Jan 2, 2010

The Canterbury Tales | The Canterbury Tales

At a glance:

It is April. Thirty pilgrims have gathered at the Tabard Inn just south of London prior to departure for the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket, martyred in his cathedral at Canterbury two centuries earlier.

Socially they range from the Franklin, a wealthy landowner, to the Plowman; morally from the Parson, who has taught Christ’s word (“but first he followed it himself”) to the Pardoner, a rascally confidence man. The proprietor of the Tabard offers to accompany them as Host and suggests that they entertain themselves on the way by telling stories in turn; the teller of the...

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