1. Read the opening prologue to the
Canterbury Tales. Basically, a group of 29 travelers are meeting at a Tavern in
London to begin their pilgrimage, or journey, to Canterbury. The narrator
introduces each character and tells the reader a little about them. Some of
these characters will reflect medieval culture in ways you may expect, and some
of these characters will deviate from your expectations.
2. With your partner, select two characters
who reflect the traditional medieval culture they would be coming from. Select
a quote for each of them that shows their reflection of medieval culture. This
would be Chaucer the medievalist, or realist.
3. With your partner, select two characters
who do not seem to reflect traditional medieval culture, or who seem to break
from the norms or expectations of that type of person in medieval England. This
would be Chaucer the humanist, satirist, or Renaissance man.
Make sure to
turn this in by the end of the class. You may work in groups of up to four people,
but everyone needs to turn in their own paper.
