GEOFFREY CHAUCER

Geoffrey Chaucer was a professional courtier. He was born into a wealthy family of wine traders and he was from the class of the new wealthy city gentleman. For much of his life he served as a soldier and a diplomat during during the Hundred Years' War, since he was fluent in French, Italian, Latin and other languages. After his retirement from his job, he worked primarly on his masterpiece namely "The Canterbury Tales".






                                                       THE CANTERBURY TALES
                                                
The Canterbury Tales is a long narrative poem, set in spring, that tells the story of thirty people and Chaucer himself, who are going on a pilgrimage. They are travelling to Canterbury in Kent, to the shrine of Thomas Becket. Moreover, every pilgrim have to tell two stories while going to Canterbury and two while coming back, in addition, there will be a prize for the best story and a penalty for the ones who gives up. The birth of this poem is due to the fact that Chaucer wanted to give a portrait of English society.

Thomas Becket was a saint that fought against his best friend called Henri II, the king of England and there he was killed.

Also, the pilgrimage was famous because it was the only way to travel for normal people but also to save their souls. The principal destinations of pilgrimage were Rome, Canterbury and Santiago de Compostela.

                                                         THE PRIORESS

The Prioress is one of "The Canterbury Tales", that tells the story of a nun prioress, namely, the abbess of a convent. It might well be understood that the protagonist is very rich and she really cares for her dogs by giving them food that even normal people can't afford. This factor is emphasized by the author to highlight the corruption of the church throughout this period.

                                                        THE WIFE OF BATH
The Wife of Bath is a storyteller who recites her autobiography of her travelling around the world as a pilgrim. Furthermore, she confesses that she got married five times and she had many lovers when she was young. Nevertheless, she seems proud of it and she resembles the typical wicked woman of that period.