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The Knight is the first pilgrim Chaucer describes in The Canterbury Tales , and the teller of the first tale. The Knight represents the ideal of a medieval Christian man-at-arms. He has participated in no less than fifteen of the great crusades of his era. He is brave, experienced, and prudent, so the narrator greatly admires him.

The Knight’s Tale describes how two kingsmen Arcite and Palamon fall in love with the same woman named Emily whom they first see out of their prison window. Emily is the niece of King Theseus. Arcite gains his freedom but is banished from Athens. He comes back in a disguise since he cannot bear to live away from Emily. In the meanwhile Palamon breaks out of prison and coincidentally meets Arcite in a forest grove. Here, Theseus discovers them fighting a bloody duel. Theseus puts an end to their fight and organizes a contest to resolve their quarrel about Emily. Before the contest Arcite prays to Mars for victory while Palamon prays to Venus for the sole possession of Emily. This creates uproar in heaven and finally both the wishes are granted. Arcite emerges victorious in the joust but falls from his horse and dies and eventually Palamon marries Emily.

What's being critiqued is it's basically a love triangle between a women and two kingsmen falling in love with her. It's obvious that they competed eachother to win her heart and one of them emerges victorious but dies whilst the other ended up with the woman anyways.

The Pardoner is employed by the church to give pardons to those who have sinned. As a church employee, one would expect him to be honest, humble, and full of a servant's heart.

The Pardoner’s Tale relates how three drunken men sets out to search death after their friend has been killed by the plague. On their way they encounter an extremely old man who directs them to an oak tree at the end of the lane and tells them that he had last seen death there. The men hurry to the spot and instead find eight bushels of gold. They decide to keep the treasure for themselves. However, they grow greedy and kill themselves through trickery.

What's being critiqued is avarice. Because the Pardoner is good at preaching, but in his prologue he tells the pilgrims he only does it to win money, berating the people for their sinfulness so they'll be more likely to buy what he is selling.

Bath is an English town on the Avon River, not the name of this woman’s husband. Though she is a seamstress by occupation, she seems to be a professional wife. She has been married five times and had many other affairs in her youth, making her well practiced in the art of love. She presents herself as someone who loves marriage and sex, but, from what we see of her, she also takes pleasure in rich attire, talking, and arguing. She is deaf in one ear and has a gap between her front teeth, which was considered attractive in Chaucer’s time. She has traveled on pilgrimages to Jerusalem three times and elsewhere in Europe as well.

The Wife of Bath tale speaks the theme of women’s desire for mastery over men. A young Knight rapes a country maiden while returning home. As a punishment for his evil act, he has to discover within a year what women most desire. The Knight unsuccessfully wanders in the entire country to search the answer. Eventually he promises to grant a wish to an ugly old hag in return for the right answer. When he has given the answer in court and secured his liberty, the old croon jumps up and demands that he marry her. The Knight begs her to reconsider and wish for something else but the old hag stubbornly refuses. The Knight marries her secretly. At night as they lie in bed, the Knight keeps on tossing and turning restlessly. The old hag asks him if he would prefer her ugly and faithful or beautiful and faithless. The Knight allows her to decide. The old woman is delighted to have won ‘maistrie’ over her husband and rewards him by becoming faithful and beautiful all the time. The two have a long, happy marriage, and the woman becomes completely obedient to her husband.

What's being critiqued is that the Wife has numerous lovers and husbands have made her skilled in the "old dance" of love, or sex, an expertise she draws upon in the long Prologue to her tale. But even from her portrait, we get the impression that the Wife is a fun-loving woman who likes to have a good time, making her an ideal companion on pilgrimage.

Stout and brawny, the Miller has a wart on his nose and a big mouth, both literally and figuratively. He threatens the Host’s idea of propriety when he drunkenly insists on telling the second tale. Indeed, the Miller seems to enjoy overturning all conventions: he ruins the Host’s carefully planned storytelling order; he rips doors off hinges; and he tells a tale that is somewhat blasphemous, ridiculing religious clerks, scholarly clerks, carpenters, and women.

The Miller’s Tale relates how Old John, an Oxford carpenter, was deceived by a clerk named Nicholas, who had an affair with the carpenter’s wife. Nicholas deceives the carpenter into believing that Noah’s flood is about to recur and makes him hang three tubs from the ceiling to escape the deluge. The carpenter sleeps fitfully in one tub while his wife Alison spends the night with Nicholas. The young parish clerk Absolon who is also trying to woo Alison arrives beneath her bedroom window only to be humiliated. When Absolon desperately begs Alison for a kiss she thrusts her posterior out of the window. He is angry and returns to take revenge. But now Nicholas extends his backside out of the window and Absolon brands him with a red-hot iron. Nicholas’s screams wakes the carpenter who cuts the cord and plunges down breaking his arm.

What's being critique is lust and hatred. The tale the Miller tells, a bawdy story about how a carpenter's wife cheats on him with a clerk, confirms the Miller's lustful proclivities. Yet the Miller's tale is also immensely clever, concluding with what literary types agree is one of the most successful and witty endings of any tale.

A sensual, licentious man who seduces young girls and then arranges their marriages. He loves money and knows the taverns better than the poor houses.

The Friar asks to tell the next tale, and asks for pardon from the Summoner, for he will tell a tale that exposes the fraud of that profession. The Friar's Tale tells about a wicked summoner who, while delivering summons for the church court, comes across a traveling yeoman who eventually reveals himself to be the devil himself. The two share trade secrets, and the devil tells him that they will meet again in hell if the summoner continues to pursue his trade. The summoner visits an old woman and issues her a summons, then offers to accept a bribe as a payment to prevent her excommunication. The old woman believes that she is without sin and curses the summoner. The devil then appears and casts the summoner into hell.

What's being critiqued is also avarice because in medieval England, friars could be "licensed" both to beg in particular regions, and to earn money by hearing confessions or administering the sacraments. Since friars were not supposed to own property, these licenses were their only means of supporting themselves.

The Pilgrims of The Canterbury Tales

The Miller

The Wife of Bath

The Friar

The Pardoner

The Knight

Mosammat Miah

AP English

4th Hour

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