The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer

Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury tales, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

A satirical work perhaps centuries ahead of it's time, the 14th century C.E. The Canterbury tales gives a mainly scathing view of Britain's middle ages, and is therefore a surprising work due to the complex and somewhat brutally honest opinions of Chaucer which can be surmised throughout the narrative.

Understanding and appreciating the content of this work is a 'read between the lines' scenario, which means that Chaucer's opinions on serious issues such as feminism, politics, the Church, moral and ethical civility (or lack of) and sexuality are all discussed albeit under the guise of the book's characters.

The Canterbury tales see's a mixture of English men and women gather to take part in a mass pilgrimage, with the most infamous of the characters being the Wife of Bath, The Pardoner and The Summoner ; but if you want proof of a tale more surprising than that of the Wife of Bath, then try the story from the chapter entitled The Miller's Tale.



A surviving 14th Century manuscript of the Canterbury Tales
University of Texas


Each of the travellers have a tale to tell and it is generally one of moral-maxims, and if not, immoral-maxims! It is not all heavily laden though, there are romances, knights on journeys which mimick the Merlin sagas and the crusades, but the reflection of 14th century Brittany is one that it vivid and portrays a quasi realism which may surprise some of it's readers.


There is further reading on this work and students may wish to cross-reference it as a genre and also many of it's subject contents with Chaucer's Gulliver's travels and Homer's: The Odyssey.