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{{work}}
{{Infobox book
[[File:pilgrims.jpg|frame|Are we there yet?|I know a shortcut!|My saddle chafes.|If I tell you a story, will you all ''shut up?'']]▼
| title =
| original title =
| image = pilgrims.jpg
▲
| author = Geoffrey Chaucer
| central theme =
| elevator pitch = A collection of short stories, in various genres
| genre =
| publication date = c. 1400
| source page exists = yes
| wiki URL =
| wiki name =
}}
{{quote|''"[[British Weather|Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote,]]''
''[[Happy Rain|The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote]],''
''[[World
''[[Creating Life|Of which vertu engendred is the flour]];''
''[[Classical Mythology|Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth]]''
''[[Blow You Away|Inspired hath in every holt and heeth]]''
''[[Cue the Sun|The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne]]''
''[[Western Zodiac|Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne]] ''
''[[Noisy Nature|And smale fowles maken melodye,]]''
''[[The Sleepless|That slepen al the night with open ye,]]''
''[[Call to Adventure|So priketh hem nature in hir corages:]]''
''[[Jumped At the Call|Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,]]''
''[[Walking the Earth|And palmers for to seken straunge strondes,]]''
''[[Foreign Culture Fetish|To ferne halwes, couthe in sondry londes;]]''
''[[The Quest|And specially, from every shires ende]]''
''[[Home Counties|Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,]]''
''[[Martyrdom Culture|The holy blisful martir for to seke,]]''
''[[Find the Cure|That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seke.]]"''|Geoffrey Chaucer, ''[[
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of short stories written in Late [[History of English|Middle English]] by [[
The pilgrims' tales cover a wide variety of genres, from morality plays to romances to bawdy tales with lots of sex and fart jokes.
The tales are often published these days in verse "translations" (or even in prose), but as the excerpt of the opening lines above shows, they are perfectly comprehensible in the original in a good edition with footnotes.
----▼
▲----
{{tropelist}}
* [[Abhorrent Admirer]]: The "loathly lady" in the Wife of Bath's Tale.
* [[All Women Are Lustful]]: Invoked repeatedly, most particularly with the Wife of Bath, but also subverted, [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]], and deconstructed; Chaucer definitely got a lot of mileage out of this trope.
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* [[Break the Haughty]]: The theme of the Monk's Tale. It's not just one story, he picks a famous great figure, then tells about how he failed and died, then moves onto another one, over and over again. He says he has a hundred, but the Knight cuts him off after seventeen when he gets to Peter of Cyprus -- [[Too Soon|The Knight's former commander]].
** The [[Designated Hero]] of the Wife of Bath's tale also gets a well-deserved lesson or two on treating women right.
* [[Brother
* [[Buffy
{{quote|
* [[But I Digress]]: The Knight does this ''all the time''. Naturally, everybody else mocks him for it.
* [[Cain and Abel]]: Arcite and Palamon in the Knight's Tale.
* [[Camp Straight]]: Absalon in the Miller's Tale
* [[Card
* [[Character Development]]: Most obvious (and essential) in the Wife of Bath's Tale, as a [[Designated Hero|rapist]] learns a [[Break the Haughty|lesson in humility.]]
* [[The
** There's also the fact that the Merchant tells his tale with an intent of showing how marriage is terrible and women are lying liars who lie. Made hilarious due to the fact that the Merchant is drawing from his two months of experience in the realm of marriage to condemn the whole thing.
* [[Cock
* [[Content Warnings]]: In "The Miller's Prologue", the narrator makes an aside to warn the reader that the upcoming tale is going to be obscene.
** An indirect example: the miller himself basically tells everyone "Okay, I'm stinking drunk, so if anyone gets offended by what I say, blame it on the Southwerk ale."
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** Alexander Pope also wrote a few works that combined this with a pastiche/parody.
** In one of the first pieces of [[Fan Fiction]], there is a narrative tale ''The Tale of Beryn'' which makes the Pardoner's sexuality less ambiguous by showing his attempts to seduce a tavern wench.
** The prologue of ''The Siege of Thebes'' by John Lydgate, one of Chaucer's literary successors, includes a [[Self
** Numerous late medieval authors attempted to complete the unfinished bits of the Tales, as well; there are a few efforts at finishing the Cook's Tale, and two different efforts at a tale for the Plowman (the only pilgrim described in the General Prologue who doesn't tell even an unfinished tale), the better known of which was meant to suggest that Chaucer was essentially a proto-Protestant.
* [[Flying Dutchman]]: The old man in "The Pardoner's Tale".
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* [[Good Bad Girl]]: According to her at least, the Wife of Bath. May be the [[Ur Example]].
* [[Gosh Dang It to Heck]]: the Prioress:
{{quote|
* [[Good Shepherd]]: The parson, who is also the only religious character who isn't corrupt.
** That's not quite fair, some of the other nuns (minus the Prioress) seem pretty faithful and although the Nun's Priest has some worldly beliefs, he doesn't seem to act on them.
* [[Handsome Lech]]: Nicholas in "The Miller's Tale"
* [[History of English]]: Hugely, hugely important in the development of English as a literary language. Chaucer's work is arguably responsible for the adoption of his London dialect as the standard from which modern English developed. The roughly contemporary ''[[Sir Gawain and
* [[Holy City]]: Canterbury itself.
* [[Honor
* [[Hurricane of Puns]]
* [[The Joy of X]]: It's the origin of "The X's Tale" formula. The problem is that most references miss the "told by an X" instead of "about an" meaning of the original. For example, the film ''[[A
* [[Knight in Shining Armor]]: The Knight fits personality wise (or so he would have us believe), but actually has rather dirty, worn-out armor, because he's an experienced soldier who has got a lot of use out of it.
** This [[Knight in Shining Armor]] was pretty obviously implied to be a [[Hired Guns|hired sword]] who fought for any prince who paid enough. Despite the [[Values Dissonance]] the sheer variety of his experience makes it clear that he was at least a [[Badass]] if not exactly [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness]]. And to be fair, he presumably kept his contracts and fought decently and was about as honorable as a merc can be in his profession.
*
* [[Left Hanging]]:
** "The Cook's Tale" breaks off unfinished.
** The
* [[Literal Ass Kissing]]: Yes. This happens.
* [[Literal Genie]]: The Gods behave like this in the Knight's Tale.
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* [[Love Triangle]]: In the "Knight's Tale", the "Merchant's Tale" and the "Franklin's Tale".
* [[Malicious Slander]]
* [[May
* [[Moral Myopia]]: The Prioress cares more for dogs than she does for Jews
* [[Nameless Narrative]]
* [[Nice to
* [[Noble Demon]]: In "The Friar's Tale".
* [[No Ending]]: The tales simply stop before all the pilgrims have supplied one, and the framing narration never states that they have made it to Canterbury. Critics have argued about whether or not the story is unfinished. Chaucer's so-called [[Author's Saving Throw|retraction]], which is usually appended to the tales as an ad hoc epilogue doesn't make matters any clearer.
* [[Old Maid]]: Reading between the lines, the Prioress is getting past her prime and is overweight from her lifestyle, but is still pretty concerned with her features.
* [[Put Off Their Food]]: Happens in the prologue. While the Cook is a [[Supreme Chef]], Chaucer unfortunately can't enjoy a dish of his because its appearance reminds him too much of a nasty running sore the Cook has on his leg.
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* [[Satan Is Good]]: In "The Friar's Tale".
* [[Secret Test of Character]]: The Wife of Bath's tale.
* [[Self
* [[Self
* [[Sexy Priest]]: The Friar loves associating with the fairer sex, and is kind enough to perform marriages which he has made necessary. The Pardoner also says he would like to keep a wench in every town, but considering how downright creepy he is, ([[Your Mileage May Vary|Your Mileage Will Definitely Vary]]). Probably the Monk too, given the love knot he wears, and the Host alleges the Nun's Priest is one of these (see [[Unwanted Harem]] below), but the Nun's Priest denies it. ''The Summoner's Tale'' features one, being a [[Take That]] against the Friar, as does ''The Shipman's Tale''. Most of these examples are more along the lines of "lecherous priest" than necessarily "good looking priest", and the Nun's Priest is probably the only example who isn't a slimy bastard.
* [[Short
* [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]]: One of a small number of works that manages to range successfully over every part of the spectrum from extremely idealistic (The Knight's Tale, The Franklin's Tale) to extremely cynical (The Miller's Tale, The Pardoner's Tale), thanks to the framing device and the multiple narrators. Where Chaucer himself fell is a matter of some debate.
* [[Small Name, Big Ego]]: Chanticleer in "The Tale of the Nun's Priest".
* [[Starving Student]]: The Clerk of Oxford.
* [[Stillborn Serial]]: An in-universe one: The Squire's Tale is set up to be sprawling epic that weaves through the lives of a Middle Eastern royal family, culminating in an epic battle. After roughly 700 lines, the Squire has [[Bait and Switch|only managed to tell the story of the princess rescued a wounded bird]], at which point the Franklin butts in and starts his tale.
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** In-story, "The Miller's Tale" is often read as a parody of "The Knight's Tale," and the Miller himself seems to treat it as such. "The Reeve's Tale" is a direct attack on the Miller, and response to his tale. "The Summoner's Tale" is an attack on the Friar whose story is told immediately before.
* [[Tender Tears]]: The Prioress, for her little dogs. Intentional [[Moral Dissonance]], perhaps.
* [[True Beauty Is
* [[Unreliable Narrator]]: Everyone, including (especially!) ''Chaucer''
* [[Unwanted Harem]]: There's an interesting subtext to the "Nun's Priest's Tale". His story is a beast fable whose protagonist is a rooster with a number of wives. There is an implied parallel to the Nun's Priest himself who is a confessor for a group of nuns (possibly [[Naughty Nuns]]). He asserts that he is chaste though, and might be telling the truth.
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* [[You All Meet in An Inn]]
----
And then they all ate the Nun's Priest. [[And There Was Much Rejoicing]]. ([[Monty Python and
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Poetry]]
[[Category:Classic Literature]]▼
[[Category:Trope Makers]]
[[Category:The Canterbury Tales]]▼
[[Category:Literature]]
[[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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