Overall Reflections

When I was trying to decide what topic or tale to address in my next blog post I kept coming up with ideas. However, this was exactly the problem…I had way too many ideas! There were so many things that I wanted to say and a lot of thoughts that I wanted to explore, but by the time I had started delving into one of these in any depth, another idea would come into my mind. Lo and behold, I was left with more intriguing thoughts than I knew what to do with and in the end I became overwhelmed.

After a nice long break and some time to regain my sanity I revisited the idea of writing a blog post again, and thankfully this time something new occurred to me. Instead of choosing just one topic or tale to write about, I began to consider how they all worked together. I realize this is also somewhat of a complex task but getting too in depth and analytical was something that I wanted to avoid. I often feel like the allure and magic created by the complexities of Chaucer’s text can also be found in the simpler aspects of his works, however these latter, at least in my opinion, are often times brushed aside in preference of the former. While I do enjoy getting into the meat of a story/tale and really taking the time to analyze it, I also enjoy simply reading it without trying extremely or excessively hard to look further or beyond the text. I prefer this method overall because when I read like this I can allow a text to speak to me, as opposed to trying too forcefully to have its words meet my expectations. Sometimes with classes I feel like I am asked to immediately delve into a work with an analytical mindset, and to be honest this really prevents me from connecting with the text. I truly need that quiet, long and intimate time with a work in order to truly understand what it is possibly trying to tell me. I need to read it multiple times, and with each read-through I begin to turn my level of analytical thinking up. Considering all of this, I am so very glad that the structure of this course gave me the opportunity to do just that!

 I absolutely loved the way this particular course was designed because it gave me everything I needed when it came to the study of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Not only did I have enough time throughout the semester to critically analyze and think about the various meanings of his many tales, but I also had plenty of time to sit quietly with his work and read in a more simplistic manner. It was the combination of both of these reading methods that allowed me to discover and refine my understanding of the overall beauty of Chaucer. While his tales are great in and of themselves, they work even better as a whole unit.

However, at this point there is still so much more that I have yet to uncover in his tales and I honestly don’t know where I would have been if I didn’t have a whole semester to devote to this one text alone. Even though we read a separate tale each week I still feel like we were always thinking about how each one related to one another. I feel like this mindset was essential to my reading and understanding of Chaucer, and I don’t know that I would have gained it through another approach to reading the Canterbury Tales. I can hardly even imagine trying to tackle this monumental story in pieces or in conjunction with other works – it just wouldn’t have been as great of an experience!

Additionally, taking the time to consider/read Chaucer’s work as a whole provided me with an opportunity to delve into the world of the Middle English Language. I had some previous experience with Old English but this was my first time working so intensely and directly with the Middle English Language. As the semester went on I became much, much better at reading, and I didn’t find myself starting and stopping like I had in the beginning. It was also great that we were able to have such casual yet interactive class discussions. I often felt like I was missing pieces of Chaucer’s tales but after the discussions a lot of these pieces had been filled in for me. By the end of the semester I felt more comfortable not only with the Middle English Language itself, but also with my ability to derive meaning from it. At the start of the semester I was always second-guessing weather or not I was reading something correctly, but by the end of the semester I wasn’t doing this as much.

Overall, this entire experience was fantastic and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I loved having the ability to read Chaucer’s work as a whole and I thought the way the class was structured was fantastic. (Plus, who can forget the feast?! ) In the end I learned more than I really thought I would about Chaucer and his works. 

Tales to Introduce Chaucer

When I first tried to answer the question posed in class of which two tales would work best for an introduction to a British Literature course, I’ll have to admit that I was a bit stumped.

To be completely honest my first instinct was to want to say, “anything but the Wife of Bath,” but of course I immediately thought the better of it. There is no way possible to teach the Canterbury Tales, or even a British Literature course without mentioning the Wife of Bath, and indeed to do so would truly be a shame. Even though I don’t particularly enjoy this tale, as I feel like it is oftentimes too overplayed, I do realize that this is due to its very real significance and importance. I’ve had the W.O.B taught in too many classes to count, (which is why I no longer particularly enjoy reading it) however, students taking an introductory course to British literature need to be exposed to this tale. They don’t need to be beaten over the head with it… but they do need to know it.

In addition, I also believe that teaching The Pardoner’s tale would be a fantastic idea for an introduction course! The most obvious reason for this would be the clear connections between this tale and that of the Three Brother’s from, Harry Potter. I feel like this is a fantastic connection to utilize and take advantage of because many people who are familiar with Rowling’s story may not realize that it has its roots in Chaucer’s tale. This may be just me, but I also believe that this tale doesn’t get as much attention or exposure (at least considering the background of those who would be taking an intro course) which is why it makes for a more interesting choice. This was only my second time reading this tale as opposed to the Wife of Bath, which I’ve read over and over.

So to sum everything up, and after a lot of thought and deliberation, I believe that the two tales I’d recommend for an intro to British Literature course would be the Wife of Bath and the Pardoner’s Tale. There is no escaping the former but I truly believe the latter is a unique and refreshing choice in so many different ways, and combined they balance each other out perfectly. It was incredibly difficult to chose but in the end I feel like these two make for the best pair.

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Also, as I was about to post this entry I noticed Heather’s post on the blog, which talks about this same subject. Clearly we’re of a similar mind because we chose the same two tales! I figured I’d mention this here instead of in a comment since it was easier but I really liked what she had to say about the Wife of Bath. Read it if you haven’t already because its great :) 

A Note & Superlatives

Hello everyone,

Firstly, I’d like to apologize for my lack of posts recently. It had been my original intention to write a few posts for the blog over the Thanksgiving break, however instead, my lovely fiancé, Thomas decided that it would be a great time to have his lung spontaneously collapse! We had to take him to the emergency room on the first day of break and he stayed throughout the week. Thankfully, he is home and doing pretty well now, and with some luck he hopefully won’t need surgery. All things considered I wasn’t able to write anything for the blog while all of this was going on, so you’re getting my posts now, and again sorry about the delay!

I also had to miss a class or two because of this, which brings me to my second thought: when we were putting the list of superlatives together in class (on what turned out to be our last day nonetheless!) I didn’t have too much to say. This wasn’t because I wasn’t interested, but rather because I wasn’t quite sure which tales I’d pick. For whatever reason I was unaware that we would be putting together a list of superlatives, so when I got to class and saw all of the various categories go up on the boards I wasn’t sure which tales I would place in which categories. I did write a few things up on the board but overall I was reserved in my choices. Plus, I had a lot going on so my memory was incredibly foggy that day which prevented me from participating as much as I would have liked to.

To solve this problem I decided to make a brief list of superlatives myself, after giving the tales more consideration and having time to think over my choices carefully.

Top Three Favorite Tales:

1. The Friar’s Tale – I absolutely love this tale. At first I had trouble seeing its magic but as I began to read it over and over again I became obsessed. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this tale because I didn’t have to over think anything. Instead of trying with difficulty to see what was hidden in the text all I did was read it, again and again. With each read-through I was able to make connections and see things that I hadn’t the first time. Overall, this was my favorite tale this semester.

2. The Pardoner’s Tale – I don’t really know what else to say about this tale other than how fantastic I think it is. The story itself is great fun to read in and of itself, but in addition there are also a lot of possibilities and thoughts to explore related to this particular tale. It has connections to the medieval world as well as to our modern day society, perhaps even more so than some of the other tales, and all of these elements make it simply fantastic.

3. Thopas / Melibee – These tales made my favorite list simply because of how snarky they are. Thopas is so much fun to read and once you realize what is going on with the poetry itself… the story becomes infinitely more intriguing. I also love Melibee because it is a clear and brilliant statement from Chaucer. What makes the tale even better is that it is actually a well-composed story. I feel like that took an extreme amount of patience and dedication to complete, mixed with a bit of sass of course.

Top Three Least Favorite Tales:

1. The Wife of Bath – I’m sure I’ve made some of you cringe with the selection of this tale as my least favorite but to be perfectly honest I have had quite enough of the Wife of Bath for a now. I’ve been exposed to this tale in so many different classes and contexts by this point that I am really quite sick of it at the present time. I do love and appreciate the tale for what it is; however I have simply had enough for a while. I’m sure I’ll find a new way to appreciate and see this tale in the years to come but for now I’d rather read something else.

2. The Reeve’s Tale – I’ve chosen this tale as my second least favorite because I honestly thought it wasn’t all that great. I just didn’t buy the story and since I was able to predict what was coming next I wasn’t able to connect with it in any kind of significant way. Thus, I didn’t enjoy it that much.

3. The Knight’s Tale – Even though this tale is a prefect example of a well-written/spoken tale… I still didn’t like reading it. I guess it was the combination of my unfamiliarity with the Middle English Language as well as my uneasy feeling about the plot line that caused my sour feeing towards the tale to develop, but in the end I would simple prefer to spend more time discussing another tale as opposed to this one.

Favorite Character:

The Fiend from the Friar’s Tale – He’s just so incredibly honest and yet excessively devious at the same time. My favorite character by far!!

Least Favorite Character:

The Queen from the Wife of Bath’s Tale – The knight needed to die. End. Of. Story.

Two Tales I Would Read to My Child:

1. Thopas – I believe this tale is super fun even if it is unfinished, going nowhere fast and incredibly snarky on the part of Chaucer. It’d make a perfect story for a child in my opinion.

2. The Friar’s Tale – I would read this story to my child over and over again if given the chance. Not only is it my favorite of the Canterbury Tales, but I also believe that there are many valuable lessons to be learned from the story.

Two Tales I Wouldn’t Read to My Child:

1. The Clerk’s Tale – To be quite honest I really hated this tale and I would never want to read it to my child for fear that they would think it acceptable to emulate any of the characters’ actions. Just no.

2. The Summoner’s Tale – Even though I like this tale I feel like it may not be quite right for a child. Simple as that :)

Two Tales I’d Recommend for a British Lit. Introduction Course:

1. The Wife of Bath

2. Pardoner’s Tale

(See my next blog post for a more in depth explanation of my choices)

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading these tales this semester, even the ones that I didn’t particularly like that much. The entire experience of reading the tales one right after another was the biggest success of my semester, as well as my favorite part! Thanks to everyone for making it so fantastic! 

The Summoner's Tale Discussion

After reading both the Friar's Tale and the Summoner's Tale, and discussing them in class, I found it extremely interesting to see not just what played out in the stories, but also what everyone else had to say about the tales and the ways in which they relate to one another. While I get my own personal enjoyment from reading Chaucer's stories, I love having the opportunity to hear the thoughts of others as well. Even though I may have one interpretation of a tale, another individual who brings their own set of personal experiences and prior knowledge to their reading will undoubtedly see things a bit differently than I. Having a chance to hear the varying thoughts and ideas of others, especially when discussing something as complex as Chaucer, really makes a huge difference and adds a whole new dimension to the experience of reading The Canterbury Tales.

On that note, I especially liked how we broke away from our normal pattern and discussed things a bit differently today, as I loved having the opportunity to explore one particular element of the tale in depth and then getting to hear what the other groups came up with concerning their area of focus. I also thought this added a personal dimension to the discussion today, as I had the opportunity to work and speak directly with Yasmine and Heather, both of whom I hadn't interacted with before other than in big group discussions. I thought our group worked really well together and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to hear my group member's personal thoughts as we worked through our area of focus together.

I also believe it was a nice break to only have to consider a small section/theme from the Summoner's Tale for a change. When we discuss a tale in its entirety as a class I often find myself not necessarily overwhelmed but having a hard time trying to wrap my head around both the current discussion and the  themes of tale itself at the same time. In other words, I feel like there is so much material and so many things that can be said about Chaucer's tales that I often don't know which areas to focus on or where to take the discussion next.

I like delving deeply when I analyze and in larger group discussion we tend to discuss a lot of the points from the tales but we don't linger on any one point for too long. I loved the way we discussed things today though because we had more of an opportunity to delve deeper. Only having one particular theme/area of the story to focus on and consider really helped me to better understand the Summoner's tale as a whole. Not only was I able to have a more personal discussion about the text but I was also able to hear the thoughts of the other groups who also had this same opportunity. It made for a new dynamic today and in the end I believe that I understand more of the complexities of this tale that I would have if we had perhaps discussed it in class. Instead of trying to wrap my head around all three of our main points today at once I was able to focus all of my attention on my group's particular idea and then re-group with the class at the end to hear what others came up with. I was able to absorb the other group's points much easier than I believe I would have if we had discussed things in a different manner. Although I was a little unsure at first, overall I really enjoyed the way we discussed things today and I would love to have another discussion set up like this before the end of the semester!

Satisfaction from the Wife of Bath?

After re-reading the Wife of Bath's Tale over the weekend, and going over some of the posts on the blog, I was really intrigued by what Yasmine had to say! She touched upon some of the same things I was thinking about while reading the tale, and since I wasn't able to make it to class on the day of the Wife of Bath's discussion, I though'd I share my thoughts here instead...

I really like what Yasmine had to say about the fact that she didn't find any satisfaction in the ending of the Wife of Bath's Tale, and that by the time she reached the conclusion of the story she had almost forgotten why the Knight had to go on his quest in the first place. She pointed out that those who commit crimes should be punished accordingly and that since the tale ended with a compromise, she wasn't as thrilled with its conclusion.

I was very intrigued by what she said for, even though I agreed with almost all of the points she made throughout her post, I was still able to find a bit of enjoyment and satisfaction from the Wife of Bath's Tale myself. It was really interesting getting to see Yasmine's opinions and interpretations of the tale throughout her post because, to be honest,  I was a bit surprised when I got to the end and read that she wasn't satisfied with the conclusion of the story. Then, of course, I second guessed my own initial satisfaction in the tale! I began to considering weather or not I had found it too easily... was I not supposed to be satisfied with the ending?

After a thinking about things for awhile I finally came to the conclusion that, while I agreed with all of Yasmine's points (especially where she questions weather or not this is a feminist tale), I was able to find satisfaction from the tale during my initial reading due to the fact that I was surprised with how the story played out. In my last post I talked about the believability of Chaucer's stories and how a few of the tales really fell apart for me because I felt like I could see through them or, in other words, I was too easily able to recognize what was about to happen. With the Wife of Bath, however, this was not the case at all. I vaguely remembered bits of the tale from previous readings but for the most part I was reading the story again for the first time. The tale was able to keep my attention throughout its entirety and by its conclusion I found myself satisfied, not in the actual end of the character's narrative itself, but rather in the fact that I had been genuinely immersed in the story while reading - I was surprised to see where the story went for I wasn't expecting the events that played out.

If I had to analyze the story in terms of its narrative message alone, or if I were simply reading the tale in order to do so, I do not believe I would find as much satisfaction in it. I believe I would be right there with Yasmine at this point, wishing the Knight had been killed off by some lovely goddess-like woman he marries. However, accepting the tale as it is and simply reading it for enjoyment without getting too analytically deep into what it is trying to communicate, I feel like there is a bit of satisfaction to be found it in... even if in my idealized feminist world the Knight would have been justly punished for his crime!

The Believability of Chaucer's Stories

While reading The Man of Law's Tale this week a few thoughts kept occurring to me, all of which centered on believability. In noticing how much more I liked this tale as opposed to the previous ones we have read, and exploring the reasons as to why this was the case, I kept coming back to the act of story telling. Stories can have such depth and power but their ability to influence or inform individuals is entirely dependent upon how one chooses to interpret what is being said.

Taking this into consideration, I then pose these questions: How much of what Chaucer says do we believe? How fictional are his tales - do we believe some, all or none of what he says? Why may we tend believe some parts more than others? More importantly though, do we even need to believe him - or should we simply accept his tales with good faith? 

I ask these questions because as I was reading the story of Custance I was having trouble making sense of my surprising and genuine interest in the tale. I say surprising because when I read the previous tales – especially the Reeve’s - I had to constantly remind myself to keep on reading. I needed to forcefully place myself in the mindset of Chaucer and his companions for it wasn’t something that came naturally to me. In other words, I was too aware of the fact that I was a 21^st century college senior from Maryland while I was reading, and this inhibited me from truly immersing myself in the narrative or it’s meaning.

Overall, speaking specifically about the Reeve’s tale, I found that I was having trouble getting beyond my disbelief, and that that was what was keeping me from truly understanding or enjoying Chaucer’s story. The Reeve’s tale felt much too forced for me, and because of this I simply didn’t believe it. My disbelief is also what prevented me from enjoying the tale. As I began to think further, however, I came to the conclusion that maybe this was just what Chaucer had intended.

After thinking about how much I enjoyed the Man of Law’s tale, and comparing the reasons as to why with all of the reasons why I did not like the Reeve’s, I began to notice similarities between the two stories in terms of their message of spirituality. I began to wonder if Chaucer didn’t intentionally play with the level of believability in his two stories specifically to highlight the ways in which individuals should/should not act. I’m planning on exploring this idea further – so my thoughts are not entirely complete just yet - but as of now it seems as though Chaucer could have most definitely been relying on his reader’s believability in his tales (or the lack there of) to highlight the right/wrong choices one should make in their everyday lives.

To briefly explain, in the Reeve’s tale, as we discussed in class, no character really comes out on top. Each individual we meet is flawed in some way, and as readers there isn’t really one particular that person that we’re pulling for. After reading the Man of Law’s tale, I began to believe that this was an intentional choice. It could be that by making the Reeve’s tale so hard to enjoy and believe, that Chaucer was trying to show us something – to tell us that if we seek revenge, deceit and trickery only to advance our own selfish ambitions, then we’re never going to win in the end. 

If we compare this idea to the Man of Law’s tale, and examine the treacherous life of Custance, although it appears as if aligning herself with God’s will brings her only strife and tragedy, in the end Custance is rewarded with a (somewhat) happy conclusion to her tale. Furthermore, given her devout actions and unfailing faith, even if we interpret Custance as having been cheated by her husband’s early death, there is enough textual evidence to remind us that she has the promise of eternal life to look forward to, she will undoubtedly gain salvation – a great deal more than can be said for the characters in the Reeve’s tale.

Overall, I believe that there is most certainly a connection between the Reeve and the Man of Law’s tales, and that this connection is directly linked by how much believability Chaucer allowed his readers to have when experiencing his two stories. By making one tale easier to believe and relate to than the other, we as readers are being directed towards an underlying message of spiritual morality. The Man of Law’s tale was so enjoyable to read that I personally felt much more apt to take what was being told not so much as a literal story but rather as a tale with a greater spiritual message.

Because I believed the Man of Law’s tale, and took what was being said with a grain of salt, I not only enjoyed the story more than the previous tales we had read but I was also able to pick out its significance of and meaning a lot easier. I’m curious to know if anyone else had a similar experience, as, like I said, I'm planning on exploring this idea further and would love to hear other opinions! :)