Hood College Chaucerians

Thow and thy ofspring evere shul be blake, Ne nevere swete noise shul he make, But evere crye again tempest and rain, In tokeninge that thrugh thee my wif is slain. (299- 302)

Cecile answerede, ‘O nice creature, Thow seidest no word, sin thow spak to me, That I ne knew therwith thy nicetee, And that thow were, in every manner wise, A lewed officer and a vein justise. (493-497)

He nolde no swich cursednesse observe. Ivel shal have that ivel wol deserve; Therefore with wilde hors he dide hem drawe, And after that he hang hem by the lawe. (631-634) Versus (From general prologue) And sikerly she was of greet desport, And ful plesaunt and amiable of port,... She was so charitable, and so pitous (137-138/143) Tenor gif Keyboard

Of sondry doutes thus they jangle and trete, As lewed peple demeth comunly Of thinges that been maad moore subtilly Than they kan in hir lewednesse comprehende; They demen gladly to the badder ende. (220-224)

For now goth he ful faste imagining If by his wives cheere he mighte se, Or by hir word apercieve, that she Were chaunged; but he nevere hir koude finde But evere in oon ilike sad and kinde. (598-602)

Oh my... the Friar is soooo ready to dig into the Summoner for all of his faults, but is he ready to get it thrown back at him? I have read the Summoner's tale before, but I can's remember all of the details of it...and now that I've gotten much better at reading and understanding middle English, I cant wait to read the response to the Friar. It's about to be a roast fest... The Friar is making the Summoner out to be a super horrible person; after all, can anyone who makes a deal with the devil really be a good person? (Bearskin from the German fairytale being the exception...) I mean, honestly, he calls the Devil his brother! From my understanding of the general prologue, neither of these men are exceptional Christians; so, if the devil takes the Summoner down to hell in the Friar's story, I can't wait to see what happens to the Friar... (btw isn't it funny that he gets called out by a poor old lady!)

'Women desiren to have sovereintee As wel over hir housbonde as hir love And for to been in maistrye him above.' (1038-1040)

     Oh my God! God is everywhere in this tale... I agree with Amanda that this story is almost like an advertisement for Christianity. I think that Custaunce is named strategically and is meant to represent the constant presence of God and of the religion of Christianity. After all, she is the sole reason that the Sultan wanted to convert himself and everyone to followers of God! The Sultan fell in love with Custaunce because of how the merchants described her to him - he never laid eyes on her. Similarly, Christianity is not a tangible thing, it can only be described and talked about. Also, when the Sultan's mother is plotting her revenge, she is described as a snake, which is reminiscent of the serpent in Eden that represents sin and deception. When this serpent woman carries out her sneaky plan, Cunstaunce (AKA Christianity) is the only survivor. Hm...coincidence?

Whan Nicholas had doon thus everydel, And thakked hire aboute the lendes wel, He kiste hir swete, and taketh his sautrye And playeth faste, and maketh melodye. (3303-3306) Pinterest.com

Cousin, for sothe, of this opinioun Thou hast a vein imaginacioun. This prisoun caused me nat for to crye, But I was hurt right now, thurghout min eye Into min herte, that wol my bane be. ("The Knight's Tale," 1093-1097) Giphy.com 

Having read parts of the Canterbury Tales before, I knew what to expect when diving into the general prologue. But, of course, middle English still got to me and I trudged along, trying to figure out what these characters were all about. The one person that I have found most entertaining thus far is the Squire. Our narrator describes him as a dashing young lad who is anything but boring! With his perfectly curled hair and his singing capabilities, I might wonder if he was a ladies man...but thanks to Chaucer, I don't have to wonder! We're told about the Squire's evening shenanigans: "So hoote he lovede, that by nightertale / He slepte namoore than dooth a nightingale."  The dashingly handsome Heath Ledger as young SQUIRE William, from Giphy.com Of course, the other appealing person would have to be the Cook, after all, I've heard that he bakes great pies!