Reviews

The first time I read this book, again, was high school. I remember reading "The Nun's Priest's Tale," and that's about it.

So when I was told it was part of my curriculum, I thought, "Oh, great!" (heavy on the sarcasm). I don't know what I was thinking! I LOVE this book! It's probably my second favorite piece of literature to teach (after "The Collector" and "Equus").

I normally cover the following:
The General Prologue: introduction to all the pilgrims. This shows how culturally aware Chaucer was: we see pilgrims of all classes, sexes, and levels of sleaziness.

The Miller's Tale: John, a carpenter, takes in a border, Nicolas. Nicolas starts hitting on John's hot young wife Alison. Eventually, Nicolas and Alison decide to sleep together, but only after telling John that a flood was coming and he needed to build them boats, and sneaking downstairs when John fell asleep. I'll stop there. Suffice it to say that the ending includes pokers, branding, Alison's "nether eye" and faring as loud as a thunderclap.

The Reeve's Tale: Simpkin, a miller, has been stealing grain from people for years, but two college students named John and Alan get fed up when he steals from their dying college dean. They show up to Simpkin's house, and get revenge, using Simpkin's wife and daughter.

The Wife of Bath's Tale: The prologue is longer than the tale, and it tells us that the Wife of Bath is a medieval feminist. The tale itself deals with a knight who has raped a woman, and to save his life, he has to find out what women want. Good stuff. (I hope my male students remember this when they get a little older...)

The Pardoner's Tale: Probably the most literary and deepest. The Pardoner preaches against greed--greed will get you to hell!!!--but he's the greediest jerkface in the tales. His story involves three young men who are looking for Death and gold. Deep, ironic stuff.