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A review by ed_moore
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Being a collection of short stories Chaucer’s ‘The Canterbury Tales’ qualifies for quote a neutral rating, with some good stories but also many unremarkable ones. It was however interestingly structured in a collection, for the tales recounts a group of pilgrims on their way to see the tomb of Sir Thomas Beckett in Canterbury, of whom travel together and hold a story contest along the way, the host declaring the best storyteller will have a meal bought by the rest of the pilgrims on their return to the inn they left from.
Chaucer initially intended each pilgrim to tell four tales, but the book ends at 24 stories, each pilgrim having told one. Therefore the winner of such competition is never decided and falls to the reader. I will highlight ‘The Knight’s Tale’, a story of two brothers feuding over the love of Emelyne whilst locked away. It was the first tale of the pilgrimage and I also believe the best, certainly most memorable which could also come down to its placement as the first story. I also enjoyed the Manciple’s tale, whereas can’t crown this one as though it was my favourite it was only the tale of why crows have black feathers, as taken from Ovid’s ‘Metamorphosis’. I appreciated it due to its familiarity hearing it in now its third iteration, having previously read Ovid and Fry’s ‘Mythos’. There was also an unusually large amount of tales with the central focus on farting, highlighting Chaucer to have had the sense of humour of the average 13 year old boy.
A lot of the stories were cut off or interrupted, Chaucer lacking the desire to finish them and therefore the book being very broken at parts, though he did cut of the tale told by his own self insert so I suppose he is at least humble in some manners. I will note that I listened to ‘The Canterbury Tales’ which I think really helped in preventing it being too much of a slog and allowing some enjoyment, listening to the constant rhymes was very pleasing on ones ear and defiantly wouldn’t have had the same effect or charm if I just read it, if this were the case I think I would’ve found the collection quite hard to enjoy.
Chaucer initially intended each pilgrim to tell four tales, but the book ends at 24 stories, each pilgrim having told one. Therefore the winner of such competition is never decided and falls to the reader. I will highlight ‘The Knight’s Tale’, a story of two brothers feuding over the love of Emelyne whilst locked away. It was the first tale of the pilgrimage and I also believe the best, certainly most memorable which could also come down to its placement as the first story. I also enjoyed the Manciple’s tale, whereas can’t crown this one as though it was my favourite it was only the tale of why crows have black feathers, as taken from Ovid’s ‘Metamorphosis’. I appreciated it due to its familiarity hearing it in now its third iteration, having previously read Ovid and Fry’s ‘Mythos’. There was also an unusually large amount of tales with the central focus on farting, highlighting Chaucer to have had the sense of humour of the average 13 year old boy.
A lot of the stories were cut off or interrupted, Chaucer lacking the desire to finish them and therefore the book being very broken at parts, though he did cut of the tale told by his own self insert so I suppose he is at least humble in some manners. I will note that I listened to ‘The Canterbury Tales’ which I think really helped in preventing it being too much of a slog and allowing some enjoyment, listening to the constant rhymes was very pleasing on ones ear and defiantly wouldn’t have had the same effect or charm if I just read it, if this were the case I think I would’ve found the collection quite hard to enjoy.