Canterbury Tales Winner

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Recommended: The general prologue to the Canterbury tales analysis

The Canterbury Tales: Shipman VS. Franklin
It’s nearing the end of the pilgrimage. The Host has narrowed the contest down to two stories, The Shipman’s Tale and The Franklin’s Tale. Suspense is in the air, who will win? The Canterbury Tales is about a diverse group of people who embarked on an adventure to visit the shrine of Thomas a’Beckett. Along the way, The Host came up with the brilliant idea of commencing a storytelling contest. The contest consisted of the following regulations: each contestant must tell a total of four stories, two on the way to the destination and two on the way back; it must be entertaining, it must be morally sound, and The Host is the one and only judge. The winner is awarded with a free meal at the Tabard Inn and the loser gets the privilege to pay for everyone else’s meals. The Shipman’s tale will undoubtedly win the storytelling contest because it kept the audience’s attention due to a twist and The Host praised the The Shipman for an excellent story. And although The Shipman’s Tale is not very morally sound, it still taught a lesson that every man should know.
The Shipman’s Tale is about a rich merchant, his wife, and a young monk named Sir John. The merchant is about to leave town for a few days and invited Sir John to come and party before he left. Sir John comes to the merchants castle and has a good time with him drinking and eating all they can. As the merchant prepares to leave, his wife approaches Sir John in secret and begs for one hundred francs to repay a debt. She agreed that she would repay Sir John by having sex with him because she is unhappy with her marriage. Sir John agrees to lend her the one hundred francs because he pities the merchants wife. There is a twist to the story ...

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...pe of women will rob men blind without even realizing it until it’s too late. The Host also went so far as to beware the men of the pilgrimage to watch out for this type of trickery by saying, “Hey, fellows, watch your step for such a jape!” (Chaucer, page 169). The Host loved that this point is made through the tale. He agrees that all women want is to possess power over men.
It is a very long and hard decision for The Host to make, but he decides that The Shipman is the winner because his tale possessed all the necessary qualities. There are many factors that go into creating the perfect story, but The Shipman succeeded and told a story that the audience and Host loved. The Shipman’s Tale, although not very morally sound, was still very entertaining and it kept the audience curious; it also taught a very good lesson that everyone should know.

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