General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

by Geoffrey Chaucer

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General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Questions and Answers

Discuss the prologue to The Canterbury Tales as a mirror to fourteenth-century English society.  

Write a note on the first eighteen lines of Chaucer's prologue to The Canterbury Tales.

Chaucer gives us a microcosm of English society in the Prologue of The Canterbury Tales. Explain.

Comment on Chaucer's use of irony in the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales?

Bring out the elements of realism in Chaucer's prologue to The Canterbury Tales.

What is the purpose of the prologue to The Canterbury Tales?

What is Chaucer's main reason for writing about the pilgrimage in "The Prologue" from The Canterbury Tales?

Geoffrey Chaucer was both a Medievalist and a Modern. Illustrate from the "General Prologue" of The Canterbury Tales.

In the Prologue of the Canterbury Tales, why is the Wife of Bath on the pilgrimage?

Why is the Knight first in the General Prologue?

What is the reason given for the pilgrimage in the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales?

What is the importance of the General Prologue in The Canterbury Tales?

Where are the pilgrims going in "The Prologue" from The Canterbury Tales?

What are the characteristics of the friar in The Canterbury Tales?

What is the Doctor's physical description in "The General Prologue" of The Canterbury Tales?

Discuss Chaucer as a satirist with refrence to the "General Prologue" to The Canterbury Tales.

Chaucer's prologue to The Canterbury Tales is an exciting pageant of medieval English social life. Discuss.

Was Chaucer in favor of the church or opposed to it?  

How does Chaucer describe the prioress and the monk?

Which member of the emerging middle class does Chaucer portray in the most favorable light? In what way does his description of this character differ from other members of this class or estate?

What in your opinion is Chaucers view point regarding the social,economic and religious institutions of which his characters in the [cont] CANTERBURY TALES are representatives?

Consider the opening details about the season. Why would spring make people "long to go on pilgrimages"?

Who are the female characters in the General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales? 

How would you characterize the personality of the narrator, based on the General Prologue? Use evidence from the text to support your response.

Does Chaucer include examples of each of the estates in his "General Prologue"? List at least one pilgrim for each of these categories with a short description of the qualities each represents. Can you further divide representatives of the Clergy as either regular or secular clergy (see Norton Topics overview (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.)? Which pilgrims do not fit neatly into any of the traditional estates? Why?

In the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, by Chaucer, the Prioress wears a brooch with an "A" on it. What is the significance of the A?

What are two of the ideal characters in the prologue of The Canterbury Tales?

Can the pilgrims as described in the "General Prologue" be divided between those who conform to their estate and those who do not? How does Chaucer's narrator view those whose lives do not match their traditional roles? Does he seem more critical of those who challenge the social order or of the social order itself?

What vision of England does the group of pilgrims in the Prologue suggest?

How would you describe Chaucer's realism and discuss the "General Prologue" to The Canterbury Tales as a mirror of English society in the 14th century?

What is the setting of The Prologue in terms of time and place?

Who narrates the prologue, and what is its purpose?

What is the significance of the Wife of Bath from The Canterbury Tales in the context of anti-religion?

What are some examples of the blending of humor and irony in "The General Prologue" to The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer.

What are some adjectives that best describe the Wife of Bath in the story The Canterbury Tales: The Prologue?

How does the Host quickly win the trust of all or most of the pilgrims in "The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales"?

What are three of the satires in the General Prologue?

What is Chaucer's message in the prologue to The Canterbury Tales?

In The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, what does Chaucer think of the Friar?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of Chaucer's "The General Prologue" in The Canterbury Tales? This a general critique of the prologue.

What are the features of characterization in the "General Prologue" of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales?

What did the Friar get in return for pardons he granted?

What are three traits of the Squire in The Canterbury Tales?

In The Canterbury Tales, why does the narrator join the pilgrims?

How does Chaucer both invoke and challenge the three estates model of society in the "General Prologue" to The Canterbury Tales?

Give a pen portrait of the knight in "General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales."

What is the analysis of "The General Prologue" in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer?

What do you think "The Prologue" reveals about Chaucer's attitude toward the clergy?

How would you compare and contrast the Knight with the Parson in the General Prologue of "The Canterbury Tales"?

Where is the the narrator at the beginning of the General Prologue to Canterbury Tales? Who joins him and for what purpose?