Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to the second lesson about ""The Canterbury Tales": 'General Prologue'".

My name is Ms. King, and today we will be learning why people made pilgrimages to Canterbury, and how "The Canterbury Tales" are structured.

For today's lesson, all you'll need is a pen and paper, or something to write on and with.

Please take a moment now to clear away any distractions, including turning off the notifications on any apps or conversations you have running, if you know how to.

Finally, if you can, try to find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed during the lesson.

Okay, so when you're ready, let's begin.

First, let's recap what we learned last lesson.

Pause the video now, and see if you can fill in the gaps.

Resume the video once you're finished.

Well done, let's have a look at some answers.

You might like to correct any mistakes you made.

And give yourself a big tick for all the ones you got right.

Geoffrey Chaucer lived in the Middle Ages.

He worked as a page boy and later became a soldier.

As an adult, he was a courtier, diplomat, and civil servant under three kings.

He is famous for writing "The Canterbury Tales" and several other epic poems and dream visions.

Chaucer is still important today because he was the first person to write literature in English.

His contributions to English language and literature include inspiring William Shakespeare and inventing lots of new words.

Now, let's move on to today's lesson.

Today, we will start by learning what a pilgrimage is, and who Thomas Becket was.

Then, we'll move on to find out what a frame narrative is, and how "The Canterbury Tales" are structured.

So, what is a pilgrimage? Pilgrims are people who go on a religious journey to visit a holy place.

This journey is called a pilgrimage.

Let's have a look at some places that people of different religions might go on pilgrimage.

Mecca, is the holiest place in Islam.

Somewhere that Muslims travel to as part of Hajj.

The Western Wall, sometimes known as the Wailing Wall, is an important place to Jewish people, who go there to mourn the loss of their old temples.

The Vatican City is home of the pope, the leader of the Catholic Church.

The Golden Temple is the most important Gurdwara, or temple, in Sikhism.

Badrinath is a sacred place to the god Vishnu, in Hinduism.

And Lumbini, in Nepal, is said to be the birthplace of the lord Buddha.

But we are focusing on "The Canterbury Tales", which were written in England, in the Middle ages, where most people were Christian.

So, why did people go on pilgrimage in the Middle Ages? People believed that going on pilgrimage could bring you closer to God, carry out a promise, cleanse you of sin, that's an act against God's will.

And even, cure you of an illness.

Now these were the reasons why you were supposed to go on pilgrimage.

But we know that some people, saw pilgrimage as a holiday, as much as a holy day.

Some pilgrims also like the opportunity to go on a trip and meet new people.

Fair enough, sounds pretty good to me.

Let's check your understanding so far.

Which of these is not a reason people went on pilgrimage in the Middle Ages? Yes! People did not go on pilgrimage to get a suntan.

Actually, paler skin was highly prized by people in the Middle Ages because it showed that you didn't have to work outdoors, and therefore, that you were probably rich.

Now, who was Thomas Becket? Thomas Becket was made archbishop of Canterbury, in 1162.

This is the highest position of authority in the Christian Church, a big deal.

Unfortunately for Thomas though, he chose to side with the Church, not with King Henry II, big mistake.

This made Henry II very angry.

So angry in fact, that Thomas Becket was murdered by King Henry's knights in Canterbury Cathedral, in 1170, Thomas was considered a martyr, that's someone who dies for their religious beliefs.

He became Saint Thomas of Canterbury, a holy person to Christians.

He was buried at Canterbury Cathedral.

Some people believed that if you touched one of Thomas Becket's relics, that's his physical remains, you could be cured of all sorts of conditions, from leprosy, to epilepsy, to blindness.

Pilgrims could bow their heads, and kiss the tomb, the burial place of the saint.

In 1220, Becket's bones were moved to a new shrine, a holy place, which was covered in gold and jewels.

Now, let's see if you were listening carefully.

What is a saint? Good job, a saint is someone considered holy by Christians.

Let's try another one.

What is a shrine? Oh, yes.

A shrine is a holy place.

Brilliant work.

I think you're ready for something a bit trickier.

Read these statements carefully, and decide if they are true or false.

Pause the video, whilst you write down your answers.

'Kay, so number one is false, but it's a little bit of a trick question, sorry.

It was Henry's knights who murdered Thomas Becket.

But Henry did heavily hint that he wanted them to do this.

Two and three are both true.

Number four, can you tell the screen why number four is false.

That's right, relics means the physical remains of a saint.

The word for a holy place, is a shrine.

Now, here we can see the pilgrim's journey.

Beginning in Southwark in London, and ending in Canterbury, in the cathedral where Thomas Becket was buried.

It's a distance of 90 miles, that's 11 days of walking.

And that's only one way, no wonder they needed entertaining.

Now, I would like you to use what you learnt so far to write an answer to this question.

Why do you think people went on pilgrimage to Canterbury in the Middle Ages? You can use the sentence start to help you.

Pause the video to complete your task, and resume once you're finished.

Let's have a look at some example answers.

First, an acceptable, correct answer.

An acceptable answer, I think that people went on pilgrimage to Canterbury in the Middle Ages because they wanted to see where Thomas Becket died.

Now, a really impressive, good answer, I think that people went on pilgrimage to Canterbury in the Middle Ages because they wanted to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket.

They may have believed that the pilgrimage would help bring them closer to God, cleanse them of sin, or cure them of an illness.

You might like to pause the video now, to correct or to add to your work.

Okay, moving on.

What is a frame narrative? The way the "The Canterbury Tales" is structured is known as a frame narrative.

A frame narrative is when an overall story contains one or more smaller stories within it.

It's essentially a story within a story.

Now, copy down these sentences, seeing if you can fill in the gaps as you go along.

Pause the video now, and resume once you're finished.

How did you get on? The way that "The Canterbury Tales" is structured is known as a frame narrative.

A frame narrative is when an overall story contains one or more smaller stories within it.

It's essentially a story within a story.

Well done.

Right, then, last bit.

You're doing really, really well.

How is "The Canterbury Tales" structured? First, let's find out what happens in "The Canterbury Tales".

So Harry Bailey, the landlord of the Tabard Inn, suggests that to pass the time on their journey to Canterbury, each pilgrim should entertain each other by telling stories.

Each pilgrim will tell two stories on the way to Canterbury, and another two on the way back to London.

They choose who will go first by drawing lops, that's when each person takes a stick, and whoever gets the shortest one, goes first.

Now, as you might have guessed, "The Canterbury Tales" is an example of a frame narrative.

The "General Prologue", where we are introduced to each of the pilgrims and Harry Bailey suggests that they each tell stories to help pass the time, is the frame which all the other stories sit within.

A prologue comes from the word, the Greek word, meaning pró, before, and lógos, word.

So a prologue is an introduction to a book, film, play, or poem.

So after the prologue, within this frame, we have "The Pilgrims' Tales", that's each individual pilgrim telling a story.

Now, as you can see, there are lots of pilgrims. We'll be looking at some of them more closely in future lessons.

But let's start to get to know them now.

Okay, so if you have a look at the picture, from left to right, who are the pilgrims? First of all, we have the miller, that's someone who makes flour.

Then there's Harry Bailey, the landlord of the Tabard Inn, the man who suggests telling stories to pass the time.

Then we have a knight, sitting very upright on his horse, a solider in armour.

After him comes his son, a squire.

That's a type of landowner.

Next is a yeoman, another landowner, but of a lesser rank.

Then there's a doctor.

Then we have Chaucer himself, Chaucer wrote himself into "The Canterbury Tales" as a character.

He is the narrator, and he also begins to tell two different stories.

After that we have a lawyer.

A clerk, which is an office worker.

A manciple, that's a sort of food officer.

A sailor.

A princess.

A prioress, a head nun.

A nun, that's a religious woman.

And three priests.

The structure of "The Canterbury Tales" looks something like this.

So first we have the "General Prologue", then each character has their own individual prologue, introducing the reader to them.

After that, the character tells their story, their tale.

When they finished, there is another prologue, introducing us to the next character, and their story, and so on.

So, for example, the reeve, which is a type of local official, is introduced in his prologue, and tells his story.

And when he's finished, the cook is introduced in his prologue and goes on to tell his story.

Now, if you're any good at maths, which I bet you are, you would've worked out that about 30 pilgrims, each telling four stories, adds up to a whole lot of stories.

In fact there are 34 pilgrims in total.

But we only get to hear the stories of 22 of them.

It's believed that this might be because Chaucer hadn't finished "The Canterbury Tales" when he died.

Now, this is your chance to show off what you've learnt today.

I'd like you to write an answer to the question.

What makes "The Canterbury Tales" a frame narrative? You can use the sentence start to help if you like.

Pause the video now to complete your task, and resume it once you finished.

Fantastic! Okay, have a look at these answers and compare them to your own work.

So, an acceptable answer, "The Canterbury Tales" is a frame narrative because it contains a story within a story.

A really good answer, "The Canterbury Tales" is a frame narrative because it has an overall story, the pilgrims on their journey to Canterbury, with smaller stories within it, that's each tale that a pilgrim tells.

Okay, that brings us to the end of today's lesson.

Give yourself a little round of applause, all the amazing learning you've done today.

Go on, you deserve it.

Now, before you go, I've got two final things I'd like you to do.

First of all, don't forget to do the quiz.

Secondly, if you're able to, please take a picture of your work, and ask your parent or carer to share it with your teacher, so they can see all the fantastic things you've learnt today.

Well, all that's left for me to say, is thank you, take care, and enjoy the rest of your learning for today.