The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales - List of characters (31+1)
The Prologue: Introduces the framework of The Canterbury Tales, setting the stage for a storytelling contest among pilgrims traveling from the Tabard Inn in South Wark to the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury. Setting: Spring (April), symbolizing renewal, with pilgrims gathering at the Tabard Inn. Narrative Style: Told from the first-person narration by Chaucer the Pilgrim, who presents himself as an observer. Written in iambic pentameter and heroic couplets** (rhyming pairs of lines). Combines vivid character portraits with social satire and irony. Structure: Opens with a description of spring and the pilgrimage motive. Introduces 29 pilgrims (plus the narrator and Host, making 31 characters). Each pilgrim is described with physical, social, and moral traits, reflecting medieval society’s estates (clergy, nobility, commoners). The Host proposes a storytelling contest: each pilgrim tells two tales on the way to Canterbury and two on the return (total 120 tale...