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The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

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Although it was published toward the end of his life, Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales was his longest and most popular work. The plot is made up of tales told by thirty-one different pilgrims as they embark on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Thomas a Becket in Canterbury. His initial idea was to have each pilgrim tell four stories a piece during the pilgrimage, but Chaucer either died before finishing or decided to change this idea, as only twenty-four tales presently make up the work. The prologue of the novel goes into great detail describing each pilgrim’s personality and pointing out whatever flaws they have (Rossignol 1). There are a few characters considered idealized in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, but all of the other …show more content…

Another pilgrim characterized by this sin is the Reeve. He is the manager of an estate and a master carpenter, but has a terrible temper and it is said that all people “were afraid of him as of the death.” The Reeve also becomes furious with the Miller whenever he cheats the farming scale (Chaucer 1). Lust, or a strong feeling of sexual desire, is displayed in Canterbury Tales by three different characters. The Wife of Bath is the first example, shown by the fact that she has had five different husbands and several other boyfriends over the course of her lifetime. Chaucer says that others always ask her for love advice, because, “the remedies of love she knew, perchance, for of that art she'd learned the old, old dance.” The second character who displays lust is the Squire who was a “lusty bachelor” and “loved hotly”. He sang songs and wrote poetry for girls in order to try and win their affections and served in the cavalry for this purpose, as well. The final pilgrim that practices this sin is the Friar. Chaucer says he had “arranged full many a marriage of women young, and this at his own cost,” meaning the Friar had impregnated them and wanted to find them husbands to try and save himself. The Friar is also described as being intimate with “all the worthy women of the town” (Chaucer 1). According to Lisa Frank, The Catholic Encyclopedia defines gluttony as “the inordinate

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