TalesCanterbury Tales General Prologue Close Reading Exercise
1. Name of pilgrim and location of passage (line numbers). Hubert, The Friar (ll. 208-271)
2. Outline of the organization of the passage. What parts does it break into, and what is the main idea or point made in each section? Outline using line numbers.
ll. 208-29 The Friar is introduced as a merry, religious, sacred limiter.
ll. 210-213 We get a taste of the Friar’s deceitfulness. Here we see how sweet talking and flirtatious he is with the women.
ll. 214-32 Here we see what the friar actually does as his occupation. The friar is a well-known limiter all around, especially by the women. The poor go to him for penance. The friar, however, doesn’t really care about the people’s penance, he only wants their money. The friar was really good at what he was doing.
ll. 233-239 We see friar catering to the women he adored. He has plenty of gifts to give to the women. He even sings to them. The friar is completely fascinated by the women.
ll. 240-250 We see the friar characterized as a heartless being. He has no association with the poor, which contrasts with his actual occupation. The friar shouldn’t even be above the poor socially. Instead, the friar puts himself amongst the socially higher classes. Wherever there is money, there will be the friar.
ll. 250-271 The friar is worthy in everyone eyes. They almost see no fault in him. The friar is so smooth with his tongue and way of speaking to people, line 256 “So plesant was his In principio” that they don’t even realize how deceitful he truly is. No one bothers to correct him either. The friar is very flirtation and cunning. He gets by with whatever he wants. The people see no harm in the ways of the friar. All they want is repentance. In line 263, the friar is even compared to a master or a pope. This shows how good he is at deceiving others with his smarts.
3. Analyze one figure of speech (metaphor, simile, personification, etc.) and...