Table of Contents
The Marriage Group: Patience and Deception
A significant portion of the later tales focuses on the "Marriage Debate"—who should hold mastery in a relationship? The Clerk’s Tale presents the extreme of Patient Griselda, a woman whose husband, Walter, subjects her to horrific psychological tests (including the faked death of her children) to prove her obedience. She endures all with saintly patience and is eventually rewarded.
In sharp contrast, the Merchant’s Tale is a cynical fabliau where the old, wealthy Januarie marries the young May. When Januarie goes blind, May shamelessly deceives him with a young lover in a pear tree. This is countered by the Franklin’s Tale, a story of "trouthe" (honor). Dorigen makes a rash vow to a squire to save her husband, but when the squire realizes the depth of the couple's mutual respect, he graciously releases her from the vow, proving that true nobility exists in all classes.
Rounding out this group is the Summoner’s Tale, a crude retaliation against the Friar’s Tale, where a hypocritical friar is outsmarted and receives a "gift" of a fart, mocking the false holiness of the mendicant orders.
Miracles and Legends: The Prioress & Physician
The Physician’s Tale is a grim story of honor where a father, Virginius, kills his daughter Virginia to protect her from the lust of a corrupt judge. While dark, it concludes with moral justice as the judge is eventually imprisoned.
Exam Fact: The Prioress’s Tale(Asked in Exam) is a "Miracle of the Virgin." It tells the story of a young Christian boy murdered by Jews in a ghetto. Even after his throat is cut, he continues to sing "O Alma Redemptoris Mater" miraculously until a holy grain is removed from his tongue. It is a classic, though historically anti-Semitic, medieval legend of martyrdom.
Meanwhile, the Squire’s Tale provides a glimpse into the world of Oriental romance and magic. It features King Cambyuskan and magical gifts like a flying brass horse and a healing sword. However, Chaucer left this tale unfinished, leaving the conclusion to the imagination of later poets like Spenser.
Mock-Heroic and Fable: The Nun’s Priest
The Nun’s Priest’s Tale is widely considered one of Chaucer's most brilliant stylistic achievements. It is a mock-heroic beast fable featuring Chanticleer the rooster and the fox. By using the high, epic language of Homer and Virgil to describe a barnyard dispute, Chaucer mocks human pride and the over-reliance on scholarly "dream interpretations."
Other tales in this group include the Shipman’s Tale, another fabliau involving a monk, a merchant, and a deceptive wife, and the Manciple’s Tale, which explains how the crow’s feathers turned from white to black as a curse for revealing a wife's adultery to Phoebus Apollo. The Monk’s Tale, by contrast, is a monotonous catalogue of seventeen tragedies of fallen rulers (from Lucifer to Caesar), eventually interrupted by the Knight and the Host because it is too depressing.
The Final Close: The Parson’s Tale
As the pilgrimage nears Canterbury, the sun begins to set, and the tone of the collection shifts from entertainment to spiritual preparation. The final tale is delivered by the Parson(Asked in Exam).
Crucially, this is not a story, but a lengthy prose sermon. The Parson focuses on the Seven Deadly Sins and the "Straight Way" to the Celestial Jerusalem. He urges all the pilgrims to undergo confession, repentance, and atonement. This sermon serves as the structural and moral bookend to the journey, transforming the lively, often vulgar storytelling contest into a solemn religious act of penance.
Match the List Checkpoint
Patient Griselda
The heroine of the Clerk's Tale who endures extreme suffering and tests to prove her wifely obedience.
Chanticleer
The proud, scholarly rooster in the Nun's Priest's Tale who is tricked by a fox but uses his own wit to escape.
Januarie and May
The central characters of the Merchant’s Tale: an old blind man and his deceptive young wife.
Seven Deadly Sins
The core theological subject of the Parson's lengthy prose sermon that concludes the entire collection.
Active Recall: Check Your Mastery
- Q: Which tale in The Canterbury Tales is a "mock-heroic" beast fable?
A: The Nun’s Priest’s Tale. - Q: The Prioress’s Tale features a boy who miraculously continues to sing after death. What is the name of the hymn he sings?
A: "O Alma Redemptoris Mater." - Q: Which tale is written entirely in prose and focuses on the Seven Deadly Sins?
A: The Parson’s Tale. - Q: Why was the Monk's Tale interrupted by the Knight and the Host?
A: Because his catalogue of seventeen tragedies was considered too depressing and monotonous for the journey.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Mock-Heroic" style?
Mock-heroic style takes a trivial, low-stakes subject (like a rooster almost getting eaten by a fox) and describes it using the grandiose, elevated language usually reserved for ancient epic heroes like Achilles or Aeneas. It creates a hilarious contrast that satirizes human pretension.
Why is the Parson's Tale not a "story"?
By the end of the 14th century, the pilgrimage was nearing its spiritual conclusion. Chaucer uses the Parson—the most holy pilgrim—to pull the focus away from earthly entertainment and back toward the soul. A sermon was the most appropriate "tale" for a priest to tell to prepare his flock for the holy shrine of St. Thomas Becket.
What is the "Marriage Group"?
The term was coined by scholar George Lyman Kittredge. It refers to a cluster of tales (Wife of Bath, Clerk, Merchant, Franklin) that all seem to be debating a central question: In a marriage, should the husband have mastery, should the wife have mastery, or should there be mutual respect?
Why did Chaucer leave the Squire's Tale unfinished?
Chaucer often used "unfinishedness" as a literary device (like the House of Fame). In the case of the Squire’s Tale, it might have been so ambitious and filled with magical subplots that it became too difficult to resolve within the framework of the pilgrimage, or he simply shifted his interest to more realistic stories.
