A Study of The Canterbury Tales and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

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Exploring Canterbury

• A Study of The Canterbury Tales and Sir Gawain
  and the Green Knight

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Table of Contents

• The Journey Begins . . .
  
• England in the Middle Ages
• Focus question
• Geoffrey Chaucer
  
• The Canterbury Tales
• Travelers to Canterbury
• Chaucers Middle Ages Population
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• The Green Knight
• Sir Gawain
• Works Cited

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The Journey Begins . . .

• In October 1066, a daylong battle near
  Hastings, England, changed the course of history.

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England in the Middle Ages

• Feudalism replaced the Nordic social system.
• The primary duty of males above the serf class
  was to serve in the militaryKnighthood.
• Women had no political rights.
• Chivalry and courtly love served as the system of
  social codes

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England in the Middle Ages

• Lower, middle, and upper-middle classes developed
  in the cities.

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England in the Middle Ages

• The Crusades extended from 1095-1270.
• They brought contact with Eastern mathematics,
  astronomy, architecture, and crafts.

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England in the Middle Ages

• The Magna-Carta defeated papal central power.

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England in the Middle Ages

• The Hundred Years War (1337-1453) was the first
  national war waged by England.

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England in the Middle Ages

• The Black Death (1348-1349) brought the end of
  the Middle Ages.

Fleas on rats carried the bubonic plague which
killed thousands of people. in Europe.
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How do the writings of the Middle Ages represent
the lives, loves, loyalties, and humor of
humanity?

• Discover the answer by reading The Canterbury
  Tales and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

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Geoffrey Chaucerc. 1343-1400

• Considered the father of English poetry
• Wrote in the vernacular
• Served as a soldier, government servant, and
  member of Parliament
• Introduced iambic pentameter
• First writer buried in Westminster Abbey
• Learn more about Chaucer. Go to. . .
• http//www.unc.edu/depts/chaucer/index.html

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The Canterbury Tales
Snapshot of an Age

• It frames a story of characters on a religious
  pilgrimage to Canterbury.
• The characters are a concise portrait of an
  entire nation.
• The pilgrimage is a quest narrative that moves
  from images of spring and awakening to penance,
  death, and eternal life.
• The characters tell stories that reflect
  everyman in the universal pilgrimage of life.

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The Travelers to Canterbury
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The Travelers to Canterbury
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The Travelers to Canterbury
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Chaucers Contemporaries
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Chaucers Snapshot of the Middle Ages Population
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Sir Gawain and the Green KnightHave the rules of
love changed?

• The Art of Courtly Love ( twelfth century
  document) listed several rules of love
• No one can be bound by double love.
• The easy attainment of love makes it of little
  value. Difficulty of attainment makes it prized
• A new love puts flight to an old one.
• If love diminishes, it quickly fails and rarely
  revives

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The Green Knight

• He challenges King Arthurs knights to a New
  Years game.
• The Green Knight wants to exchange one blow for
  another.
• The stranger will stand for the first blow if the
  other knight will agree to have his turn in a
  year and a day.

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Sir Gawain

• Sir Gawain accepts the Green Knights challenge.
• He honors his word and searches for the knights
  Green Chapel.
• Gawain finds a lord and his lady on his quest who
  offer him shelter on Christmas day.
• The lord has the lady tempt Sir Gawain three
  times on the rules of courtly love.
• Gawain resists--all but one advance.
• The Green Knight reveals himself to be the lord
  and spares Gawain for his honesty.

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Works Cited Home

• Brown, Ian. The Green Knight. 2002. May 16,
  2003 lthttp//www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/gawmenu
  .htmgt.
• Geoffrey Chaucer. Elements of Literature Sixth
  Course. Ed. Robert R. Hoyt. Austin, 1977. T99.
• Pyle, Howard. Sir Gawain the Son of Lot, King of
  Orkney. 1903. May 16, 2003 lthttp//wwwlib.rochest
  er.edu/camelot/gawmenu.htmgt.
• The Canterbury Tales A Snapshot of an Age.
  Elements of Literature Sixth Course. Ed. Robert
  R. Hoyt. Austin, 1977. T101-T104.