Annotating Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Prologue” to the Canterbury Tales
Please note: if you plagiarize your annotations, you will ALSO receive a 0 on the reading quiz for the “Prologue.”
Have you ever gone to the mall to “people watch”? Not in a creepy way, mind you, but in the “ordinary people
are the strangest creatures” sort of way. Ok, maybe that still sounds a little creepy. How about lunch? Ever take
the time to look around at those around you and try to guess who they are? Try to guess what character a
person is or what role he or she plays in life?
Creating characters was a great deal of Chaucer’s genius. In his “Prologue” to the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer
describes a collection of pilgrims who are heading on a religious pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral. Like any
large grouping of people, there are those who you’ll like and those who you’ll despise; there are those who are
admirable and those who a despicable; those who are high class and those who are low; those with refined
manners and those who are coarse; those who excel at their jobs and those who fail miserably. Chaucer’s
“Prologue” is a place to Medieval people-watch.
Your job when you read the “Prologue” is to decipher the premise of the plot and to gauge each of the pilgrims.
All-in-all, you will have 28 annotations for your “Prologue” text. Here’s how:

Thoroughly summarize lines
o 1-18
o 19-34
o 35-42
o 781-796
o 808-829

For each pilgrim, you should write a description of the character—these should go ON A
SEPARATE SHEET OF PAPER IN AN ORGANIZED FASHION. Your description should include the
following. YOU MUST COPY DOWN NUMEROUS DIRECT QUOTES FOR EACH BOTH PHYSICAL
AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Notable physical characteristics, including dress and age (if available)
Notable personal characteristics—
Whether or not the character is given a positive portrayal (e.g. competent, noble, kind,
etc.) a negative portrayal (e.g. silly, hypocritical, criminal, incompetent, etc.), or a neutral
portrayal. YOU SHOULD EXPLAIN WHY THE PORTRAYAL IS POSITIVE, NEUTRAL, OR
NEGATIVE. WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY?
Example:
o
o
o
Pilgrim

Physical
Characteristics
Personal
Characteristics
Positive? Negative?
Neutral?
The pilgrims for whom you shall write descriptions are as follows:
o NOTE” Bolded pilgrims should have more extensive notes.
1. Knight
10. Franklin
2. Squire
11. Guildsman
(Haberdasher, dyer,
3. Yeoman
carpenter, tapestry maker,
4. Prioress
weaver)—treat these as
5. Monk
one.
6. Friar
12. Cook
7. Merchant
13. Skipper
8. Student
14. Physician
9. Seargent at Law
15. Wife of Bath
Rationale for
rating
16. Parson
17. Plowman
18. Miller
19. Manciple
20. Reeve
21. Summoner
22. Pardoner
23. Host—Harry Bailey