Canterbury Tales Study Questions

Why should we be weary (careful) of people who flatter (say nice things)?

• Because there are no kind people in the world today

• Because some people use flattering words to harm others

• Because flattering words are mean

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.2.6

Who wrote the Canterbury Tales?

• William Shakespeare

• Jeffrey Saucer

• Geoffrey Chaucer

Tags

CCSS.RL.9-10.9

CCSS.RI.11-12.9

CCSS.RI.9-10.9

CCSS.RL.11-12.9

CCSS.RL.K.6

How many people traveling to Canterbury did the narrator meet?

• 30

• 29

• 31

What sort of entertainment does the innkeeper propose for the pilgrimage?

• telling stories

• a horse race

• play “I spy” along the way

Chaucer uses the prologue primarily as a device to...

• describe the difficulties of medieval life

• emphasize the character’s religious ideas

• frame the stories told by individual characters

What is Chaucer’s primary theme (lesson to be learned) in the Prologue?

• the evil of mankind

• the great variety of human nature (how people are all different)

• the dangers of pleasure

What does the narrator mean in the Prologue when he says the following about the Friar? “But anywhere a profit might accrue / Courteous he was and lowly of service too.”

• The Friar helps people by giving them his time and money.

• The Friar helps people when he can make money doing it.

• The Friar helps people make money by providing his services

What do the following lines suggest about the woman from Bath?

“In all the parish not a dame dared stir / Towards the altar steps in front of her"

• she is very religious

• She is selfish and arrogant.

• she hates the Christian church

Tags

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.11-12.6

Which words describe the three boys at the beginning of “The Pardoner’s Tale”?

• smart and dangerous

• friendly and fun-loving

• greedy and rough

• cautious and sneaky

9. What do the 3 boys set off to do in the beginning of the story?

• kill the old man

• steal some gold

• kill Death