Canterbury Tales Test

In what month did the pilgrimage begin?

April

From where do they leave?

The Tabard Inn

What is Chaucer’s main reason for writing about the pilgrimage in the Prologue?

To describe medieval life from different points of view

What is the purpose of the trip?

To go on a pilgrimage

What is Chaucer’s primary theme in the Prologue?

The great variety of human nature

According to the prologue, how many tales will each pilgrim tell on the journey?

Two going there and two coming back

Where are the pilgrims going in the prologue?

To the cathedral in Canterbury

Whom do the pilgrims accept as their leader in the prologue?

The host

The pilgrimage is going to Canterbury to pay homage to the shrine of?

Thomas Becket

The upwardly mobile group traveled together

The guildsmen

When does the pardoner ignore people’s sins?

When he is given money

What does the pardoner include in his holy relics?

Pig bones and a pillow case

How does the friar feel about poor people?

He dislikes them

How does the friar determine who wins a dispute?

Whoever gives him money

Every level of society in medieval England is represented among the pilgrims with one exception, the…

Royalty

Chaucer’s choice of a pilgrimage is a frame story permits what?

A mingling of different of levels of medieval society

The Canterbury Tales is a…

Poem

Chaucer is known as the Father of…

English poetry

The Canterbury Tales was written in…

Middle english

The Canterbury Tales was written in…

The middle ages

Which did NOT lead to much sadness and a dark outlook on life in Chaucer’s timeline?

Viking attacks

The prologue makes us aware of how much power…

The Catholic Church had

Who is the most holy and good of the following?

The parson

Why was the Pardoner a part of the group traveling to Canterbury?

The Pardoner was a part of the group traveling to Canterbury to visit a shrine.

What was his occupation?

The Pardoner’s occupation was supposed to be a Pardoner, but he was a scammer. He wanted money, so he helped make the townspeople believe that their sins were washed away if they paid him for fake pardons.

Identify the only message he delivered in his sermons.

The Pardoner says that money is corrupt and that everyone is obsessed with it.

What was the main purpose of this message?

The main purpose is that money is bad and overpowering.

How were relics used in his meetings with parishioners?

The Pardoner would sell fake relics for more income. He made them look very real and valuable.

Explain the Pardoner’s hypocrisy. (Irony)

He charges people money for pardoning and relics.

Why do you think he exposed himself to the travelers?

After telling the travelers about his way of life and inviting them to buy his relics, the Pardoner, who is a lonely man in need of forgiveness, speaks to them.

Identify the setting of the Pardoner’s tale.

The story starts in a bar, then the story moves around the village.

How are the three main characters described?

The three main characters are villains. The pardoner tells us the sins of oath-breaking, gambling, and avarice. All these criminals are symbolized by the three characters in the tale. They are selfish because they take on more than they need.

 According to the tavern owner, who was responsible for the Black Plague?

The tavern owner claims that death is responsible for the Black Plague.

What prompts the three men to go in search of Death? What did they hope to achieve? 

The three men are motivated to search for death by the death of their old friends and stories of death that have taken many lives. They don't realize that when they approach the ancient tree, death is waiting to claim them.

Explain the men’s counter with the old man.

They were told by an elderly man that Death might be located in a specific grove beneath a particular oak tree.

What did they find in the grove under the tree?

However, upon arriving in the grove, all they noticed was a pile of golden coins.

How did greed overtake the three men?

Other sins had already started to take root in them, decreasing their defenses, so the only thing that could defeat them was greed. The Pardoner illustrates the dependence and inseparability of sins with the case of the three men.

Explain how they actually met Death.

The younger one desires to take possession of the treasure. Then, he injects two bottles of wine with poison. The other two stab the youngest when he approaches the tree. They then take a seat, sip the wine, and shed his flab. As a result, they will all pass away.