General Prologue
Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote . . . (See Important Quotations Explained)The narrator opens the General Prologue with a description of the return of spring. He describes the April rains, the burgeoning flowers and leaves, and the chirping birds. Around this time of year, the narrator says, people begin to feel the desire to go on a pilgrimage. Many devout English pilgrims set off to visit shrines in distant holy lands, but even more choose to travel to Canterbury to visit the relics of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, where they thank the martyr for having helped them when they were in need. The narrator tells us that as he prepared to go on such a pilgrimage, staying at a tavern in Southwark called the Tabard Inn, a great company of twenty-nine travelers entered. The travelers were a diverse group who, like the narrator, were on their way to Canterbury. They happily agreed to let him join them. That night, the group slept at the Tabard, and woke up early the next morning to set off on their journey. Before continuing the tale, the narrator declares his intent to list and describe each of the member
The knight and the old woman travel together to the court, where, in front of a large audience, the knight tells the queen the answer with which the old woman supplied him: what women most desire is to be in charge of their husbands and lovers. The Miller begins his story: there was once an Oxford student named Nicholas, who studied astrology and was well acquainted with the art of love. The Wife of Bath tells him to have patience and to listen to the whole tale to see if it reveals the truth about marriage. Her family may be poor, but real poverty lies in covetousness, and real riches lie in having little and wanting nothing. Realizing that she has digressed, she returns to the story of her fourth husband. She says that men can only guess and interpret what Jesus meant when he told a Samaritan woman that her fifth husband was not her husband. The next morning, the Host wakes everyone up and gathers the pilgrims together. He died while she was on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Some claim women love money best, some honor, some jolliness, some looks, some sex, some remarriage, some flattery, and some say that women most want to be free to do as they wish. Hoping to stop in for a kiss, or perhaps more, from Alisoun, Absalon sidles up to the window and calls to her. The narrator compliments their shiny dress and mentions that each was fit to be a city official. Arthur, wisely obedient to wifely counsel, grants their request. Of her five husbands, three have been "good" and two have been "bad. He is a dutiful son, and fulfills his responsibilities toward his father, such as carving his meat. He is immensely stout and strong, able to lift doors off their hinges or knock them down by running at them with his head.
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Acceptance Essays
