The Pilgrimage In The Canterbury Tales

In the Canterbury Tales, a pilgrimage begins around springtime in the late fourteenth century. The pilgrimage started in London and ended in Canterbury, England. The tales come from approximately twenty-three different pilgrims who are each giving their own version of the pilgrimage. Before each character tells their tale, Chaucer introduces each of them one by one in the prologue. In the prologue to Canterbury Tales, the narrator describes every one of the pilgrims appearances, including the knight, a prioress, and the wife of bath to describe their true personalities.

In the prologue, the narrator describes each of the different pilgrims in his own point of view. The first character mentioned is a brave and chivalrous knight. Chaucer begins to describe this knight as gentlemanly, brave, and highly honorable. The narrator describes the knight’s possessions such as his fine horses. The narrator claims that the knight was not gaily dressed which means the knight was not wearing anything extravagant. The knight wore a “fustian tunic stained and dark, with smudges where his armor had left mark”. By describing what the knight wore, the reader can understand that the knight was wearing stained and beaten

The narrator had many nice things to say about the nun. He said that she was “all sentiment and tender heart”. The narrator speaks of the nun as if she were a good-looking woman and talks about her broad forehead, which at the time, was a sign of beauty. Even though the narrator said many nice things, he states that she wears a coral rosary. This rosary had a set of very gaudy beads and a charm that read, “Amor Vincit Omnia”, which translates to, “love conquers all things”. For most, this would not have much importance. However, nuns take a vow of poverty and chastity. The prioress makes it seem as if she is more concerned with worldly matters and her appearance, rather than the oath she has