CHARACTERS OF THE CANTERBURY TALES

CHARACTERS OF THE CANTERBURY TALES

PILGRIMS IN A NARRATIVE CONTEST

Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales live through the characters and the stories they tell about others and themselves, while exposing themselves.

The pilgrims and the host of an inn in Southwark represent almost all classes of medieval society and reflect their gradations: high and low nobility, clergy and the third class are presented in the 21 complete tales and the 3 incomplete.

There are a total of 30 participants (27 men and 3 women). In the course of the action, 2 more participants join the group of pilgrims: the canon ( canon ) and his yeoman (assistant). Only the latter also tells a story (Canon's Yeoman's Tale).

The participants in italics tell a story.

THE NOBILITY

MIDDLE ENGLISH	GERMAN
knyght	Knight
squier	Squire
yeoman	Servant [of the knight]

ACADEMICS

MIDDLE ENGLISH	GERMAN
clerk of Oxenforde	Scholar
sergeant of the lawe	Legal scholar
doctour of phisik	doctor

THE CLERGY

MIDDLE ENGLISH	GERMAN
priority	prioress
nun chapeleyne	Nun / chaplain
preest	Nun priest
monk	monk
frere (a lymytour)	Mendicant monk [with fixed district]
persoun of a toun	Pastor
pardon	Indulgences
somonour	Büttel, bailiff at a church court

THE SECULAR BOURGEOISIE (16 PARTICIPANTS)

CRAFTSMAN

MIDDLE ENGLISH	GERMAN
haberdassher	Haberdashery
carpenter	Carpenter
webbe	Weber
dyere	Dyer
tapycer	Carpet weaver
cook	cook

CITIZEN

MIDDLE ENGLISH	GERMAN
marchant	Merchant
frankeleyn	Landowner
shipman	Ship owner and captain
wif of biside Bathe	Lady of Bath
plowman	Ploughman, farmer
millere	Müller
maunciple	Trustee of a court of law
reve	Land manager, secular administrator
the hooste	the host
Chaucer	as a first-person narrator; he tells 2 stories

 

THE CHARACTERS

The Knight / Ritter
The Miller / Müller
The Reeve / Landvogt
The Cook / Koch
The Man of Law / Rechtsanwalt
The Wife of Bath / Frau aus Bath
The Friar / Ordensbruder
The Summoner / Kirchenbüttel
The Clerk / Scholar
The Merchant / Kaufmann
The Squire / Knappe
The Franklin / Gutsbesitzer
The Physician / Arzt
The Pardoner / Ablasskrämer
The Shipman / Schiffsherr
The Prioress / Priorin
Sir Topas / Sir Topas
Melibee / Melibeus
The Monk / Mönch
The Nun's Priest / Nonnenpriester
The Second Nun / 2. Nonne
The Canon's Yeoman / Dienstmann des Stiftsherrn
The Manciple / Verwalter
The Parson / Pfarrer