrims.

However, they now start taking personal digs at each other. For instance, when a Miller tells a degrading tale about a carpenter, the latter, in return, gets offended. Thus, he whips up a tale humiliating the Miller.

This keeps repeating with the Host’s struggle to resolve the conflicts arising continually. However, it ends only after twenty-four tales instead of the intended one hundred and twenty.

Finally, it ends with a sermon which the Parson gives. It is about sin and repentance and concludes with Chaucer’s withdrawal.

Conclusion of The Canterbury Tales Summary

The Canterbury Tales summary helps in giving an overview of the characters through the general prologue. It will help further in getting to know the pilgrims in a better manner and their mannerisms.

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3 responses to “My Greatest Olympic Prize Summary”

  1. Tanjil says:

    The wonderful summary thank you for this.

  2. Niharika negi says:

    They did not belong to the family of gorden cook and you also didn’t write the spelling correct it’s James cook 😶😑

  3. hmMmm says:

    What’s funny is that Miss Fairchild said the line- “Money isn’t everything. But people always misunderstand things and remain stupid-” when she herself misunderstood the situation.

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