People in The Canterbury Tales are a group of 30 pilgrims who gather at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, London. They are traveling to St. Thomas à Becket’s shrine housed in the Cathedral in Canterbury for a religious pilgrimage.
Why are they traveling in The Canterbury Tales?
Answer and Explanation: The pilgrims are on their way to Canterbury to pay respect to Saint Thomas Becket. As a martyred Christian, the pilgrims visit his shrine in Canterbury to pay respect to his sacrifice for his faith. For this reason the pilgrims are on their way to the shrine of Saint Thomas at Canterbury.
Where are they going in Canterbury Tales and why?
The tales (mostly written in verse, although some are in prose) are presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together from London to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.
Where are the traveling going in The Canterbury Tales?
Geoffey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, written between 1387 and 1400, is a long poem concerning a group of thirty pilgrims on their way from Southwark, in south London, to the shrine of St Thomas Becket in Canterbury.
Where were the travelers going to for the pilgrimage?
They go to Rome, the city of the martyrdom of Peter and Paul, and also to Compostela, which, associated with the memory of Saint James, has welcomed pilgrims from throughout the world who desire to strengthen their spirit with the Apostle’s witness of faith and love.
Why were the characters in The Canterbury Tales going to Canterbury?
In the prologue of The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer describes each character traveling on the pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral to pay homage to Saint Thomas Becket’s shrine.
Why are Chaucer’s travels to Italy important?
He devoured late-antique philosophy, Latin translations of Arabic scientific treatises, and French love poems. His unusually good knowledge of Italian—and his travels to Italy—allowed him to access the latest poetry of Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarch.
Where did the Pilgrims in Prologue go and why?
The General Prologue is the first part of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. It introduces the frame story, in which a group of pilgrims travelling to the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury agree to take part in a storytelling competition, and describes the pilgrims themselves.
Why are all the people going to Canterbury in Prologue to Canterbury Tales?
Summary of The Prologue
That evening, a group of people arrive at the inn, all of whom are also going to Canterbury to receive the blessings of “the holy blissful martyr,” St. Thomas à Becket. Calling themselves “pilgrims” because of their destination, they accept the Narrator into their company.
Why does the host decide to travel with the pilgrims to Canterbury?
Whomever the Host decides has told the most meaningful and comforting stories will receive a meal paid for by the rest of the pilgrims upon their return. The Host also declares that he will ride with the pilgrims and serve as their guide at his own cost.
What is the journey in The Canterbury Tales?
What is The Canterbury Tales about? Chaucer’s long poem follows the journey of a group of pilgrims, 31 including Chaucer himself, from the Tabard Inn in Southwark to St Thomas à Becket’s shrine at Canterbury Cathedral.
Why do people go to the pilgrimage?
A pilgrimage is a sacred journey, undertaken for a spiritual purpose. Pilgrims are different from tourists: they travel for spiritual reasons, not just to relax or for fun. Pilgrimage is a search for meaning, purpose, values or truth (and in this sense, like life).
Why do people travel for pilgrimage?
Many people of all faiths make pilgrimages, often to a shrine or place of significance, to experience spiritual enlightenment and deeper understanding of their beliefs.
What is the purpose of the pilgrims journey?
The earliest Christian pilgrims wished to see the places where Jesus and the apostles had lived on earth. This meant journeying to the Holy Land, a relatively easy feat in the fourth century, when the Roman empire still unified the Mediterranean world.
Who travels together in The Canterbury Tales?
The Canterbury Tales is about an unrelated group of twenty-nine pilgrims traveling together on a pilgrimage. One of the major aspects of the journey is the unique diversity of the characters. There are knights, nuns, monks, lower-class tradesman and single women. They interact together and tell each other their tales.
Why did Chaucer go to France and Italy?
Chaucer spent most of his life living in and around London, but he was European in outlook. He travelled to France, Italy and Spain for months at a time, both as a soldier and as a diplomat entrusted with the ‘king’s business’. He was certainly fluent in French and probably conversant in Italian and Latin.
Where were the Pilgrims going where were they coming from?
The Pilgrims, also known as the Pilgrim Fathers, were the English settlers who came to North America on the Mayflower and established the Plymouth Colony in what is today Plymouth, Massachusetts, named after the final departure port of Plymouth, Devon.
Why did the Pilgrims leave their homes and sail for the New World?
Thirty-five of the Pilgrims were members of the radical English Separatist Church, who traveled to America to escape the jurisdiction of the Church of England, which they found corrupt. Ten years earlier, English persecution had led a group of Separatists to flee to Holland in search of religious freedom.
Where does the journey in The Canterbury Tales start?
The action begins at a tavern just outside of London, circa 1390, where a group of pilgrims have gathered in preparation for their journey to visit the shrine of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury. The narrator, Chaucer, encounters them there and becomes one of their company.
Why do people travel to Canterbury to the site where Thomas was murdered?
When miracles began to occur at the place Becket was killed, he was made a saint. The remains of martyrs like Saint Thomas were supposed to have special healing powers, and so thousands of pilgrims flocked to Canterbury.
What is it that the host proposes that the pilgrims do while they are traveling?
As they travel, he urges each pilgrim to share a story, gives advice about its tone and content, and even stops stories that he feels are poorly told.