Book IV: The speaker says that he wishes that mankind would have been warned of Satan's plans so they could have avoided the whole temptation thing. Back to Satan. He's angry about losing the war against God, so he's taking that anger out on man. Poignant moment: He can never actually escape Hell because Hell is inside of him. He talks to the sun. He tells him he hates the rays it emits because it reminds him of what he used to be. He couldn't resist trying to defeat God. He is pretty distraught over the situation. He knows God will never forgive him. Even if God did let him back into Heaven, he would try to do the same thing over again. There will never be peace. Satan gets to the edge of Paradise. It's surrounded by a large hill. He can't climb the hill because there is overgrown brush. The only gate to get into Paradise is on the other side. Satan just hurdles over the hill. He lands right on top of the Tree of Life. He says it is "A Heaven on Earth." Next to the tree of life is the Tree of Knowledge. Paradise is, well, paradise. It's beautiful with fruit, flowers, trees, and even roses without thorns. Satan sees Adam and Eve. They're both naked. Eve has hair to her waist, while Adam's is to his shoulders. Eve is clearly subservient to Adam, but not his slave. She loves him. Satan is excited because he's about to drag these two to Hell with him. He comes down fro the tree and changes into the shape of a lion, then a tiger. He listens to Adam and Eve. Adam is convinced God is good because he gave them Paradise. They want for nothing, and they only have to follow one rule: don't eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Eve says, you are right. They go on to talk about how they love each other. Satan hates seeing this. They get Paradise and he gets Hell. He thinks it's a little unfair. Satan doesn't understand why they can't gain knowledge. He decides to seduce them with knowledge, and trick them into breaking God's one rule. In the meantime, he decides to talk to other angels who are in Eden. Gabriel is sitting, watching Paradise. Uriel comes to hang out with Gabriel. He talks about Satan coming to him earlier and says he realized that Satan was one of the fallen angels. Gabriel says they'll find out if someone snuck into Eden. Uriel leaves. Adam tells Eve that it's time for bed. Eve says she'll do whatever Adam says because that's God's will. They talk some more lovey-dovey chat. They head to bed. As they're sleeping, Gabriel tells his second in command, Uzziel, to check out south of Eden. He's looking with a group in the north. He commands Ithuriel and Zephon, other angels, to look throughout eden for Satan. They find him as a toad, whispering temptations into Eve's ear. Ithuriel touches Satan with his spear, turning Satan back into his normal shape. They ask Satan which fallen angel he is. Satan is like, if you don't know who I am, then you're low on the chain of commands. Zephon says that Satan looks different since the fall. He says Satan must answer to Gabriel. After some trash-talking, they take Satan to Gabriel. Gabriel realizes Satan is Satan and gets ready for a fight. Gabriel asks why Satan left Hell. Satan says that Gabriel isn't very smart if he had to ask that question. They talk badly about each other some more. Gabriel tells Satan to leave because he's outnumbered. Satan realizes there's no point in fighting, so he leaves.
Book V: Back to Eden. Adam wakes up, fully rested. He looks at Eve who looks like she has slept on the wrong side of the bed. She says she's had a rough night. She tells about a dream she had. She goes to the Tree of Knowledge, where an angel is sitting. He says that knowledge shouldn't be forbidden, and that she should eat the fruit. Eve tastes the fruit, the angel disappears, then she wakes up. Adam is a little worried after hearing this story. He says to not think about it any more because they can't eat the fruit. They leave the home and offer some prayers to God. Adam and Eve go to work. God is watching them, and calls Raphael to his side. He tells Raphael that Satan is being a nuisance in Eden. He commands Raphael to tell Adam. Raphael heads to Eden. Adam sees Raphael heading his way. Adam tells Eve to get food ready for their guest. She goes to pick the best fruit. Adam greets Raphael and invites him to lunch. Adam tells Raphael to eat. After they eat, Adam asks Raphael about Heaven. Raphael spouts off stories about obedience to God. Raphael says to Adam, you've been given Paradise, don't break the rules. He says those who don't obey God end up in Hell. He then tells the story of Satan's fall. Read the book if you want to get all the details.
Book VI: Still more about the fall of Satan and his crew of angels. Literally, the entire book is devoted the fall of Satan and the battle. It's pretty good, but long. I suggest you read it if you want to understand Milton's version of events. Back to the story. At the end of the book, Raphael tells Adam that he's done his best to try and explain things beyond human comprehension. He says that Satan is trying to tempt and seduce him with evil. That's the end of the book.
This was kind of an easy day, wasn't it? Tomorrow will be Books VII-IX.
Until then,
Cassy
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Paradise Lost: Books I-III Summary
Book I: The epic starts with a familiar tune: the speaker asks the muses to give him the ability to tell the story well. The speaker asks the muses to sing about man's first disobedience, the Forbidden Fruit, man's banishment from Eden, our redemption through Christ, etc. Quickly, the scene moves to one reminiscent of Dante. We are taken to Hell with Satan. Weird thing about Hell though, it's not below the earth. It's really nowhere, a place called Chaos. Here's the lowdown on Milton's universe: the universe (sun, earth, planets, stars, etc.) is in a globe. This globe hangs from Heaven by a golden chain. Everything that isn't Heaven or the universe is Chaos, with Hell at the opposite end of Heaven and the universe. The following is a picture (found at http://enl4341places.pbworks.com/f/MiltonsCosmology.jpg) of the geography of Milton's world.
Okay, back to the story. Satan is looking around, rather confused. He's just fallen from Heaven and he hasn't adjusted to his new environment. It's hot and there's a darkness everywhere. He notices his first mate, Beelzebub. Satan tells Beelzebub that he doesn't look like anyone he saw in Heaven. Apparently, the fallen angels had a makeover. Satan explains how he and fellow angels fought God and lost. Although they lost, there is still hope. Beelzebub says that he feels a little trepidation about their current situation. He says that the only reason they still feel alive is so that they can fully experience the punishment of God. Satan doesn't seem too fazed by Beelzebub's pessimistic attitude. He says that their goal is to now be evil. If God does something good, they'll try to mess everything up. Satan tells his PIC (partner in crime) they should move to a close plain and think about how to fight another war with God. As Satan moves toward the plain, the narrator offers us a moment to describe our antagonist. Satan is huge, bigger than giants in ancient mythology. He can fly, as well. Beelzebub follows him to the plain. Satan says this place isn't too shabby. He wants to be far away from God. They aren't BFFs anymore. He proposes that his companions and fellow evil warriors meet together and hash out a new plan. Satan goes to the shore of the burning lake and called the other fallen angels. They come to their leader. Satan goes on a tirade about how they lost. He tells them to come together. The angels line up in squadrons like they're in an arm. There's a bunch of them. The leaders of the squadrons call Satan their "great commander." These leaders will become pagan gods that the Israelites worshipped in the Old Testament. The first is Moloch (like in Anne Rice's book!). He is covered in blood. He convinced Solomon (Old Testament king) to build a temple for him. The next is Chemos. The Israelites, after they escaped Egypt, starting worshipping him. Here comes Baalim and Ashtaroth. They are representative of Middle East deities. Astoreth is next. She was worshipped by Phoenician virgins. Next is Thammuz, Dagon, and Rimmon. Egyptian gods, Isis, Osiris, and Orus, show up, too. The last to arrive is Belial. There are a ton of other fallen angels present, as well. Other demons and devils are there, and they look a little downtrodden. Satan tells them that there is hope. He gives a speech, and unfurls a flag. Once they see the flag, the soldiers go nuts. They start marching, and congregate in front of Satan. Satan towers over his army. He tries to talk to his soldiers three times, but cries. What a baby. Finally, he says that he never would have guessed that such a great army would have lost. He says don't worry, we got this, still. They'll fight God, but in a different way. They have to be craftier, though. Satan finishes, and the army head toward a volcano. They eventually make a large temple, with statues, pillars, and a gold roof. They call it Pandemonium, and everyone goes in to have a council.
Book II: Satan starts this book by sitting on his throne. He addresses his followers, saying that he hopes they will regain Heaven. They now have to discuss the best way to fight God. He asks if war or being sneaky is better. Moloch says he wants war. Belial doesn't want outright war because Heaven is on lockdown and almost impenetrable. He says God is going to figure out whatever they're doing, so they might as well just face their fate. Mammon says that it's impossible to defeat God. They should be happy in Hell because at least they're free. The other fallen angels like what he's saying; they're not up for another war. Building a domain in Hell isn't so bad. Beelzebub says have an empire in Hell is foolish; God will take what they build. There will never be peace. He tells them he's heard through the grapevine that God is building a new world, and suggests they check it out. He remarks that they might be able to exterminate mankind. Everyone thinks this the best plan so far. Beelzebub then asks who is brave enough to check out earth. No one raises his hand. Satan says that Hell is a strong prison. It's tough to get out of. When you do get out, you have to deal with a permeating darkness. He then says that he wouldn't be a good leader if he didn't volunteer to go check out the world. He tells his minions to make Hell home for them while he's out. The fallen angels gain more respect for their leader. The highest-ranking angels leave Pandemonium with Satan. The leaders go hang out in Hell while Satan gets ready to leave. Satan heads toward the gates of Hell, which are tough and surrounded by fire. There are three gates: brass, iron, and adamantine. There are two creatures at the gates. One is a female from the head to waist. The waist down she's snake-like. Around her waist are hell hounds. The other shapeless figure is dark and black. He is introduced as 666. Satan isn't afraid of them. The male, black, blob thing asks Satan if he's going to start another war. This guy thinks he's in charge, while Satan isn't having any of that. The female steps in. She asks Satan why he's about to kill his son (whhhhat?). Satan is as confused as you might be. She tells him that during the planning process of Satan's revolt, she sprung from the left side of his head. She is Sin. Satan had sex with his daughter, Sin, and left her pregnant. She gave birth to shapeless dude, Death. Death raped Sin (his mother), and they made the hell hounds around her waist. Gross. Satan tells Sin that he's going to check out God's new world, and that Sin and Death can hang out there whenever they want. Sin says she's not supposed to open the gates; God's orders. But, she thinks, why keep the gates sealed for God when Satan is her dad? So she opens them. Satan steps into Chaos. He flies away. He gets to Chao's throne. Satan tells Chaos that he's trying to find the borders of Heaven. Chaos knows who Satan is. He points Satan in the direction of earth. He sees the earth hanging from that golden chain. He flies that way, full of revenge.
Book III: Milton tells us about this light coming from Heaven. It's God's first offspring. The speaker is now going to talk about Heaven since he's spent two books talking about Hell. God is in Heaven, looking down at his angels, Adam and Even, and at Satan. His Son (not named Jesus yet) sits at his right. God describes Satan's evil ways to His Son. He knows Satan's plans. He even knows about him seducing mankind, and that he will succeed. Everyone has a choice (freewill, folks). If people didn't have a choice, their reverence for God wouldn't mean anything. God says predestination doesn't exist. But, good thing for man, since he was deceived, he'll get a chance for redemption. Satan and his crew won't get anything. God's Son responds. He praises God's declaration regarding man's grace, because it isn't possible for Satan to win. God says, yo, you're right. Some men will be saved, but not because of their will but because of His grace. God says everyone has the opportunity to receive his Grace. What about sin? They can't fix all of the sin in the world unless someone turns mortal and dies for their sins. Think anyone raises their hand to volunteer? Heaven is silent for a minute. No one really wants to sacrifice, and all would have been lost for mankind, but JC (not named yet) stands up. He says he'll do it. He knows he'll be sacrificing lot, but he knows he won't really die. He'll rise from the dead, defeat Satan and even death, and take hold of Hell. Then, he'll come back to Heaven. God is pretty thankful for His Son's sacrifice, because without him, man would have been done. God's Son won't be disrespected by being turned to a man. He will be made the ruler of the universe. God says that there will be a Last Judgment when the Son will send some people to Heaven and others to Hell. After the Last Judgment, Hell is closed off, earth is burned, and a new Heaven and earth will be made. All of Heaven loves the sound of that. The angels bow down to God and His Son. All the while, Satan comes out of Chaos and into the earth. Satan gets himself to the sun. He checks out his surroundings. He sees an angel lounging about. Satan turns into a Cherub. The angel is Uriel, one of the seven angels who stand closest to God's throne. Satan says he wants to inspect God's new creation. He asks which planet man is one. Uriel, who doesn't know this Cherub is Satan, points to the Garden of Eden. Satan thanks him then heads to earth.
Pretty exciting so far, right? Books IV-VI tomorrow!
Cassy
Okay, back to the story. Satan is looking around, rather confused. He's just fallen from Heaven and he hasn't adjusted to his new environment. It's hot and there's a darkness everywhere. He notices his first mate, Beelzebub. Satan tells Beelzebub that he doesn't look like anyone he saw in Heaven. Apparently, the fallen angels had a makeover. Satan explains how he and fellow angels fought God and lost. Although they lost, there is still hope. Beelzebub says that he feels a little trepidation about their current situation. He says that the only reason they still feel alive is so that they can fully experience the punishment of God. Satan doesn't seem too fazed by Beelzebub's pessimistic attitude. He says that their goal is to now be evil. If God does something good, they'll try to mess everything up. Satan tells his PIC (partner in crime) they should move to a close plain and think about how to fight another war with God. As Satan moves toward the plain, the narrator offers us a moment to describe our antagonist. Satan is huge, bigger than giants in ancient mythology. He can fly, as well. Beelzebub follows him to the plain. Satan says this place isn't too shabby. He wants to be far away from God. They aren't BFFs anymore. He proposes that his companions and fellow evil warriors meet together and hash out a new plan. Satan goes to the shore of the burning lake and called the other fallen angels. They come to their leader. Satan goes on a tirade about how they lost. He tells them to come together. The angels line up in squadrons like they're in an arm. There's a bunch of them. The leaders of the squadrons call Satan their "great commander." These leaders will become pagan gods that the Israelites worshipped in the Old Testament. The first is Moloch (like in Anne Rice's book!). He is covered in blood. He convinced Solomon (Old Testament king) to build a temple for him. The next is Chemos. The Israelites, after they escaped Egypt, starting worshipping him. Here comes Baalim and Ashtaroth. They are representative of Middle East deities. Astoreth is next. She was worshipped by Phoenician virgins. Next is Thammuz, Dagon, and Rimmon. Egyptian gods, Isis, Osiris, and Orus, show up, too. The last to arrive is Belial. There are a ton of other fallen angels present, as well. Other demons and devils are there, and they look a little downtrodden. Satan tells them that there is hope. He gives a speech, and unfurls a flag. Once they see the flag, the soldiers go nuts. They start marching, and congregate in front of Satan. Satan towers over his army. He tries to talk to his soldiers three times, but cries. What a baby. Finally, he says that he never would have guessed that such a great army would have lost. He says don't worry, we got this, still. They'll fight God, but in a different way. They have to be craftier, though. Satan finishes, and the army head toward a volcano. They eventually make a large temple, with statues, pillars, and a gold roof. They call it Pandemonium, and everyone goes in to have a council.
Book II: Satan starts this book by sitting on his throne. He addresses his followers, saying that he hopes they will regain Heaven. They now have to discuss the best way to fight God. He asks if war or being sneaky is better. Moloch says he wants war. Belial doesn't want outright war because Heaven is on lockdown and almost impenetrable. He says God is going to figure out whatever they're doing, so they might as well just face their fate. Mammon says that it's impossible to defeat God. They should be happy in Hell because at least they're free. The other fallen angels like what he's saying; they're not up for another war. Building a domain in Hell isn't so bad. Beelzebub says have an empire in Hell is foolish; God will take what they build. There will never be peace. He tells them he's heard through the grapevine that God is building a new world, and suggests they check it out. He remarks that they might be able to exterminate mankind. Everyone thinks this the best plan so far. Beelzebub then asks who is brave enough to check out earth. No one raises his hand. Satan says that Hell is a strong prison. It's tough to get out of. When you do get out, you have to deal with a permeating darkness. He then says that he wouldn't be a good leader if he didn't volunteer to go check out the world. He tells his minions to make Hell home for them while he's out. The fallen angels gain more respect for their leader. The highest-ranking angels leave Pandemonium with Satan. The leaders go hang out in Hell while Satan gets ready to leave. Satan heads toward the gates of Hell, which are tough and surrounded by fire. There are three gates: brass, iron, and adamantine. There are two creatures at the gates. One is a female from the head to waist. The waist down she's snake-like. Around her waist are hell hounds. The other shapeless figure is dark and black. He is introduced as 666. Satan isn't afraid of them. The male, black, blob thing asks Satan if he's going to start another war. This guy thinks he's in charge, while Satan isn't having any of that. The female steps in. She asks Satan why he's about to kill his son (whhhhat?). Satan is as confused as you might be. She tells him that during the planning process of Satan's revolt, she sprung from the left side of his head. She is Sin. Satan had sex with his daughter, Sin, and left her pregnant. She gave birth to shapeless dude, Death. Death raped Sin (his mother), and they made the hell hounds around her waist. Gross. Satan tells Sin that he's going to check out God's new world, and that Sin and Death can hang out there whenever they want. Sin says she's not supposed to open the gates; God's orders. But, she thinks, why keep the gates sealed for God when Satan is her dad? So she opens them. Satan steps into Chaos. He flies away. He gets to Chao's throne. Satan tells Chaos that he's trying to find the borders of Heaven. Chaos knows who Satan is. He points Satan in the direction of earth. He sees the earth hanging from that golden chain. He flies that way, full of revenge.
Book III: Milton tells us about this light coming from Heaven. It's God's first offspring. The speaker is now going to talk about Heaven since he's spent two books talking about Hell. God is in Heaven, looking down at his angels, Adam and Even, and at Satan. His Son (not named Jesus yet) sits at his right. God describes Satan's evil ways to His Son. He knows Satan's plans. He even knows about him seducing mankind, and that he will succeed. Everyone has a choice (freewill, folks). If people didn't have a choice, their reverence for God wouldn't mean anything. God says predestination doesn't exist. But, good thing for man, since he was deceived, he'll get a chance for redemption. Satan and his crew won't get anything. God's Son responds. He praises God's declaration regarding man's grace, because it isn't possible for Satan to win. God says, yo, you're right. Some men will be saved, but not because of their will but because of His grace. God says everyone has the opportunity to receive his Grace. What about sin? They can't fix all of the sin in the world unless someone turns mortal and dies for their sins. Think anyone raises their hand to volunteer? Heaven is silent for a minute. No one really wants to sacrifice, and all would have been lost for mankind, but JC (not named yet) stands up. He says he'll do it. He knows he'll be sacrificing lot, but he knows he won't really die. He'll rise from the dead, defeat Satan and even death, and take hold of Hell. Then, he'll come back to Heaven. God is pretty thankful for His Son's sacrifice, because without him, man would have been done. God's Son won't be disrespected by being turned to a man. He will be made the ruler of the universe. God says that there will be a Last Judgment when the Son will send some people to Heaven and others to Hell. After the Last Judgment, Hell is closed off, earth is burned, and a new Heaven and earth will be made. All of Heaven loves the sound of that. The angels bow down to God and His Son. All the while, Satan comes out of Chaos and into the earth. Satan gets himself to the sun. He checks out his surroundings. He sees an angel lounging about. Satan turns into a Cherub. The angel is Uriel, one of the seven angels who stand closest to God's throne. Satan says he wants to inspect God's new creation. He asks which planet man is one. Uriel, who doesn't know this Cherub is Satan, points to the Garden of Eden. Satan thanks him then heads to earth.
Pretty exciting so far, right? Books IV-VI tomorrow!
Cassy
Monday, July 29, 2013
Background to John Milton and Paradise Lost
Last book, folks, and this one is a great book; it's the epitome of an epic. John Milton was born during the time Shakespeare was writing, in 1608. An important aspect of Milton's life was the fact that his father was a devout Puritan. He had been shunned by his Roman Catholic family once he turned Protestant. Milton (the one we really care about) was an excellent student.
He had private tutors as a child--despite being disowned by his family, his father was a rich merchant. As a teenager, he went to an affluent, private school, which helped him gain entrance into Christ's College at Cambridge University. At college, he excelled in writing. He read classic texts in Greek and in Latin. Milton became fluent in many languages including Latin, Greek, Italian, French, Spanish, and others. As a student, his prowess in poetry flourished as he wrote many sonnets.
As for political ideals, Milton voiced his opinions in pamphlets. He distrusted institutions, which he believed the power of them led to the corruption of humans. During his lifetime, he challenged the rule of King Charles I. He believed that the king was not fit to lead the people because he was not apt nor virtuous enough.
As for Paradise Lost, his religious views are important. In his lifetime, the Anglican Church, or Church or England, had split into high Anglican sects and Presbyterian. Milton was a Presbyterian. They called for getting rid of bishops, but Milton felt there needed to be more changes. He believed that priests should be done away with as well. The corruption in the Church was a problem for Milton (obviously). Paradise Lost incorporate many Protestant ideals.
Now, to the good part: the epic. At the age of 16, Milton had already been ambitious enough to want to become a great writer like the likes of Homer or Virgil. He wanted to bring such epics to the English language. There were earlier ideas: perhaps using King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, or about Oliver Cromwell executing King Charles. He wanted to write an epic with a distinctly British topic to unite the people and be a national pride. In the mid-1650s, Milton had written a drama about Adam and Eve, but decided it wasn't write in play format. He thought it would be excellent as an epic. In 1656, Milton (being blind) began reciting the verses to his two daughters. He dictated the poem and finished it in 1667. He soon went to revising the poem, splitting it into 12 books, finally publishing it in 1671. He later made a sequel, Paradise Regained, and to Milton, it was better than the first text, but many scholars disagree.
The following video is a short summary of Paradise Lost. Watch it. Get excited for the week.
Cassy
He had private tutors as a child--despite being disowned by his family, his father was a rich merchant. As a teenager, he went to an affluent, private school, which helped him gain entrance into Christ's College at Cambridge University. At college, he excelled in writing. He read classic texts in Greek and in Latin. Milton became fluent in many languages including Latin, Greek, Italian, French, Spanish, and others. As a student, his prowess in poetry flourished as he wrote many sonnets.
As for political ideals, Milton voiced his opinions in pamphlets. He distrusted institutions, which he believed the power of them led to the corruption of humans. During his lifetime, he challenged the rule of King Charles I. He believed that the king was not fit to lead the people because he was not apt nor virtuous enough.
As for Paradise Lost, his religious views are important. In his lifetime, the Anglican Church, or Church or England, had split into high Anglican sects and Presbyterian. Milton was a Presbyterian. They called for getting rid of bishops, but Milton felt there needed to be more changes. He believed that priests should be done away with as well. The corruption in the Church was a problem for Milton (obviously). Paradise Lost incorporate many Protestant ideals.
Now, to the good part: the epic. At the age of 16, Milton had already been ambitious enough to want to become a great writer like the likes of Homer or Virgil. He wanted to bring such epics to the English language. There were earlier ideas: perhaps using King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, or about Oliver Cromwell executing King Charles. He wanted to write an epic with a distinctly British topic to unite the people and be a national pride. In the mid-1650s, Milton had written a drama about Adam and Eve, but decided it wasn't write in play format. He thought it would be excellent as an epic. In 1656, Milton (being blind) began reciting the verses to his two daughters. He dictated the poem and finished it in 1667. He soon went to revising the poem, splitting it into 12 books, finally publishing it in 1671. He later made a sequel, Paradise Regained, and to Milton, it was better than the first text, but many scholars disagree.
The following video is a short summary of Paradise Lost. Watch it. Get excited for the week.
Cassy
Why teach The Canterbury Tales?
Kids definitely groan about reading this text. Maybe it's the Middle English. Maybe it's hard to relate to. Maybe kids can be lazy. Kids do need to be taught this text, though, quite a few reasons, my friends.
Newsflash: THE CANTERBURY TALES ARE RELEVANT. Just look at the structure of this thing. It has characters that cover the spectra of age, spirituality, morality, and social class, and all of these people are traveling together. They have all lived vastly different lives, and yet, they're all traveling to the same place. Each of their stories provide important lessons and serve the text as a hole. There are stories that are important to dissect and have discussions about. Think about stories like "The Wife of Bath" and "The Miller's Tale." These stories deal with gender roles, marriage, fidelity, revenge, social class. How are all of these not relevant to society today?? The prologues to each character also reveal very human elements. Each person divulges information about what makes up their identity: feelings, thoughts, actions, treatment of others, and what they say. The story has things to say about people's sense of self and what constitutes a self. There's also something about the text, perhaps it being unfinished, that speaks to enjoying the journey instead of focusing on the destination.
You can easily make a unit plan with The Canterbury Tales where it emphasizes the relevance of itself in our globalized world: dealing with different people from different walks of life, gender role, social class, morality. It's an amazing text to work with. I mean, seriously, look at this video. A kid rapped the General Prologue IN MIDDLE ENGLISH. That's a mash up of modern and Middle English that personifies how you can teach this to students.
Guys, this is our last week. Paradise Lost is coming up. It's pretty epic (haha). This week should be regular schedule. After this last text, I'll have one post about epics in general and teaching them. Then, that's it. Kind of sad. But I hope you've enjoyed it. I won't get too sentimental yet.
Newsflash: THE CANTERBURY TALES ARE RELEVANT. Just look at the structure of this thing. It has characters that cover the spectra of age, spirituality, morality, and social class, and all of these people are traveling together. They have all lived vastly different lives, and yet, they're all traveling to the same place. Each of their stories provide important lessons and serve the text as a hole. There are stories that are important to dissect and have discussions about. Think about stories like "The Wife of Bath" and "The Miller's Tale." These stories deal with gender roles, marriage, fidelity, revenge, social class. How are all of these not relevant to society today?? The prologues to each character also reveal very human elements. Each person divulges information about what makes up their identity: feelings, thoughts, actions, treatment of others, and what they say. The story has things to say about people's sense of self and what constitutes a self. There's also something about the text, perhaps it being unfinished, that speaks to enjoying the journey instead of focusing on the destination.
You can easily make a unit plan with The Canterbury Tales where it emphasizes the relevance of itself in our globalized world: dealing with different people from different walks of life, gender role, social class, morality. It's an amazing text to work with. I mean, seriously, look at this video. A kid rapped the General Prologue IN MIDDLE ENGLISH. That's a mash up of modern and Middle English that personifies how you can teach this to students.
Guys, this is our last week. Paradise Lost is coming up. It's pretty epic (haha). This week should be regular schedule. After this last text, I'll have one post about epics in general and teaching them. Then, that's it. Kind of sad. But I hope you've enjoyed it. I won't get too sentimental yet.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Prologue to the Nun's Priest's Tale, The Nun's Priest's Tale, Epilogue to the Nun's Priest's Tale, Prologue to the Canon's Yeoman's Tale, The Canon's Yeoman's Tale, Prologue to the Manciple's Tale, The Manciple's Tale, Prologue to the Parson's Tale, The Parson's Tale, Chaucer's Retraction
Prologue to the Nun's Priest's Tale: The Knight tells the Monk that his tragedies are, well, too tragic. He says to stop telling his story because it's too sad. The Knight thinks that stories that talk about men's rise into fortune is better than fall to misery. The Host agrees. He says that the Monk should tell another story. The Monk doesn't want to play the game anymore. The Host asks the Nun's Priest to tell a tale. He begins his tale.
The Nun's Priest's Tale: Chaunticleer, a rooster, wakes up from a nightmare where he was being chased in a yard. The creature chasing him resembled a fox. Lady Pertelote, his wife, tells him to stop being a baby about it. Later, Chaunticleer sees a fox named Don Russel. Chaunticleer ran away, but the fox calls him over because he wants to hear Chaunticleer's beautiful voice. The vain rooster shuts his eyes and sings. At that moment, the fox grabs him by the neck and takes him. The hens are making such a racket that all the animals see the rooster being carried off. Chaunticleer suggests to the fox that he turn around and yell insults at the animals. The fox thinks this is a great idea, and does, dropping Chaunticleer out of his mouth. The fox tries to lure him out again by compliments and flattery, but he's learned his lesson.
Epilogue to the Nun's Priest's Tale: The Host loves the tale. He says that if the Nun's Priest was an ordinary man, he would get a lot of ladies. The Host wishes the Nun's Priest well.
Prologue to the Canon's Yeoman's Tale: The group is nearing Canterbury as a man in black comes up to the group. He says he has ridden very quickly to catch up with them because he wants to hang out with such a happy group. The man's yeoman (apprentice) is very polite. He tells that group that he saw them and urged the Canon to join them. The Host is like, yeah, I know we're pretty cool. Why don't you tell a story? The Yeoman says that the Canon can tell amazing stories, and he has talents that would wow the group. The Host asks the Yeoman if his master is a clerk. He says nope, but he can make this road we're traveling on silver and gold. The Host says, cool story, but why are you guys wearing such poor clothes, then? The Yeoman says that the Canon is too smart, and he never actually completes what he does. The Host asks where they live, and the Yeoman says they live with criminals in alleys. The Host asks (he's inquisitive) why the Yeoman looks so pale, to which the Yeoman says, I've been working hard trying to turn things to gold. He says that they're able to convince people to give them money, promising they can double it but they never give it back. The Canon gets a little annoyed with the Yeoman telling everyone what they do. The Host says, no, keep talking. The Yeoman keeps talking, and the Canon rides away ticked off. The Yeoman tells the group that he's about to tell a good story.
The Canon's Yeoman's Tale: This story is a two-parter. The first part is autobiographical. The Yeoman explains that once he had fancy clothes and led a comfortable life. He explains that he and the Canon are alchemists. He says he's in debt because they can't get anything to turn into gold. He tries to explain what they do, failures, and their search for the Philosopher's Stone. Now comes the second part. A canon who practices alchemy borrows a mark from a priest. In three days, the cannon returns the mark back to the priest, and says he'll reveal a few things he discovered. He sends for some quick solver, and by trickery, makes the priest believe that he turned it into real silver. The priest is impressed, so impressed that he offers to buy the secret from the canon. The canon promptly disappears after he gets his money. That's it.
Prologue to the Manciple's Tale: At a town, the Host says that the Cook is drunk. He orders the Cook to come forward and tell a tale as a sort of punishment. The Cook says he's really sleepy. The Manciple asks the Host if he can tell a story instead. The Cook is a little offended by this, tries to hit the Manciple, but falls off of his horse instead. The group helps him back into the saddle. Eventually, after some arguing, the Manciple is allowed to tell his story.
The Manciple's Tale: When Phoebus, god of poetry, lived on earth, he was a player (if you know what I mean), an excellent archer, and everyone was jealous of his musical skills. Phoebus kept a white crow, who could imitate speech as well as sing better than a nightingale. Phoebus also had a wife, whom he loved, and did his best to treat her well. Problem, he was a jealous god. He guarded her closely. His wife did actually have another man, who wasn't as great at Phoebus. One day, Phoebus was away, and his wife sent for her lover. The white crow saw them together. When Phoebus came home, the crow kept singing, "Cokkow," which means he was actually saying cuckold. Phoebus didn't quite get the memo, but the crow cleared it up for him. Phoebus's heart was broken. He took his bow, planning to murder his wife, but he ended up snapping it in a rage. Then he got mad at the messenger--the crow. He pulled out all its white feathers, thinking that the crow was lying to him. He flung it out of the door, leaving it for the devil. That's why crows are black, fun fact. The Manciple then says never tell a man that his wife is cheating on him because he'll be mad at the messenger. Sweet story, Manciple.
Prologue to the Parson's Tale: The Host says that the game is almost over, except one more person needs to tell his story: the Parson. The Host asks the Parson to tell a fable. The Parson says he's not going to do that, but he'll try to tell a story that pleases everyone. The Host tells the Parson to hurry up because the sun is about to set.
The Parson's Tale: The Parson's tale is more of a sermon than a story. It's about penitence. It has been taken as a criticism of the not-so moral characteristics of many of the people in the group. The Parson splits his story into three parts: contrition of the heart, confession of the mouth, and satisfaction. The Parson also discusses the Seven Deadly Sins and offering how to combat them.
Think that's the end of the book? Nope. Chaucer had a retraction in his text.
Chaucer's Retraction: Chaucer tells his readers to give it up to the big man, JC: Jesus, if they liked something in the book it's all because of Him. He also asks everyone to forgive him for having to write things that they might not like. Chaucer says he tried to portray these people to help others. He thanks Jesus and Mary.
Next, why we should teach. Yay!
Cassy
The Nun's Priest's Tale: Chaunticleer, a rooster, wakes up from a nightmare where he was being chased in a yard. The creature chasing him resembled a fox. Lady Pertelote, his wife, tells him to stop being a baby about it. Later, Chaunticleer sees a fox named Don Russel. Chaunticleer ran away, but the fox calls him over because he wants to hear Chaunticleer's beautiful voice. The vain rooster shuts his eyes and sings. At that moment, the fox grabs him by the neck and takes him. The hens are making such a racket that all the animals see the rooster being carried off. Chaunticleer suggests to the fox that he turn around and yell insults at the animals. The fox thinks this is a great idea, and does, dropping Chaunticleer out of his mouth. The fox tries to lure him out again by compliments and flattery, but he's learned his lesson.
Epilogue to the Nun's Priest's Tale: The Host loves the tale. He says that if the Nun's Priest was an ordinary man, he would get a lot of ladies. The Host wishes the Nun's Priest well.
Prologue to the Canon's Yeoman's Tale: The group is nearing Canterbury as a man in black comes up to the group. He says he has ridden very quickly to catch up with them because he wants to hang out with such a happy group. The man's yeoman (apprentice) is very polite. He tells that group that he saw them and urged the Canon to join them. The Host is like, yeah, I know we're pretty cool. Why don't you tell a story? The Yeoman says that the Canon can tell amazing stories, and he has talents that would wow the group. The Host asks the Yeoman if his master is a clerk. He says nope, but he can make this road we're traveling on silver and gold. The Host says, cool story, but why are you guys wearing such poor clothes, then? The Yeoman says that the Canon is too smart, and he never actually completes what he does. The Host asks where they live, and the Yeoman says they live with criminals in alleys. The Host asks (he's inquisitive) why the Yeoman looks so pale, to which the Yeoman says, I've been working hard trying to turn things to gold. He says that they're able to convince people to give them money, promising they can double it but they never give it back. The Canon gets a little annoyed with the Yeoman telling everyone what they do. The Host says, no, keep talking. The Yeoman keeps talking, and the Canon rides away ticked off. The Yeoman tells the group that he's about to tell a good story.
The Canon's Yeoman's Tale: This story is a two-parter. The first part is autobiographical. The Yeoman explains that once he had fancy clothes and led a comfortable life. He explains that he and the Canon are alchemists. He says he's in debt because they can't get anything to turn into gold. He tries to explain what they do, failures, and their search for the Philosopher's Stone. Now comes the second part. A canon who practices alchemy borrows a mark from a priest. In three days, the cannon returns the mark back to the priest, and says he'll reveal a few things he discovered. He sends for some quick solver, and by trickery, makes the priest believe that he turned it into real silver. The priest is impressed, so impressed that he offers to buy the secret from the canon. The canon promptly disappears after he gets his money. That's it.
Prologue to the Manciple's Tale: At a town, the Host says that the Cook is drunk. He orders the Cook to come forward and tell a tale as a sort of punishment. The Cook says he's really sleepy. The Manciple asks the Host if he can tell a story instead. The Cook is a little offended by this, tries to hit the Manciple, but falls off of his horse instead. The group helps him back into the saddle. Eventually, after some arguing, the Manciple is allowed to tell his story.
The Manciple's Tale: When Phoebus, god of poetry, lived on earth, he was a player (if you know what I mean), an excellent archer, and everyone was jealous of his musical skills. Phoebus kept a white crow, who could imitate speech as well as sing better than a nightingale. Phoebus also had a wife, whom he loved, and did his best to treat her well. Problem, he was a jealous god. He guarded her closely. His wife did actually have another man, who wasn't as great at Phoebus. One day, Phoebus was away, and his wife sent for her lover. The white crow saw them together. When Phoebus came home, the crow kept singing, "Cokkow," which means he was actually saying cuckold. Phoebus didn't quite get the memo, but the crow cleared it up for him. Phoebus's heart was broken. He took his bow, planning to murder his wife, but he ended up snapping it in a rage. Then he got mad at the messenger--the crow. He pulled out all its white feathers, thinking that the crow was lying to him. He flung it out of the door, leaving it for the devil. That's why crows are black, fun fact. The Manciple then says never tell a man that his wife is cheating on him because he'll be mad at the messenger. Sweet story, Manciple.
Prologue to the Parson's Tale: The Host says that the game is almost over, except one more person needs to tell his story: the Parson. The Host asks the Parson to tell a fable. The Parson says he's not going to do that, but he'll try to tell a story that pleases everyone. The Host tells the Parson to hurry up because the sun is about to set.
The Parson's Tale: The Parson's tale is more of a sermon than a story. It's about penitence. It has been taken as a criticism of the not-so moral characteristics of many of the people in the group. The Parson splits his story into three parts: contrition of the heart, confession of the mouth, and satisfaction. The Parson also discusses the Seven Deadly Sins and offering how to combat them.
Think that's the end of the book? Nope. Chaucer had a retraction in his text.
Chaucer's Retraction: Chaucer tells his readers to give it up to the big man, JC: Jesus, if they liked something in the book it's all because of Him. He also asks everyone to forgive him for having to write things that they might not like. Chaucer says he tried to portray these people to help others. He thanks Jesus and Mary.
Next, why we should teach. Yay!
Cassy
Friday, July 26, 2013
The Canterbury Tales: The Physician's Tale, The Pardoner's Introduction, The Pardoner's Prologue, The Pardoner's Tale, The Shipman's Tale, The Words of the Host to the Shipman and the Prioress, The Prioress's Tale, The Prologue to Sir Thopas, The Tale of Sir Thopas, The Prologue to the Tale of Melibee, The Tale of Melibee, The Prologue to the Monk's Tale, The Monk's Tale
Sorry for no post yesterday, guys. The Internet at good, old Jewell was down.
The Physician's Tale: The Physician begins his tale with a knight named Virginius. He was very popular, rich, and had a doting wife and daughter. The daughter was extremely beautiful. She was also virtuous. One day, the daughter went to town with her mother. In the town, a judge spotted the knight's daughter and wanted her. He came up with an evil plot to make the girl his. The judge, who went by the name Appius, got a partner in crime, Claudius. Claudius made a complaint against Virginius, and the judge called him to court. Claudius claimed that Virginius was holding one of his servants, a beautiful young lady, against his will, saying that this lady was his daughter. So, Claudius is saying that this he owns Virginius's daughter. The judge didn't listen to anything Virginius had to say, but ordered that the girl be taken as a ward of the court. Virginius goes home despondent. He tells his daughter that there are two choices: shame or death. Virginius chooses to kill his daughter. He chopped off her head and took it to the judge. When the judge saw this, he tried to flee and hang himself, but the townspeople knew of his evilness and threw him into prison. Claudius was sentenced to hang, except Virginius pleaded on his behalf and the sentence was reduced to exile. The end. Happy tale, huh?
The Pardoner's Introduction: The Host, disturbed by the injustice in the Physician's tale, says that his tale is sad and asks God to bless him and his instruments. The Host asks the Pardoner to tell a tale full off happiness. The Pardoner agrees but wants beer first. The nobles in the group don't want the Pardoner to get drunk and tell another raunchy tale. They ask the Pardoner to tell a tale of virtue not sex. The Pardoner agrees but needs a drink while he's thinking of a good tale.
The Pardoner's Prologue: After getting his drink, the Pardoner begins his prologue. He tells the group about his job--a combination of preaching and selling promises of salvation. His sermon topics are always about greed being the root of all evil (irony, folks). He gives similar sermons to every congregation and then has a back of relics, which he admits are fake. He claims that his relics have magical healing powers. The people always believe him, giving him money, which he pockets. The Pardoner confesses that he does his job solely for money, not to correct sin. He thinks that many sermons are actually the product of evil intentions. By preaching, the Pardoner can have small revenge on people that have offended him or his family. In his sermon, he preaches about vices that he upholds, such as envy. He has finished his drink and he's ready for his tale.
The Pardoner's Tale: The Pardoner begins by describing a trio of youthful Flemish people who spend their time drinking and being gluttonous. The Pardoner then goes on to preach for about 200 lines about gluttony and gambling. He finally comes back to the lecherous Flemish group. As they're drinking, they hear a funeral going on. A person says that an old friend of theirs was killed by a mysterious creature named Death. The group is furious, and head out to find and kill Death. They find an old man who appears upset. He says he's old and has been waiting for Death to come and take him for some time. The group demands where they can find Death, and the old man directs them to under an oak tree where he last saw Death. At the tree, instead of Death, they find eight bushels of gold coins with no one in sight to claim them. The slyest of the three says that if they carry the gold into town during the day, they will be perceived as thieves. They must take the gold in the night, so someone should run into town to get bread and wine in the meantime. They draw for it, and the youngest of the three has to run to town (seems fitting; that's the youngest person's lot in life). As soon as he leaves, the sly one turns to the other and tells him his plan: when the youngest gets back from town, they will kill him so they can get more money. The second agrees, and they prepare their plan. In town, the youngest one is having the same idea. He goes to an apothecary and buys the strongest poison available, puts it into two bottles of wine, leaving himself a third, poison-free bottle. He returns to the tree, but the others jump out and kill him. They sit down to celebrate, grabbing the poisoned bottles of wine. They soon die as well. The Pardoner ends his story saying that all must beware of the sine of avarice, which only brings evil and death. The Pardoner realizes he has forgotten his relics and brings out his pardon bag to collect money. He offers the Host the first chance to see the relics (which are fake, remember?), because the Host, says the Pardoner, has the most sin. Well, the Host doesn't like that very much. The Knight settles everyone down. The Host and the Pardoner laugh and make up. The Host then asks the Shipman to tell a tale
The Shipman's Tale: The Shipman's tale is about a merchant who took a beautiful woman for his wife. She took all his money by demanding clothes and luxurious items to make her more beautiful. There was also a young monk who was always at the merchant's house. The monk was generous with his money, and always brought presents for the merchant and his servants. One day, while traveling, the merchant invited the monk to visit his household before he left. The monk and merchant had a glorious time, boozing it up and eating for two days. On the third day, when the merchant was to leave, he went to balance his books. The monk went to the garden to pray, with the wife following behind him. The wife was worried about the monk, who was worried about the wife, because she had not slept well; the merchant had sex with her all night. The wife said she no longer desired her husband. The monk, thinking there was more to the story, pressed for details. She complained that the merchant was the worst husband in the world. She also said that she owes a lot of debt. She asked the monk for money. The monk promised to give the wife the money. He then proceeded to kiss her. The wife then went to the merchant and told him to stop balancing the books. That night, the three had dinner together. After the meal, the monk took the merchant aside and asked for the money. The merchant gave the monk the money. After, the merchant left for his travels. The next Sunday, the monk returned to the merchant's house. He and the wife made an agreement that for the money, the monk could have sex with her all night. The merchant came home, discussed his travels with his wife, then went to see his friend, the monk. The monk told the merchant that he repaid the loan and left the money with his wife. The merchant and his wife had sex that night. The merchant then told the wife he was a little angry with her because she didn't tell him that she received the money from the monk. The wife replied that she had received the money from the monk, and that she should be allowed to keep the money because she was a hospitable hostess. She said that in return for giving her his money, she would have sex with him. The merchant had to agree.
The Words of the Host to the Shipman and The Prioress: The Host calls down a curse upon the monk and warns the group to beware of men like him. He then proceeds to ask the Prioress to tell her story, and she happily replies that she will.
The Prioress's Tale: In an Asian town, there was a Jewish ghetto at the end of the street, where usury and other crimes against crime against Christ happened (remember our talk about usury with Dante?). The small number of Christians in the town opened a school for their children at the other end of the same street. Among the children in the school, there was a widow's son, who was seven years old. He was deeply rooted in his faith. At school, he learned Latin worship songs and prayers. One day, as he was walking home and singing a song, he crossed a group of Jews. They hired someone to slit the boy's throat and threw him into a pit. The widow searched the city all night to find her son, even begging the Jews tell her where her son might be. They kept their mouths shut. Jesus gave her the idea to sing in a place where her son had been thrown into the pit: she called out to him and even though his throat had been cut, he sang. The other Christians ran to the pit in amazement. The Jews were then tied up. The child was then taken to be in a procession, his corpse still singing (yes, he's dead). The Jews were sentenced to hang. Before the boy was buried, holy water was put on him, and he spoke. He said that the Virgin Mary placed a grain on his tongue, allowing him to speak. An abbot took the grain from his tongue so he could die and go into heaven. The boy was buried as a martyr.
Prologue to Sir Thopas: The Host says every man in the group is somber after hearing the Prioress's tale, except Chaucer. The Host makes fun of Chaucer (the narrator) for staring at the ground all the time, and for being fat. He says Chaucer rarely talks to anyone. He asks him to tell a happy tale. Chaucer says he knows no other stories, but a rhyme he learned long ago. The Host says that will be fine.
The Tale of Sir Thopas: Chaucer begins by asking the lords to listen. Thopas is a knight with a white face, rosy lips, and blond hair. Thopas dressed very well and was a skilled archer. Many women were brought to sleep with him, but he didn't have sex with any of them. One day, he was out riding a gray horse and passed through a forest with many wild animals. He heard a birdsong and fell into a love-sickness. Thopas had to rest, and decided he would be in love with an elf-queen. He set out to find her, but came across a giant. The giant threatened to kill his horse. Thopas told the giant that he would meet him tomorrow to fight, and he sped away. Thopas got to town and told his men he had to fight a giant. The Host then stops the tale.
The Prologue to the Tale of Melibee: The Host says Chaucer's rhyme really sucks. Chaucer asks why the Host won't let him tell his story with the others. The Host says that his rhyme is a waste of time (not like mine right there, though). He says that Chaucer should tell a story in prose instead of verse. Chaucer says alrighty, then. Chaucer proceeds to tell another tale, asking for no more interruptions.
The Tale of Melibee: WARNING: This story is a little dull. Probably as payment for being interrupted in his story about Thopas. There was once a young man named Melibee. Melibee was rich and had a wife named Prudence. They had a daughter named Sophie. One day he walked into the fields, leaving the rest of his family in the house. Three of his old enemies say he had got and went to his house. They beat his wife and daughter. When Melibee returned, he went a little crazy. Prudence calmed him down, saying that they should call a group of people to listen to their story. Melibee agreed. The council said they should attack the men. Prudence doesn't think this is a great idea. Prudence thinks the three men attacked them due to man's vulnerability to the world, the flesh, and the devil. She advises Melibee for peace and forgiveness. The three men are brought before them. Prudence suggests forgiving them, Melibee wants to fine them, but Prudence wins. Melibee forgives them and praises himself for being so generous. Yep. That's the story. Good one, Chaucer.
The Prologue to the Monk's Tale: The Host approves of this tale, and wishes that his wife was like Melibee. When the Host beats his servants, the wife is ready to join in. The Host is worried that one day, his wife will have him kill a neighbor. He then asks the Monk to tell a story. He praises the Monk's appearance, saying he looks more like a lay man as opposed to a poor Monk. The Host jokes that clergymen are better at sex than regular men. The Host reminds the Monk he's joking. The Monk says he'll tell some tragedies.
The Monk's Tale: The Monk talks about numerous tragedies with one common theme: remember that Fortune is ever-changing. He first tells of Lucifer's fall from Heaven. Adam and Eve's expulsion from Eden is next. Sampson is next. The Monk discusses how he fell from grace when he admitted his secret to his wife. Hercules' story is next. He was defeated when he was given a poisoned shirt. The Monk then talks about Nebuchadnezzar (I love saying that name, by the way). He was too proud. Balthasar's story is next. He worshiped false idols. Zenobia is talked about next. King Pedro of Spain is the next tragedy. He was exiled then killed by his brother. Peter, king of Cyprus, was murdered. There are other tragedies, including Nero and Holofernes. All of these stories have the same ring to them: people of high degree falling into death or destruction. Finally, the Monk's tale is interrupted.
Since I'm a day off due to faulty Internet connections, I'll make two posts on Sunday: one finishing up the summaries and the other being my customary finishing-up of the text.
Have a good weekend!
Cassy
The Physician's Tale: The Physician begins his tale with a knight named Virginius. He was very popular, rich, and had a doting wife and daughter. The daughter was extremely beautiful. She was also virtuous. One day, the daughter went to town with her mother. In the town, a judge spotted the knight's daughter and wanted her. He came up with an evil plot to make the girl his. The judge, who went by the name Appius, got a partner in crime, Claudius. Claudius made a complaint against Virginius, and the judge called him to court. Claudius claimed that Virginius was holding one of his servants, a beautiful young lady, against his will, saying that this lady was his daughter. So, Claudius is saying that this he owns Virginius's daughter. The judge didn't listen to anything Virginius had to say, but ordered that the girl be taken as a ward of the court. Virginius goes home despondent. He tells his daughter that there are two choices: shame or death. Virginius chooses to kill his daughter. He chopped off her head and took it to the judge. When the judge saw this, he tried to flee and hang himself, but the townspeople knew of his evilness and threw him into prison. Claudius was sentenced to hang, except Virginius pleaded on his behalf and the sentence was reduced to exile. The end. Happy tale, huh?
The Pardoner's Introduction: The Host, disturbed by the injustice in the Physician's tale, says that his tale is sad and asks God to bless him and his instruments. The Host asks the Pardoner to tell a tale full off happiness. The Pardoner agrees but wants beer first. The nobles in the group don't want the Pardoner to get drunk and tell another raunchy tale. They ask the Pardoner to tell a tale of virtue not sex. The Pardoner agrees but needs a drink while he's thinking of a good tale.
The Pardoner's Prologue: After getting his drink, the Pardoner begins his prologue. He tells the group about his job--a combination of preaching and selling promises of salvation. His sermon topics are always about greed being the root of all evil (irony, folks). He gives similar sermons to every congregation and then has a back of relics, which he admits are fake. He claims that his relics have magical healing powers. The people always believe him, giving him money, which he pockets. The Pardoner confesses that he does his job solely for money, not to correct sin. He thinks that many sermons are actually the product of evil intentions. By preaching, the Pardoner can have small revenge on people that have offended him or his family. In his sermon, he preaches about vices that he upholds, such as envy. He has finished his drink and he's ready for his tale.
The Pardoner's Tale: The Pardoner begins by describing a trio of youthful Flemish people who spend their time drinking and being gluttonous. The Pardoner then goes on to preach for about 200 lines about gluttony and gambling. He finally comes back to the lecherous Flemish group. As they're drinking, they hear a funeral going on. A person says that an old friend of theirs was killed by a mysterious creature named Death. The group is furious, and head out to find and kill Death. They find an old man who appears upset. He says he's old and has been waiting for Death to come and take him for some time. The group demands where they can find Death, and the old man directs them to under an oak tree where he last saw Death. At the tree, instead of Death, they find eight bushels of gold coins with no one in sight to claim them. The slyest of the three says that if they carry the gold into town during the day, they will be perceived as thieves. They must take the gold in the night, so someone should run into town to get bread and wine in the meantime. They draw for it, and the youngest of the three has to run to town (seems fitting; that's the youngest person's lot in life). As soon as he leaves, the sly one turns to the other and tells him his plan: when the youngest gets back from town, they will kill him so they can get more money. The second agrees, and they prepare their plan. In town, the youngest one is having the same idea. He goes to an apothecary and buys the strongest poison available, puts it into two bottles of wine, leaving himself a third, poison-free bottle. He returns to the tree, but the others jump out and kill him. They sit down to celebrate, grabbing the poisoned bottles of wine. They soon die as well. The Pardoner ends his story saying that all must beware of the sine of avarice, which only brings evil and death. The Pardoner realizes he has forgotten his relics and brings out his pardon bag to collect money. He offers the Host the first chance to see the relics (which are fake, remember?), because the Host, says the Pardoner, has the most sin. Well, the Host doesn't like that very much. The Knight settles everyone down. The Host and the Pardoner laugh and make up. The Host then asks the Shipman to tell a tale
The Shipman's Tale: The Shipman's tale is about a merchant who took a beautiful woman for his wife. She took all his money by demanding clothes and luxurious items to make her more beautiful. There was also a young monk who was always at the merchant's house. The monk was generous with his money, and always brought presents for the merchant and his servants. One day, while traveling, the merchant invited the monk to visit his household before he left. The monk and merchant had a glorious time, boozing it up and eating for two days. On the third day, when the merchant was to leave, he went to balance his books. The monk went to the garden to pray, with the wife following behind him. The wife was worried about the monk, who was worried about the wife, because she had not slept well; the merchant had sex with her all night. The wife said she no longer desired her husband. The monk, thinking there was more to the story, pressed for details. She complained that the merchant was the worst husband in the world. She also said that she owes a lot of debt. She asked the monk for money. The monk promised to give the wife the money. He then proceeded to kiss her. The wife then went to the merchant and told him to stop balancing the books. That night, the three had dinner together. After the meal, the monk took the merchant aside and asked for the money. The merchant gave the monk the money. After, the merchant left for his travels. The next Sunday, the monk returned to the merchant's house. He and the wife made an agreement that for the money, the monk could have sex with her all night. The merchant came home, discussed his travels with his wife, then went to see his friend, the monk. The monk told the merchant that he repaid the loan and left the money with his wife. The merchant and his wife had sex that night. The merchant then told the wife he was a little angry with her because she didn't tell him that she received the money from the monk. The wife replied that she had received the money from the monk, and that she should be allowed to keep the money because she was a hospitable hostess. She said that in return for giving her his money, she would have sex with him. The merchant had to agree.
The Words of the Host to the Shipman and The Prioress: The Host calls down a curse upon the monk and warns the group to beware of men like him. He then proceeds to ask the Prioress to tell her story, and she happily replies that she will.
The Prioress's Tale: In an Asian town, there was a Jewish ghetto at the end of the street, where usury and other crimes against crime against Christ happened (remember our talk about usury with Dante?). The small number of Christians in the town opened a school for their children at the other end of the same street. Among the children in the school, there was a widow's son, who was seven years old. He was deeply rooted in his faith. At school, he learned Latin worship songs and prayers. One day, as he was walking home and singing a song, he crossed a group of Jews. They hired someone to slit the boy's throat and threw him into a pit. The widow searched the city all night to find her son, even begging the Jews tell her where her son might be. They kept their mouths shut. Jesus gave her the idea to sing in a place where her son had been thrown into the pit: she called out to him and even though his throat had been cut, he sang. The other Christians ran to the pit in amazement. The Jews were then tied up. The child was then taken to be in a procession, his corpse still singing (yes, he's dead). The Jews were sentenced to hang. Before the boy was buried, holy water was put on him, and he spoke. He said that the Virgin Mary placed a grain on his tongue, allowing him to speak. An abbot took the grain from his tongue so he could die and go into heaven. The boy was buried as a martyr.
Prologue to Sir Thopas: The Host says every man in the group is somber after hearing the Prioress's tale, except Chaucer. The Host makes fun of Chaucer (the narrator) for staring at the ground all the time, and for being fat. He says Chaucer rarely talks to anyone. He asks him to tell a happy tale. Chaucer says he knows no other stories, but a rhyme he learned long ago. The Host says that will be fine.
The Tale of Sir Thopas: Chaucer begins by asking the lords to listen. Thopas is a knight with a white face, rosy lips, and blond hair. Thopas dressed very well and was a skilled archer. Many women were brought to sleep with him, but he didn't have sex with any of them. One day, he was out riding a gray horse and passed through a forest with many wild animals. He heard a birdsong and fell into a love-sickness. Thopas had to rest, and decided he would be in love with an elf-queen. He set out to find her, but came across a giant. The giant threatened to kill his horse. Thopas told the giant that he would meet him tomorrow to fight, and he sped away. Thopas got to town and told his men he had to fight a giant. The Host then stops the tale.
The Prologue to the Tale of Melibee: The Host says Chaucer's rhyme really sucks. Chaucer asks why the Host won't let him tell his story with the others. The Host says that his rhyme is a waste of time (not like mine right there, though). He says that Chaucer should tell a story in prose instead of verse. Chaucer says alrighty, then. Chaucer proceeds to tell another tale, asking for no more interruptions.
The Tale of Melibee: WARNING: This story is a little dull. Probably as payment for being interrupted in his story about Thopas. There was once a young man named Melibee. Melibee was rich and had a wife named Prudence. They had a daughter named Sophie. One day he walked into the fields, leaving the rest of his family in the house. Three of his old enemies say he had got and went to his house. They beat his wife and daughter. When Melibee returned, he went a little crazy. Prudence calmed him down, saying that they should call a group of people to listen to their story. Melibee agreed. The council said they should attack the men. Prudence doesn't think this is a great idea. Prudence thinks the three men attacked them due to man's vulnerability to the world, the flesh, and the devil. She advises Melibee for peace and forgiveness. The three men are brought before them. Prudence suggests forgiving them, Melibee wants to fine them, but Prudence wins. Melibee forgives them and praises himself for being so generous. Yep. That's the story. Good one, Chaucer.
The Prologue to the Monk's Tale: The Host approves of this tale, and wishes that his wife was like Melibee. When the Host beats his servants, the wife is ready to join in. The Host is worried that one day, his wife will have him kill a neighbor. He then asks the Monk to tell a story. He praises the Monk's appearance, saying he looks more like a lay man as opposed to a poor Monk. The Host jokes that clergymen are better at sex than regular men. The Host reminds the Monk he's joking. The Monk says he'll tell some tragedies.
The Monk's Tale: The Monk talks about numerous tragedies with one common theme: remember that Fortune is ever-changing. He first tells of Lucifer's fall from Heaven. Adam and Eve's expulsion from Eden is next. Sampson is next. The Monk discusses how he fell from grace when he admitted his secret to his wife. Hercules' story is next. He was defeated when he was given a poisoned shirt. The Monk then talks about Nebuchadnezzar (I love saying that name, by the way). He was too proud. Balthasar's story is next. He worshiped false idols. Zenobia is talked about next. King Pedro of Spain is the next tragedy. He was exiled then killed by his brother. Peter, king of Cyprus, was murdered. There are other tragedies, including Nero and Holofernes. All of these stories have the same ring to them: people of high degree falling into death or destruction. Finally, the Monk's tale is interrupted.
Since I'm a day off due to faulty Internet connections, I'll make two posts on Sunday: one finishing up the summaries and the other being my customary finishing-up of the text.
Have a good weekend!
Cassy
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
The Canterbury Tales: Introduction to the Man of Law, Man of Law's Tale, The Wife of Bath's Prologue, The Wife of Bath's Tale, The Friar's Prologue, The Friar's Tale, The Summoner's Prologue, The Summoner's Tale, The Clerk's Prologue, The Clerk's Tale, The Merchant's Prologue, The Merchant's Tale, The Merchan't Epilogue, The Squire's Introduction, The Squire's Tale, The Franklin's Interruption, The Franklin's Tale
Introduction to the Man of Law: The Host, looking at the sun's position, says it's ten in the morning. He is worried the pilgrims are losing time, but says to continue the game of story-telling. The Host asks the Man of Law to tell a story. The Man of Law says that he knows no adequate tale that Chaucer (the narrator) has not already told. The Man of Law goes on to list Chaucer's works, and praises his writing. The Man of Law decides to tell a story in verse.
Man of Law's Tale: He begins to tell a romance story about a Christian princess named Custance who is betrothed to the Syrian Sultan on the condition that he convert to Christianity. The Sultan's mother comes up with a plan to prevent this and has Custance taken away to float at sea. Her journey continues after she is shipwrecked on the Northumberland coast. This is a pagan country where the King, Alla, eventually turned to Christianity. Alla's mother intercepts and forges a letter between the couple, which results in Custance being exiled. Custance must go to sea again and is found by a Senator of Rome. The Senator takes Custance, along with the baby she has had, back to Italy, where she works as a household servant. King Alla, who is distraught by Custance's departure, goes to Rome, and finds Custance. In the end, they return to his land. Alla dies a year later, and the baby boy is the new king.
The Wife of Bath's Prologue: The Wife of Bath proposes to speak of marriage, saying that she is an expert on this subject because she's been married five times. Her speech turns into a defense of the married lifestyle. It takes the Pardoner to interrupt to get the Wife of Bath back to her story. She talks about how she controlled her last five husbands. She got everything she wanted from them by accusing them of cheating, misogyny, and treating her poorly. She ends her prologue by talking about her last two marriages. Her fourth husband cheated on her, and she made him think she was cheating on him. Her fifth husband was the one she liked the most. She had already made him promise to marry her before her fourth husband was even dead. When they were married, the Wife of Bath became angry with her fifth husband for reading. She threw some of his pages into the fire and then he hit her. She hit him back, giving her a leg up in the relationship. The Friar interrupts saying she is talking too much. The Summoner, who doesn't like the Friar, tells him to stop being rude. They both say they will tell tales that insults one another's careers when it's their turn. The Host says be quiet, it's the Wife's turn to tell her story.
The Wife of Bath's Tale: In the time of King Arthur, a young knight rapes a maiden he sees walking from the river. For his offense, Queen Guinevere (Author's wife) and her ladies say that his punishment is to find out within one year what women desire most, or else he'll be decapitated. The knight leaves for his quest to find the answer, but he can't find two women who agree on what they most desire. After a year, the knight returns to the court, not knowing the answer to the question. On the way, he comes across a ring of 24 fairy ladies dancing. The fairies disappear and are replaced by an old lady. The lady tells the knight that she will answer his question if he gives her what she desires most. The knight, obviously, agrees. The lady tells the knight what women desire most: to control their husbands and lovers. The queen and all the ladies say this is correct. The old lady now says she wants to marry the knight. The knight is none too happy about this because the lady is old and ugly, but the queen says he must. They get married, but the knight doesn't want to consummate their marriage. The woman asks what's wrong, and he replies that she's so old, ugly, and of low-class that he doesn't want her. The old lady then says that he has two choices: he can either have her old and ugly, but good and faithful, or he can have her young and beautiful, but with no guarantee of other good qualities. He tells her to make the choice. The old lady sees that he has let her take control, so she tells him the she will be young and beautiful, as well as faithful and good. They live happily ever after. The Wife of Bath concludes her story with a curse on husbands who won't be controlled by their wives.
The Friar's Prologue: The narrator tells us that the Friar is always glaring at the Summoner. The Friar tells the Wife of Bath that she has told a great tale, and commends her for talking about subjects that are debated in Universities. The Friar says he's going to tell a tale about a summoner. The Friar depicts a summoner as someone who mills around, calling people before the court for adultery, and eventually gets beaten in every town. The Hose tells the Friar that a man of his social class should be polite. The Friar begins to tell his tale, leaving the Summoner alone. The Summoner tells the Host that the Friar can say whatever he wants because when it's his turn to tell the tale, he will have a better story than the Friar. Speaking facetiously, the Summoner says he will tell a story that exalts the Friar. The Host calls for peace, and asks the Friar to start his tale.
The Friar's Tale: The Friar tells a story about an archdeacon who went against the Church's laws against sex, lustfulness, and witchcraft. The archdeacon had a summoner who was talented at discovering lechers (someone who is lascivious), even though he wasn't very moral. Friars are out of the jurisdiction of the summoners, and the Summoner disagrees with the Friar. The Host lets the Friar continue, who starts to insult summoners again. The summoner in the Friar's tale would only summon those who had enough money to pay the fee to the church. The summoner would take half of what the person paid. He was a thief and enlisted the help of prostitutes who would tell the summoner their customers to keep themselves safe, and they offered sexual services. One day, the summoner was traveling to summon an old widow, he met a yeoman on the way, dressed in a green jacket. The yeoman was polite to the summoner. The two travelled together, and the summoner asked the yeoman where he lived, planning to steal his gold and silver. The summer asked the yeoman how he makes money, and the yeoman confessed to being a thief; the summoner says he does the same thing. The two chat about their evilness, then the yeoman says he's from hell (i.e. the devil). The summoner asks the yeoman why he's on earth, and he replies that he comes to earth whenever he wants, and that sometimes devils are used by God. The devil says that the summoner will meet him again one day and have better evidence of hell than Dante or Virgil (allusion!). The summoner says they should travel on their way together and help one another. The summoner says they should visit the widow he was supposed to go to. On their arrival, the summoner says that she must appear before the archdeacon on the penalty of excommunication, but she claims she is sick and can't travel. She asks if she can pay the summoner to represent her to the archdeacon. He says he'll do it, but for a price. The price is too high for the widow because she feels she hasn't done anything wrong. The summoner demands her new pan, saying that he paid her fine for making her husband a cuckold (someone who has been cheated on by his/her spouse, usually men cheated on by their wives). She yells at the summoner, saying that she gives his body to the devil. The devil hears this and takes him to hell, where, the Friar says, the summoner belongs.
The Summoner's Prologue: As you might imagine, the Summoner is none too happy hearing the Friar's tale. He tells everyone that he has one desire: to tell his story. The Summoner says that friars and devils are never apart. The Summoner tells a story-within-a-story about a friar. The story starts with a friar who has a dream that an angel guides him through hell. The friar notices that there are no friars in hell. He asks the angel why. The angel says there are actually millions of friars in hell, and takes him to Satan. This part is gross, so be prepared. The angel asks Satan to life his tail, and in his anus, there are friars, swarming like bees. The friar wakes up with fear. The Summoner ends his mini-story and begins his actual one.
The Summoner's Tale: A friar goes to preach and ask for money in a place called Holderness. In his sermons, he beseeches for money for the church. The Friar interrupts, calling the Summoner a liar, but the Host tells everyone to be quiet and for the Summoner to continue. This friar goes from house to house, until he came to the household of Thomas, a townsman who usually gave money to the friar, but he was sick. The friar tells Thomas of his sermon, saying how he glossed the Bible, and demanded Thomas's wife to make him a meal. She tells the friar their child died a little over two weeks ago. The friar says the child died and entered Heaven. He says that fellow friars had seen the same thing. The friar says that among the entire clergy, friars are closest to God. He tells Thomas he remains sick because he doesn't give enough to the Church. Thomas mentions that he actually has paid a lot of money to various friars. The friar is perturbed that Thomas is giving money to other friars, too. He proceeds to lecture Thomas. Thomas gets annoyed by the hypocrisy of the friar when the friar asks for money to build a cloister. He tells the friar he has a gift for him but he is sitting on it, and that the friar must promise to split it equally between the friars. The friar agrees and gropes behind Thomas's back to find the gift, but Thomas farts. The friar gets angry. He promises to repay Thomas for this, but the servants push the friar out of the house. Enthralled, the friar finds the lord of the village and tells him of the incident, wondering how he's supposed to divide a fart amongst friars. The lord's squire devises a plan so all the friars can smell a fart. And, thankfully, that's the end.
The Clerk's Prologue: The Host says that the Clerk has been very quiet. He tells the Clerk to be happier, and tell them a cheerful tale, something about adventures. The Clerk should speak in layman's terms so the entire group can understand. The Clerk says that he will tell a tale that he learned from a clerk in Padua called Francis Petrarch. The Clerk tells the group that Petrarch wrote wonderful poetry about Italy, but he died too early. He begins his tale.
The Clerk's Tale: The tale is about a marquis of Saluzzo in Piedmont in Italy named Walter. Walter is a bachelor, who is asked by his people to marry so he can have an heir. He decides he will marry a peasant named Griselda. Griselda is poor. She has had a life of manual labor, and promises to honor Walter's wishes in all things. Griselda and Walter have a daughter, and Walter plans to test Griselda's loyalty. He has an officer take the baby, pretending it will be killed, but he actually takes it to Bologna. Griselda, having promised Walter to always obey him, only asks that the baby be buried properly. When Griselda has a son, Walter does the same thing. Finally, he has one last test. He has an annulment forged so he can leave Griselda. He tells her he plans to remarry. As part of the rouse, he has Griselda prepare the wedding for his new wife. Meanwhile, he has brought the children back. He tells Griselda of the tests, and introduces her children to her. They live happily ever after.
The Merchant's Prologue: The Merchant says that everyone who has a wife, endures a lot of crying and sadness. The Merchant says his wife could outmatch Satan if she were married to him. The Clerk's story about Griselda makes him think about the difference between Griselda and his own wife. He says that if he could do it over, he wouldn't marry. The Host says that he has been married for only two months. The Merchant says that he's about to tell a really sad story about how terrible his wife is.
The Merchant's Tale: Januarie, an old knight, decides that he wants to marry, mostly because he can have sex whenever he wants and to make an heir. He talks to his two brothers, one says he doesn't really care while the other opposes the idea. Januaries marries May, a young girl who isn't even 20, mostly because he desires her. He chooses her almost out of the blue. It isn't said why May accepts the marriage, but she probably did it to make herself better socially and for the money, since Januarie is rich. A squire of Januarie's, Damyan, falls in love with May. He writes a letter professing his love for her. He says it was Venus's fault he fell for her. May feels the same way about Damyan and plans to have sex with him. Januarie makes a walled garden, where he has sex with May. He is immediately struck blind, probably because of his vanity, lust, and immorality. One day, Januarie and May go into the garden, while Damnyan has snuck into the garden as well. May, implying she's pregnany, asks for a pear, and Januarie, who is blind and old, can't reach the fruit. He allows May to climb onto his back. Guess who's in the tree? Damyan. They have sex. Pluto and Proserpina are watching the adultery. Pluto says women are immortal. He will give Januarie his sight back. Proserpina will give May the ability to talk her way out of the dilemma. Januarie gets his eyesight back and sees May and Damyan having sex. May talks her way out of it, saying his eyesight isn't fully back to normal. The tale ends abruptly. Januarie and May live happily ever after, although ending ambiguously, suggesting that May will continue to cheat on Januarie.
The Merchant's Epilogue: The Host is disgusted with May. He says that women are always lying and deceitful. The Hot says he has a poor wife who has many faults. He isn't very happy being married to her.
The Squire's Introduction: The Host asks the Squire to tell a story about love, because he thinks the Squire certainly knows about love. The Squire answers that he doesn't know much about love, but he will tell a romance story because he doesn't want to go against the Host's wishes.
The Squire's Tale: Genghis Khan rules with two sons, Algarsyf and Cambalo, and a daughter, Canace. At the twentieth anniversary of his reign, he has a celebration. A strange knight comes with gifts, which include a brass horse with the power of teleportation, a mirror which can reveal the minds of the king's friends and enemies, a ring with will give the wearer an understanding of birds, a sword that deals wounds only it can heal. That's the first part of the story. The second starts with Canace and the ring. She goes on a walk the next morning and sees a falcon who seems upset. The falcon tells Canace that she has been left by her lover, a male hawk, for a kite. The second part of the story ends with a promise of a story involving Genghis Khan's sons and the quest of Cambalo to win Canace as his wife. The tale ends here with the Franklin interrupting.
The Franklin's Interruption: The Franklin interrupts the Squire, commenting that he has spoken very well considering he is so young. He says that no one in the group could match the Squire in eloquence. The Franklin wants his own son to be as great as the Squire. Instead, his son gambles and spends all his money. The Host reminds the Franklin to tell them a tale.
The Franklin's Tale: Arveragus, a successful nobleman and knight, wants a wife. He marries a young lady named Dorigen. The two promise they will always respect one another. A little after the wedding, Arveragus leaves for England for two years. Dorigen cries while her husband is gone. She sits on the shore, anxious about her husband's safety. One day, Dorigen agrees to join some friends on a picnic where there is a dance. At the dance, a handsome and rich man, Aurelius, tells Dorigen he has loved her for two years. Dorigen denies him. He's so depressed that, half jokingly, says she will agree to his love if he moves all the rocks from the coast of Brittany. This task is impossible, and Aurelius goes home depressed. He's so distraught that he is sick for two years. Finally, his brother, who has been caring for him, comes up with a way to solve the problem. He remembers a student who claimed to have been able to read magic. Aurelius goes to the student and promises to pay him 1,000 pounds if his magic can clear the rocks away. The student agrees, and clears the rocks. Aurelius reminds Dorigen of her promise. Dorigen contemplates suicide. Arvergas returns home to find Dorigen in a bit of a pickle. Arvergas says that Dorigen must keep her promise, although it pains him. Aurelius learns of Arvergas's noble sacrifice, and sends Dorigen back to Arvergas. Aurelius gets all his gold, but realizes he can only pay half of what he owes to the student. The student hears of Dorigen's relief to be back to her husband and cancels Aurelius' debt.
Okay, that's it for today, I think. Tomorrow, we'll start off with the Pardoner, who is a real treat. Happy reading!
Cassy
Man of Law's Tale: He begins to tell a romance story about a Christian princess named Custance who is betrothed to the Syrian Sultan on the condition that he convert to Christianity. The Sultan's mother comes up with a plan to prevent this and has Custance taken away to float at sea. Her journey continues after she is shipwrecked on the Northumberland coast. This is a pagan country where the King, Alla, eventually turned to Christianity. Alla's mother intercepts and forges a letter between the couple, which results in Custance being exiled. Custance must go to sea again and is found by a Senator of Rome. The Senator takes Custance, along with the baby she has had, back to Italy, where she works as a household servant. King Alla, who is distraught by Custance's departure, goes to Rome, and finds Custance. In the end, they return to his land. Alla dies a year later, and the baby boy is the new king.
The Wife of Bath's Prologue: The Wife of Bath proposes to speak of marriage, saying that she is an expert on this subject because she's been married five times. Her speech turns into a defense of the married lifestyle. It takes the Pardoner to interrupt to get the Wife of Bath back to her story. She talks about how she controlled her last five husbands. She got everything she wanted from them by accusing them of cheating, misogyny, and treating her poorly. She ends her prologue by talking about her last two marriages. Her fourth husband cheated on her, and she made him think she was cheating on him. Her fifth husband was the one she liked the most. She had already made him promise to marry her before her fourth husband was even dead. When they were married, the Wife of Bath became angry with her fifth husband for reading. She threw some of his pages into the fire and then he hit her. She hit him back, giving her a leg up in the relationship. The Friar interrupts saying she is talking too much. The Summoner, who doesn't like the Friar, tells him to stop being rude. They both say they will tell tales that insults one another's careers when it's their turn. The Host says be quiet, it's the Wife's turn to tell her story.
The Wife of Bath's Tale: In the time of King Arthur, a young knight rapes a maiden he sees walking from the river. For his offense, Queen Guinevere (Author's wife) and her ladies say that his punishment is to find out within one year what women desire most, or else he'll be decapitated. The knight leaves for his quest to find the answer, but he can't find two women who agree on what they most desire. After a year, the knight returns to the court, not knowing the answer to the question. On the way, he comes across a ring of 24 fairy ladies dancing. The fairies disappear and are replaced by an old lady. The lady tells the knight that she will answer his question if he gives her what she desires most. The knight, obviously, agrees. The lady tells the knight what women desire most: to control their husbands and lovers. The queen and all the ladies say this is correct. The old lady now says she wants to marry the knight. The knight is none too happy about this because the lady is old and ugly, but the queen says he must. They get married, but the knight doesn't want to consummate their marriage. The woman asks what's wrong, and he replies that she's so old, ugly, and of low-class that he doesn't want her. The old lady then says that he has two choices: he can either have her old and ugly, but good and faithful, or he can have her young and beautiful, but with no guarantee of other good qualities. He tells her to make the choice. The old lady sees that he has let her take control, so she tells him the she will be young and beautiful, as well as faithful and good. They live happily ever after. The Wife of Bath concludes her story with a curse on husbands who won't be controlled by their wives.
The Friar's Prologue: The narrator tells us that the Friar is always glaring at the Summoner. The Friar tells the Wife of Bath that she has told a great tale, and commends her for talking about subjects that are debated in Universities. The Friar says he's going to tell a tale about a summoner. The Friar depicts a summoner as someone who mills around, calling people before the court for adultery, and eventually gets beaten in every town. The Hose tells the Friar that a man of his social class should be polite. The Friar begins to tell his tale, leaving the Summoner alone. The Summoner tells the Host that the Friar can say whatever he wants because when it's his turn to tell the tale, he will have a better story than the Friar. Speaking facetiously, the Summoner says he will tell a story that exalts the Friar. The Host calls for peace, and asks the Friar to start his tale.
The Friar's Tale: The Friar tells a story about an archdeacon who went against the Church's laws against sex, lustfulness, and witchcraft. The archdeacon had a summoner who was talented at discovering lechers (someone who is lascivious), even though he wasn't very moral. Friars are out of the jurisdiction of the summoners, and the Summoner disagrees with the Friar. The Host lets the Friar continue, who starts to insult summoners again. The summoner in the Friar's tale would only summon those who had enough money to pay the fee to the church. The summoner would take half of what the person paid. He was a thief and enlisted the help of prostitutes who would tell the summoner their customers to keep themselves safe, and they offered sexual services. One day, the summoner was traveling to summon an old widow, he met a yeoman on the way, dressed in a green jacket. The yeoman was polite to the summoner. The two travelled together, and the summoner asked the yeoman where he lived, planning to steal his gold and silver. The summer asked the yeoman how he makes money, and the yeoman confessed to being a thief; the summoner says he does the same thing. The two chat about their evilness, then the yeoman says he's from hell (i.e. the devil). The summoner asks the yeoman why he's on earth, and he replies that he comes to earth whenever he wants, and that sometimes devils are used by God. The devil says that the summoner will meet him again one day and have better evidence of hell than Dante or Virgil (allusion!). The summoner says they should travel on their way together and help one another. The summoner says they should visit the widow he was supposed to go to. On their arrival, the summoner says that she must appear before the archdeacon on the penalty of excommunication, but she claims she is sick and can't travel. She asks if she can pay the summoner to represent her to the archdeacon. He says he'll do it, but for a price. The price is too high for the widow because she feels she hasn't done anything wrong. The summoner demands her new pan, saying that he paid her fine for making her husband a cuckold (someone who has been cheated on by his/her spouse, usually men cheated on by their wives). She yells at the summoner, saying that she gives his body to the devil. The devil hears this and takes him to hell, where, the Friar says, the summoner belongs.
The Summoner's Prologue: As you might imagine, the Summoner is none too happy hearing the Friar's tale. He tells everyone that he has one desire: to tell his story. The Summoner says that friars and devils are never apart. The Summoner tells a story-within-a-story about a friar. The story starts with a friar who has a dream that an angel guides him through hell. The friar notices that there are no friars in hell. He asks the angel why. The angel says there are actually millions of friars in hell, and takes him to Satan. This part is gross, so be prepared. The angel asks Satan to life his tail, and in his anus, there are friars, swarming like bees. The friar wakes up with fear. The Summoner ends his mini-story and begins his actual one.
The Summoner's Tale: A friar goes to preach and ask for money in a place called Holderness. In his sermons, he beseeches for money for the church. The Friar interrupts, calling the Summoner a liar, but the Host tells everyone to be quiet and for the Summoner to continue. This friar goes from house to house, until he came to the household of Thomas, a townsman who usually gave money to the friar, but he was sick. The friar tells Thomas of his sermon, saying how he glossed the Bible, and demanded Thomas's wife to make him a meal. She tells the friar their child died a little over two weeks ago. The friar says the child died and entered Heaven. He says that fellow friars had seen the same thing. The friar says that among the entire clergy, friars are closest to God. He tells Thomas he remains sick because he doesn't give enough to the Church. Thomas mentions that he actually has paid a lot of money to various friars. The friar is perturbed that Thomas is giving money to other friars, too. He proceeds to lecture Thomas. Thomas gets annoyed by the hypocrisy of the friar when the friar asks for money to build a cloister. He tells the friar he has a gift for him but he is sitting on it, and that the friar must promise to split it equally between the friars. The friar agrees and gropes behind Thomas's back to find the gift, but Thomas farts. The friar gets angry. He promises to repay Thomas for this, but the servants push the friar out of the house. Enthralled, the friar finds the lord of the village and tells him of the incident, wondering how he's supposed to divide a fart amongst friars. The lord's squire devises a plan so all the friars can smell a fart. And, thankfully, that's the end.
The Clerk's Prologue: The Host says that the Clerk has been very quiet. He tells the Clerk to be happier, and tell them a cheerful tale, something about adventures. The Clerk should speak in layman's terms so the entire group can understand. The Clerk says that he will tell a tale that he learned from a clerk in Padua called Francis Petrarch. The Clerk tells the group that Petrarch wrote wonderful poetry about Italy, but he died too early. He begins his tale.
The Clerk's Tale: The tale is about a marquis of Saluzzo in Piedmont in Italy named Walter. Walter is a bachelor, who is asked by his people to marry so he can have an heir. He decides he will marry a peasant named Griselda. Griselda is poor. She has had a life of manual labor, and promises to honor Walter's wishes in all things. Griselda and Walter have a daughter, and Walter plans to test Griselda's loyalty. He has an officer take the baby, pretending it will be killed, but he actually takes it to Bologna. Griselda, having promised Walter to always obey him, only asks that the baby be buried properly. When Griselda has a son, Walter does the same thing. Finally, he has one last test. He has an annulment forged so he can leave Griselda. He tells her he plans to remarry. As part of the rouse, he has Griselda prepare the wedding for his new wife. Meanwhile, he has brought the children back. He tells Griselda of the tests, and introduces her children to her. They live happily ever after.
The Merchant's Prologue: The Merchant says that everyone who has a wife, endures a lot of crying and sadness. The Merchant says his wife could outmatch Satan if she were married to him. The Clerk's story about Griselda makes him think about the difference between Griselda and his own wife. He says that if he could do it over, he wouldn't marry. The Host says that he has been married for only two months. The Merchant says that he's about to tell a really sad story about how terrible his wife is.
The Merchant's Tale: Januarie, an old knight, decides that he wants to marry, mostly because he can have sex whenever he wants and to make an heir. He talks to his two brothers, one says he doesn't really care while the other opposes the idea. Januaries marries May, a young girl who isn't even 20, mostly because he desires her. He chooses her almost out of the blue. It isn't said why May accepts the marriage, but she probably did it to make herself better socially and for the money, since Januarie is rich. A squire of Januarie's, Damyan, falls in love with May. He writes a letter professing his love for her. He says it was Venus's fault he fell for her. May feels the same way about Damyan and plans to have sex with him. Januarie makes a walled garden, where he has sex with May. He is immediately struck blind, probably because of his vanity, lust, and immorality. One day, Januarie and May go into the garden, while Damnyan has snuck into the garden as well. May, implying she's pregnany, asks for a pear, and Januarie, who is blind and old, can't reach the fruit. He allows May to climb onto his back. Guess who's in the tree? Damyan. They have sex. Pluto and Proserpina are watching the adultery. Pluto says women are immortal. He will give Januarie his sight back. Proserpina will give May the ability to talk her way out of the dilemma. Januarie gets his eyesight back and sees May and Damyan having sex. May talks her way out of it, saying his eyesight isn't fully back to normal. The tale ends abruptly. Januarie and May live happily ever after, although ending ambiguously, suggesting that May will continue to cheat on Januarie.
The Merchant's Epilogue: The Host is disgusted with May. He says that women are always lying and deceitful. The Hot says he has a poor wife who has many faults. He isn't very happy being married to her.
The Squire's Introduction: The Host asks the Squire to tell a story about love, because he thinks the Squire certainly knows about love. The Squire answers that he doesn't know much about love, but he will tell a romance story because he doesn't want to go against the Host's wishes.
The Squire's Tale: Genghis Khan rules with two sons, Algarsyf and Cambalo, and a daughter, Canace. At the twentieth anniversary of his reign, he has a celebration. A strange knight comes with gifts, which include a brass horse with the power of teleportation, a mirror which can reveal the minds of the king's friends and enemies, a ring with will give the wearer an understanding of birds, a sword that deals wounds only it can heal. That's the first part of the story. The second starts with Canace and the ring. She goes on a walk the next morning and sees a falcon who seems upset. The falcon tells Canace that she has been left by her lover, a male hawk, for a kite. The second part of the story ends with a promise of a story involving Genghis Khan's sons and the quest of Cambalo to win Canace as his wife. The tale ends here with the Franklin interrupting.
The Franklin's Interruption: The Franklin interrupts the Squire, commenting that he has spoken very well considering he is so young. He says that no one in the group could match the Squire in eloquence. The Franklin wants his own son to be as great as the Squire. Instead, his son gambles and spends all his money. The Host reminds the Franklin to tell them a tale.
The Franklin's Tale: Arveragus, a successful nobleman and knight, wants a wife. He marries a young lady named Dorigen. The two promise they will always respect one another. A little after the wedding, Arveragus leaves for England for two years. Dorigen cries while her husband is gone. She sits on the shore, anxious about her husband's safety. One day, Dorigen agrees to join some friends on a picnic where there is a dance. At the dance, a handsome and rich man, Aurelius, tells Dorigen he has loved her for two years. Dorigen denies him. He's so depressed that, half jokingly, says she will agree to his love if he moves all the rocks from the coast of Brittany. This task is impossible, and Aurelius goes home depressed. He's so distraught that he is sick for two years. Finally, his brother, who has been caring for him, comes up with a way to solve the problem. He remembers a student who claimed to have been able to read magic. Aurelius goes to the student and promises to pay him 1,000 pounds if his magic can clear the rocks away. The student agrees, and clears the rocks. Aurelius reminds Dorigen of her promise. Dorigen contemplates suicide. Arvergas returns home to find Dorigen in a bit of a pickle. Arvergas says that Dorigen must keep her promise, although it pains him. Aurelius learns of Arvergas's noble sacrifice, and sends Dorigen back to Arvergas. Aurelius gets all his gold, but realizes he can only pay half of what he owes to the student. The student hears of Dorigen's relief to be back to her husband and cancels Aurelius' debt.
Okay, that's it for today, I think. Tomorrow, we'll start off with the Pardoner, who is a real treat. Happy reading!
Cassy
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
The Canterbury Tales: The Prologue, The Knight's Tale, The Miller's Prologue, The Miller's Tale, The Reeve's Prologue, The Reeve's Tale, The Cook's Prologue, The Cook's Tale
The Prologue: The General Prologue starts with a detailed account of how April's showers make flowers bloom, crops grow, birds sing, and people want to take journeys to holy places--pilgrimages. In England, people like to go to Canterbury to pray at the shrine of a saint who healed them while they were sick. The narrator tells how, in April, he is at a tavern in Southwark, preparing his pilgrimage to Canterbury. At the tavern, he runs into a large group of travelers also going to Canterbury. Soon, he has talked with each person and has become a member of their group as well. The narrator describes the physical and internal characteristics of each person in the group in great detail. The narrator promises to detail what happens to them that evening and throughout the rest of their pilgrimage. He asks the reader for forgiveness if he offends anyone (and back then, he probably offended some people). He says it's not really his fault because it's his job to detail the pilgrim's words and events exactly as they occur, even if they are offensive. The host serves dinner. The narrator describes the host. The Host says the group has been the happiest he has seen in a long time. He tells the pilgrims they should tell two tales on the way to Canterbury, and two on the way back. Whoever has the best story, as judged by the Host, wins a free dinner when they get back to his tavern. Whoever argues with the Host's decision has to pay for the entire trip. The pilgrims promise they'll abide by his rules. They all go to bed. In the morning, they start their journey. Along the way, the Host says they should draw straws to see who tells the first story. The Knight draws the shortest straw, so he goes first.
The Knight's Tale: The Duke Theseus of Athens is heading home from his invasion of Scythia, where he won a wife, Hippolyta, and a sister-in-law, Emily. Along the way, Theseus and his group come across some crying women. They beg Theseus to exact revenge on Creon, King of Thebes. Why? Creon refused to allow the women to give their husbands' a proper burial. That's a slap in the face back in the day. Theseus agrees to help the women. In the process, he wins two noble Theban hostages: cousins Palamon and Arcite. Theseus puts Palamon and Arcite in a tower next to his garden, without ransom. In early May, Emily walks in the garden to gather flowers. Palamon sees her from the window and it's love at first sight. He yells to her. Hearing this yell, Arcite comes to his cousin's side. Guess what? He seems Emily too, and yes, falls for her. They argue about who gets her (like she's some object). Arcite eventually says that it's pretty silly to fight over a lady since they'll be in the tower forever. Lucky for Arcite, he gets out of the tower. He and Theseus have a mutual friend who got Arcite released on one exception: he can't come to Athens ever again. Arcite throws a fit, and thinks Palamon has a better deal than him because he gets to see Emily every day. Palamon thinks that Arcite has it off well because he can get an army together to fight for Emily. Arcite comes to Athens disguised as a servant. He works his way to Theseus's house, become Emily's manservant. Palamon has escaped from prison. He hides in a grove of trees close to the palace. You might have guessed, but Arcite comes by the same grove. Palamon doesn't recognize him at first, but then when Arcite starts babbling about his love for Emily, Palamon figures it out and leaps out from the trees. They trash talk. Arcite challenges Palamon to a duel, saying he'll bring weapons tomorrow for Palamon so it's a fair fight. The next day, the duel. Theseus and his gang come across the two men fighting. Theseus tells them to stop. When he finds out they're Arcite and Palamon, he wants to order them to be put to death. But Hippolyta and Emily beg for mercy, Theseus reconsiders. Theseus says he's done some crazy things for love, too. Theseus says the each of them will come back in a year with one hundred soldiers and fight a joust and whoever wins gets Emily. They agree and go home to Athens. Theseus spends the year building a huge arena for the fight. The arena is complete and dedicated to Venus, Mars, and Diana. When it's time for the fight, Palamon and Arcite return to Athens, and everyone is ready to watch what goes down. The night before, Palamon, Arcite, and Emily visit different temples. Palamon prays to Venus to grant him Emily, Arcite asks Mars for victory, and Emily prays to Diana for perpetual virginity. The houst starts and a bunch of guys become POWs. In the end, Palamon is taken captive, and Arcite wins. On his victory lap, an earthquakes happens and causes Arcite to fall on the ground headfirst. Everyone thinks Arcite will recover, and they get ready for the feast to celebrate Arcite and Emily's marriage. Well, Arcite doesn't recover. He dies with Emily and Palamon by his side, using his final breath to tell Emily how wonderful Palamon is. Theseus lets Palamon marry Emily so there can be an alliance between Thebes and Athens. Theseus gives a long speech about how death is a part of the circle of life (i.e. God's plan). The story ends with a happy wedding.
The Miller's Prologue: Once the Knight is done with his tale, the narrator depicts the positive reactions of the pilgrims to his story. The Host asks the Monk to share his story next. The Miller, who is drunk, calls out that he knows a better tale that will top the Knight's. The Host tells the Miller that someone will talk first. The Miller says he will leave if he doesn't get to talk. The Host finally lets the Miller talk. The Miller tells everyone he is drunk and it's not his fault, but the fault of the ale of Southwark. He proceeds to say that he's going to tell a story about a carpenter and his wife, and how a clerk makes a fool out of the carpenter. The Reeve (carpenter) tells the Miller it's a sin to make fun of another and to speak badly about wives. The Miller tells the Reeve that the only people who don't get cheated on are the ones who don't have wives. Sound advice. Although, he says, the Reeve hasn't been cheated on because there are also many good wives. The Miller says that he has a wife, but he believes she's cheated on him. He says a husband shouldn't question the relationship of God or of his wife. The narrator interrupts to talk about how the Miller won't stop talking, pretty much that he's rather annoying. The narrator says not to be mad at him for telling such a raunchy story and that you can turn the pages to find better stories.
The Miller's Tale: The carpenter, John, lives in Oxford with his much younger wife, Alisoun, who is beautiful. To make a little more money, John rents out a room in his house to a poor, but smart, scholar named Nicholas, who obviously wants to have sex with Alisoun. Another scholar, Absolon, the parish clerk, also wants to have sex with her. John takes a day trip to a nearby town. While he's gone, Nicholas convinces Alisoun to have sex with him. The affair begins. Soon after, Alisoun goes to church, where Absolon is. He tries to get Alisoun to have sex with him by singing love songs under her window during the full moon. He even joins the local play to get her attention. Alisoun says no, no, no, not because she's married, but because she's having sex with Nicholas. Nicholas wants to spend a whole night with his lady, instead of a few moments when John isn't around. With Alisoun's help, he comes up with a plan. He convinces John that God is about to sent a flood, kind of like he did with Noah. He says that God told him they could be saved by hanging three huge buckets from the ceiling to sleep in. When the water rose, they would cut the ropes down and float away. John believes him and climbs into the bucket. He thinks Nicholas and Alisoun are doing the same thing, but they're obviously not. They're sleeping in John's bed. That night, Absolon comes to the window and begs Alisoun for a kiss. At first she refuses, but then supposedly gives in. Instead of sticking her lips out the window, she sticks her butt out. Absolon proceeds to kiss her butt. Angered, Absolon gets a hot poker so he can brand Alisoun. When he comes back, Nicholas sticks his butt out the window because he thinks that'd be funny, too. Absolon brands Nicholas, who yells, "Water!" because he needs something to fix the pain. John, hearing this and thinking the flood is here, buts the rope, which sends him to the floor. The townspeople hear the noise and check to see what's going on. Nicholas recites the story and they laugh at John.
The Reeve's Prologue: The narrator discusses how everyone is laughing and having a good time because of the Miller's tale, except the Reeve. The Reeve is upset because he's a carpenter. He thinks the Miller's tale is an insult to him. The Reeve says he can top the Miller's tale with a story about how a miller gets tricked, but he's too old for the sexual jokes in his story. The Reeve talks about how old he is. He says the four powers of the elderly are bragging, lying, anger, and jealousy. He says his life is almost over. The Host tells the Reeve that he's preaching too much and not story-telling enough. The Reeve asks the others to forgive him because he's going to have a raunchy tale like the Miller's. The Reeve promises to have a better story than the Miller.
The Reeve's Tale: A miller named Symkyn lives on some land by a bridge close to Cambridge. He likes to fight, carry weapons, and wrestle. Most of the townspeople avoid him, even though he cheats his customers. Symkyn married the illegitimate daughter of the local cleric, who is a proud woman. When a worker of a school in Canterbury who grinds its corn and wheat with Symkyn gets sick, Symkyn decides to cheat the school even more. Two students, Aleyn and John, ask their headmaster if they can ground the corn, thinking they can stop Symkyn from cheating them. The headmaster agrees. When they arrive at the mill, Aleyn and John tell Symkyn that they will watch the corn being ground. Symkyn realizes what they're up to and accepts the challenge. He unties the boys' horse. They have to spend the entire day looking for them, giving Symkyn the opportunity to steal flour from them. His wife bakes it into a cake and hides. Having spent the day getting their horse, the two boys spend the night at Symkyn's house. That night, Aleyn decides to have sex with Symkyn's daughter, Malyne. He thinks he deserves this since he has been cheated. John does the same thing with Symkyn's wife. John moves the cradle at the foot of her bed to his so she will mistakenly go to bed with him. At dawn, Aleyn tries to go back to his bed, but the cradle causes him to go to Symkyn's bed. Thinking that Symkyn is John, Aleyn brags how he had sex with Malyne all night. Angered, Symkyn punches Aleyn in the nose, then falls to the bed where John and his wife are sleeping. When she wakes up, she tries to help Symkyn by hitting the boys, but mistakes Symkyn's bald head for the white caps the boys wear, and hits Symkyn in the head. The boys proceed to beat Symkyn up, then pick up the cake made of stolen flour, because Malyne told Aleyn where it was.
The Cook's Prologue: The Cook loves the Reeve's tale. He talks about a moral from Proverb which says not to bring stranger's into your house. The Cook says he's never heard of a miller tricked quite like the one in the Reeve's story. The Cook says he's going to tell a story about a funny thing that happened in his city. The Host tells him it better be a good story. The Host says the Cook has been a part of dishonest cooking practices such as selling old meat pies, giving the travelers food poisoning, and keeping a dirty kitchen. The Host says, "Haha, I'm joking, don't be angry." The Cook is like, "Actually, everything you say is true, so it's not a good joke." He then tells a short, unfinished story.
The Cook's Tale: An apprentice lived in his city and his job was setting food. He was a short man, with dark skin and black hair. He was a great dancer. He loved the bar more than he did his shop, so much so, he would run out of his shop to the tavern and begin dancing, forgetting his work. One day, his master decided to fire him. The apprentice found a place to stay with a man who loved to do the same things he did. This man had a wife, who kept a shop, and had sex for a living. Then, the Cook's tale ends.
**This is obviously a fragment; it finishes before it really starts. No one really knows if Chaucer meant to leave it this way, if he didn't complete it, or if the rest has been lost.
Well, that's it for today. Tomorrow, more fun tales!
Cassy
The Knight's Tale: The Duke Theseus of Athens is heading home from his invasion of Scythia, where he won a wife, Hippolyta, and a sister-in-law, Emily. Along the way, Theseus and his group come across some crying women. They beg Theseus to exact revenge on Creon, King of Thebes. Why? Creon refused to allow the women to give their husbands' a proper burial. That's a slap in the face back in the day. Theseus agrees to help the women. In the process, he wins two noble Theban hostages: cousins Palamon and Arcite. Theseus puts Palamon and Arcite in a tower next to his garden, without ransom. In early May, Emily walks in the garden to gather flowers. Palamon sees her from the window and it's love at first sight. He yells to her. Hearing this yell, Arcite comes to his cousin's side. Guess what? He seems Emily too, and yes, falls for her. They argue about who gets her (like she's some object). Arcite eventually says that it's pretty silly to fight over a lady since they'll be in the tower forever. Lucky for Arcite, he gets out of the tower. He and Theseus have a mutual friend who got Arcite released on one exception: he can't come to Athens ever again. Arcite throws a fit, and thinks Palamon has a better deal than him because he gets to see Emily every day. Palamon thinks that Arcite has it off well because he can get an army together to fight for Emily. Arcite comes to Athens disguised as a servant. He works his way to Theseus's house, become Emily's manservant. Palamon has escaped from prison. He hides in a grove of trees close to the palace. You might have guessed, but Arcite comes by the same grove. Palamon doesn't recognize him at first, but then when Arcite starts babbling about his love for Emily, Palamon figures it out and leaps out from the trees. They trash talk. Arcite challenges Palamon to a duel, saying he'll bring weapons tomorrow for Palamon so it's a fair fight. The next day, the duel. Theseus and his gang come across the two men fighting. Theseus tells them to stop. When he finds out they're Arcite and Palamon, he wants to order them to be put to death. But Hippolyta and Emily beg for mercy, Theseus reconsiders. Theseus says he's done some crazy things for love, too. Theseus says the each of them will come back in a year with one hundred soldiers and fight a joust and whoever wins gets Emily. They agree and go home to Athens. Theseus spends the year building a huge arena for the fight. The arena is complete and dedicated to Venus, Mars, and Diana. When it's time for the fight, Palamon and Arcite return to Athens, and everyone is ready to watch what goes down. The night before, Palamon, Arcite, and Emily visit different temples. Palamon prays to Venus to grant him Emily, Arcite asks Mars for victory, and Emily prays to Diana for perpetual virginity. The houst starts and a bunch of guys become POWs. In the end, Palamon is taken captive, and Arcite wins. On his victory lap, an earthquakes happens and causes Arcite to fall on the ground headfirst. Everyone thinks Arcite will recover, and they get ready for the feast to celebrate Arcite and Emily's marriage. Well, Arcite doesn't recover. He dies with Emily and Palamon by his side, using his final breath to tell Emily how wonderful Palamon is. Theseus lets Palamon marry Emily so there can be an alliance between Thebes and Athens. Theseus gives a long speech about how death is a part of the circle of life (i.e. God's plan). The story ends with a happy wedding.
The Miller's Prologue: Once the Knight is done with his tale, the narrator depicts the positive reactions of the pilgrims to his story. The Host asks the Monk to share his story next. The Miller, who is drunk, calls out that he knows a better tale that will top the Knight's. The Host tells the Miller that someone will talk first. The Miller says he will leave if he doesn't get to talk. The Host finally lets the Miller talk. The Miller tells everyone he is drunk and it's not his fault, but the fault of the ale of Southwark. He proceeds to say that he's going to tell a story about a carpenter and his wife, and how a clerk makes a fool out of the carpenter. The Reeve (carpenter) tells the Miller it's a sin to make fun of another and to speak badly about wives. The Miller tells the Reeve that the only people who don't get cheated on are the ones who don't have wives. Sound advice. Although, he says, the Reeve hasn't been cheated on because there are also many good wives. The Miller says that he has a wife, but he believes she's cheated on him. He says a husband shouldn't question the relationship of God or of his wife. The narrator interrupts to talk about how the Miller won't stop talking, pretty much that he's rather annoying. The narrator says not to be mad at him for telling such a raunchy story and that you can turn the pages to find better stories.
The Miller's Tale: The carpenter, John, lives in Oxford with his much younger wife, Alisoun, who is beautiful. To make a little more money, John rents out a room in his house to a poor, but smart, scholar named Nicholas, who obviously wants to have sex with Alisoun. Another scholar, Absolon, the parish clerk, also wants to have sex with her. John takes a day trip to a nearby town. While he's gone, Nicholas convinces Alisoun to have sex with him. The affair begins. Soon after, Alisoun goes to church, where Absolon is. He tries to get Alisoun to have sex with him by singing love songs under her window during the full moon. He even joins the local play to get her attention. Alisoun says no, no, no, not because she's married, but because she's having sex with Nicholas. Nicholas wants to spend a whole night with his lady, instead of a few moments when John isn't around. With Alisoun's help, he comes up with a plan. He convinces John that God is about to sent a flood, kind of like he did with Noah. He says that God told him they could be saved by hanging three huge buckets from the ceiling to sleep in. When the water rose, they would cut the ropes down and float away. John believes him and climbs into the bucket. He thinks Nicholas and Alisoun are doing the same thing, but they're obviously not. They're sleeping in John's bed. That night, Absolon comes to the window and begs Alisoun for a kiss. At first she refuses, but then supposedly gives in. Instead of sticking her lips out the window, she sticks her butt out. Absolon proceeds to kiss her butt. Angered, Absolon gets a hot poker so he can brand Alisoun. When he comes back, Nicholas sticks his butt out the window because he thinks that'd be funny, too. Absolon brands Nicholas, who yells, "Water!" because he needs something to fix the pain. John, hearing this and thinking the flood is here, buts the rope, which sends him to the floor. The townspeople hear the noise and check to see what's going on. Nicholas recites the story and they laugh at John.
The Reeve's Prologue: The narrator discusses how everyone is laughing and having a good time because of the Miller's tale, except the Reeve. The Reeve is upset because he's a carpenter. He thinks the Miller's tale is an insult to him. The Reeve says he can top the Miller's tale with a story about how a miller gets tricked, but he's too old for the sexual jokes in his story. The Reeve talks about how old he is. He says the four powers of the elderly are bragging, lying, anger, and jealousy. He says his life is almost over. The Host tells the Reeve that he's preaching too much and not story-telling enough. The Reeve asks the others to forgive him because he's going to have a raunchy tale like the Miller's. The Reeve promises to have a better story than the Miller.
The Reeve's Tale: A miller named Symkyn lives on some land by a bridge close to Cambridge. He likes to fight, carry weapons, and wrestle. Most of the townspeople avoid him, even though he cheats his customers. Symkyn married the illegitimate daughter of the local cleric, who is a proud woman. When a worker of a school in Canterbury who grinds its corn and wheat with Symkyn gets sick, Symkyn decides to cheat the school even more. Two students, Aleyn and John, ask their headmaster if they can ground the corn, thinking they can stop Symkyn from cheating them. The headmaster agrees. When they arrive at the mill, Aleyn and John tell Symkyn that they will watch the corn being ground. Symkyn realizes what they're up to and accepts the challenge. He unties the boys' horse. They have to spend the entire day looking for them, giving Symkyn the opportunity to steal flour from them. His wife bakes it into a cake and hides. Having spent the day getting their horse, the two boys spend the night at Symkyn's house. That night, Aleyn decides to have sex with Symkyn's daughter, Malyne. He thinks he deserves this since he has been cheated. John does the same thing with Symkyn's wife. John moves the cradle at the foot of her bed to his so she will mistakenly go to bed with him. At dawn, Aleyn tries to go back to his bed, but the cradle causes him to go to Symkyn's bed. Thinking that Symkyn is John, Aleyn brags how he had sex with Malyne all night. Angered, Symkyn punches Aleyn in the nose, then falls to the bed where John and his wife are sleeping. When she wakes up, she tries to help Symkyn by hitting the boys, but mistakes Symkyn's bald head for the white caps the boys wear, and hits Symkyn in the head. The boys proceed to beat Symkyn up, then pick up the cake made of stolen flour, because Malyne told Aleyn where it was.
The Cook's Prologue: The Cook loves the Reeve's tale. He talks about a moral from Proverb which says not to bring stranger's into your house. The Cook says he's never heard of a miller tricked quite like the one in the Reeve's story. The Cook says he's going to tell a story about a funny thing that happened in his city. The Host tells him it better be a good story. The Host says the Cook has been a part of dishonest cooking practices such as selling old meat pies, giving the travelers food poisoning, and keeping a dirty kitchen. The Host says, "Haha, I'm joking, don't be angry." The Cook is like, "Actually, everything you say is true, so it's not a good joke." He then tells a short, unfinished story.
The Cook's Tale: An apprentice lived in his city and his job was setting food. He was a short man, with dark skin and black hair. He was a great dancer. He loved the bar more than he did his shop, so much so, he would run out of his shop to the tavern and begin dancing, forgetting his work. One day, his master decided to fire him. The apprentice found a place to stay with a man who loved to do the same things he did. This man had a wife, who kept a shop, and had sex for a living. Then, the Cook's tale ends.
**This is obviously a fragment; it finishes before it really starts. No one really knows if Chaucer meant to leave it this way, if he didn't complete it, or if the rest has been lost.
Well, that's it for today. Tomorrow, more fun tales!
Cassy
Monday, July 22, 2013
Background to Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales
A lot can be said about the literary and historical contributions of Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales. To start with, the epic was written between the years of 1387 to 1400. The story tells about thirty pilgrims, all from different rungs of society, traveling from Southwark to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral in England. The Canterbury Tales became historic in that it popularized the English vernacular by being written in the English language instead of French or Italian.
Chaucer meant for each pilgrim to have two tales on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back from the cathedral (making 120 tales in total), but he never completed the enormous project. Scholars are uncertain about the order of the tales because the printing press had not been invented yet, making many contemporary translations differ in order of tales. Many scholars call each section of the tales a fragment. Although not completely finished or even revised, each character has a tale in which it is representative of moral characteristics as well as societal and economical issues surrounding that specific character's life.
One of the important contributions made to literature by Chaucer was the development of human character. Before his work, character was hardly developed, making many characters flat. Plot was more important than character. If you look at modern novels today, you'll see that Chaucer influenced the writing. A good story is driven by a character and his or her psychology with whom the audience can somehow relate to--which can be positive or negative--and the story develops around that character.
Besides being one of the first texts written in the English vernacular, The Canterbury Tales held a lot of other important firsts. Chaucer's work was one of the first to take a critical look at the Church, criticizing priests, monks, and other clergypersons. Another first was it's focus on the world as opposed to God, Heaven, Hell, etc. Needless to say, Chaucer's work was integral for the development of Western and English literature.
Hopefully, this background has gotten you ready for the tales themselves, which are humorous and enchanting. Tomorrow I'll start summarizing!
Until then,
Cassy
Chaucer meant for each pilgrim to have two tales on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back from the cathedral (making 120 tales in total), but he never completed the enormous project. Scholars are uncertain about the order of the tales because the printing press had not been invented yet, making many contemporary translations differ in order of tales. Many scholars call each section of the tales a fragment. Although not completely finished or even revised, each character has a tale in which it is representative of moral characteristics as well as societal and economical issues surrounding that specific character's life.
One of the important contributions made to literature by Chaucer was the development of human character. Before his work, character was hardly developed, making many characters flat. Plot was more important than character. If you look at modern novels today, you'll see that Chaucer influenced the writing. A good story is driven by a character and his or her psychology with whom the audience can somehow relate to--which can be positive or negative--and the story develops around that character.
Besides being one of the first texts written in the English vernacular, The Canterbury Tales held a lot of other important firsts. Chaucer's work was one of the first to take a critical look at the Church, criticizing priests, monks, and other clergypersons. Another first was it's focus on the world as opposed to God, Heaven, Hell, etc. Needless to say, Chaucer's work was integral for the development of Western and English literature.
Hopefully, this background has gotten you ready for the tales themselves, which are humorous and enchanting. Tomorrow I'll start summarizing!
Until then,
Cassy
Teaching The Inferno for modern students
Sorry for not posting last night. The Internet at Jewell can be very cantankerous sometimes. But to the main point at hand: Why teaching The Inferno can be beneficial for our students.
The Inferno can be an important text for students to take and compare it to their lives and our world around us. Although it's not for us to say who might end up in which circle of Dante's Hell, there are people either in Hollywood, movies, media, etc. that personify the deadly sins in Dante's epic poem.
This all ties back to the reading comprehension strategy of making connections. Connections to existential life in schools is obviously frowned upon, but Dante's work can require students to think about their own lives and sins they commit. Everyone sins, even if you don't want to use the verb sin, there's still wrongdoing happening everywhere by every person at some point. The poem, although caught up with the question of how to keep yourself from going to Hell and getting into Heaven, can still be beneficial for students to read without a discussion of God, Satan, Heaven, and Hell that could end up offending people.
There are definitely interesting issues to discuss with the text. One issue is gender. Are all women, think of Dido or Cleopatra, in Hell there because of sexual deviance? It certainly seems that way. What does it say about the patriarchal society of Italy when Dante was writing? Think about modern conceptions of women. There is the idea of the virgin and the whore, and many opinions think that women personify the latter.
Another interesting concept in Dante's work is the idea of responsibility, fate, and free will. For all of the sinners in Hell, their punishments coincide with their sins. Think about our punishment for crimes today. There is not necessarily a correlation between a criminal's punishment and his/her crime. For instance, in America, if a thief is caught, his/her hand isn't cut off. But that does happen in other countries. This could provide for a lively debate (IF DONE CORRECTLY) and could make students really think about our justice system and if it really suffices.
If you are interested in teaching The Inferno or you want to know more about it from the perspective of a teacher, I strongly suggest you click the following link. This link takes you to guide of Dante's Inferno by David Bruce. It's very detailed and thorough. Inferno Guide: David Bruce.
The next book is The Canterbury Tales. This is a pretty epic tale as well in terms of literary history as well as content, so be excited! I hope you enjoyed Dante as much as I do and you delve into his discussion of purgatory and paradise as well. Dante is a great author in terms of, again, literary history as well as the content he discussed.
Next will be a discussion of the history and background of Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales.
Until then,
Cassy
The Inferno can be an important text for students to take and compare it to their lives and our world around us. Although it's not for us to say who might end up in which circle of Dante's Hell, there are people either in Hollywood, movies, media, etc. that personify the deadly sins in Dante's epic poem.
This all ties back to the reading comprehension strategy of making connections. Connections to existential life in schools is obviously frowned upon, but Dante's work can require students to think about their own lives and sins they commit. Everyone sins, even if you don't want to use the verb sin, there's still wrongdoing happening everywhere by every person at some point. The poem, although caught up with the question of how to keep yourself from going to Hell and getting into Heaven, can still be beneficial for students to read without a discussion of God, Satan, Heaven, and Hell that could end up offending people.
There are definitely interesting issues to discuss with the text. One issue is gender. Are all women, think of Dido or Cleopatra, in Hell there because of sexual deviance? It certainly seems that way. What does it say about the patriarchal society of Italy when Dante was writing? Think about modern conceptions of women. There is the idea of the virgin and the whore, and many opinions think that women personify the latter.
Another interesting concept in Dante's work is the idea of responsibility, fate, and free will. For all of the sinners in Hell, their punishments coincide with their sins. Think about our punishment for crimes today. There is not necessarily a correlation between a criminal's punishment and his/her crime. For instance, in America, if a thief is caught, his/her hand isn't cut off. But that does happen in other countries. This could provide for a lively debate (IF DONE CORRECTLY) and could make students really think about our justice system and if it really suffices.
If you are interested in teaching The Inferno or you want to know more about it from the perspective of a teacher, I strongly suggest you click the following link. This link takes you to guide of Dante's Inferno by David Bruce. It's very detailed and thorough. Inferno Guide: David Bruce.
The next book is The Canterbury Tales. This is a pretty epic tale as well in terms of literary history as well as content, so be excited! I hope you enjoyed Dante as much as I do and you delve into his discussion of purgatory and paradise as well. Dante is a great author in terms of, again, literary history as well as the content he discussed.
Next will be a discussion of the history and background of Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales.
Until then,
Cassy
Thursday, July 18, 2013
The Inferno: Cantos XXVII-XXXIV
This is the end!
Canto XXVII has Virgil letting Ulysses leave, but he's quickly replaced. This flame is making a strange noise. This new sinner, according to Dante, sounds like a dying bull. This sinner is in a lot of pain, so much that Dante can't understand him. Finally, he gets his words out and he asks Virgil to stay and talk. Virgil tells Dante to talk to this sinner because he's Italian. This sinner talks about the city of Romagna and how it's being pillaged. Dane asks this sinner his name. The sinner was a soldier who repented his sins and became a Franciscan monk. This sinner's name is Guido da Montefeltro. As a young man, the sinner was an all-together bad person: backstabber, liar, cheater, etc. Realizing he was a bad person, he became a friar. Guess who ruined his life though? Pope Boniface. Boniface is fighting with Christian families who oppose him. He tells Guido that if he sides with him, he'll clear all his sins. So the Pope can wage war on innocents because of Guido. When Guido dies, a black demon takes him to Hell. After his story, Guido leaves. Our pilgrims leave as well and cross the bridge into the next pouch.
Canto XXVIII takes us to the ninth pouch. So many pouches! Dante is at a loss for words. Nothing can capture the degree of suffering and all of the "blood and wounds" in the pouch. A sinner comes up to Dante literally ripped to shreds. His body is cut down the middle so his insides are hanging out. Luckily for Dante, the sinner opens his chest for Dante to see. The sinner introduces himself as Mohammed. He gestures to another sinner, whose face is cut in half. His name is Ali and he's responsible for splitting the Muslims into the Sunnis and Shiites. Mohammed says they're all sowers of dissension and they're punished by being cut in half. The sinners walk in circles until they get to a demon with a sword who cuts them in half. They eventually heal then get cut again. Pretty gruesome. Mohammad asks why Dante isn't cut and Virgil says he's alive and on a trip sanctioned by God. That's a big deal to the sinners. Mohammad wants Dante to tell his friend Fra Dolcino to not die of starvation (but he does). Another guy, with his throat cut open, talks to Dante. He is Pier da Medicina. Pier wants a message to be taken to the living world, too. Dante agrees. Another man, Curio, comes to talk to Dante. Curio is the one who convinced Caesar to betray Pompey and invade Rome, which started a civil war. In Hell, Curio's tongue is cut in half so he can't speak. The next guy who talks to Dante is Mosca, who has his hands chopped off. Dante tells him off. The next is the most grotesque sinner yet. This guy is carrying his head like a lantern. He tells Dante to see if he can find anyone in Hell who suffers more than him. He is Bertran de Born, the man who turned Prince Henry against his father, King Henry II. Because he divided a father from his son, Bertran is punished to carry his own head.
Canto XXIX is in the tenth pouch. So many pouches! Dante's pretty upset about seeing all these gross things. Virgil tells Dante to suck is up. Why was Dante crying? He saw a sinner from his own family. Virgil doesn't care; he tells him to forget about it. They walk and talk and at the top of the bridge crossing into the last pouch, they hear a scream. Dante and Virgil keep walking on. They get to the bottom of a bank. Sinners here have a terrible disease. Dante sees two sinners propped against each other. The two sinners are hitting each other with their claws (yeah, claws). Virgil tells the two guys to stop, and asks them if they're Italian. Yes, they're Italian and yes, they want to know who they are. Dante gets the sinners to say who they are. The first one says he's mad at the Bishop of Siena. He was practicing alchemy and got caught. This guy's name is Griffolino. Dante says that his people are so vain. Another sinner agrees with Dante. This guy is Capocchio, who is an alchemist as well. Irony: he's from Sienna, too.
Canto XXX (30!!) starts with Dante giving us some epic similes. Google them. There's a shade who runs over Capocchio and bites him in the neck. Gross. Griffolino says that this is Gianni Schicchi, whose crime is impersonation. In his friend's will, Gianni said he was someone else so he could get a horse. Dante asks about another sinner. She's a princess named Myrrha. She fell in love with her father, impersonated another woman, and slept with him. Gross, gross, gross. Dante lets these guys pass on by and checks out the rest of the sinners. One sinner is contorted into a lute, has the skin of his face rotting off, and is bloated from disease. This guy says he is Master Adam. His punishment is craving water. He counterfeited coins. He wants to find Guido (remember him?) and punish him because apparently it's Guido's fault he's here. Dante doesn't care and ask who the two sinners are that are sitting beside Master Adam. FYI, their bodies are smoking. Master Adam says one is Potiphar's wife--the lady who falsely accused Joseph of raping her--and Sinon of the Greeks. He tricked the Trojans into taking the Trojan horse into their city. They both have a fever which makes their skin smoke. Sinon starts fighting with Master Adam because he's insulted. Virgil breaks things up and warns Dante to stop watching the argument because it's pointless. Dante apologizes. Virgil is always right.
Canto XXXI has Dante and Virgil walking towards the ninth (and last!) circle. Problem: it's dark. Good thing they can hear, right? They can, and hear a bugle. Suddenly, Dante can see. He sees hundreds of towers. He thinks it's a city, but of course, Virgil says, you'll see when we get there. He apparently has a change of heart though, and says that those towers are actually giants trapped in the central pit of Hell. Dante is a little scared about that. They get to the giants and they are, well, giant. They're huge. One speaks gibberish and Virgil tells him to hush. Dante asks who this giant is. Guess what his name is? Nimrod. Nimrod (makes me chuckle) was the king of Babylon. Remember those people? They built the Tower of Babel. This is Nimrod's punishment: he can't speak a language anyone can understand. Makes sense. They come to a giant bigger and scarier than Nimrod. He's retrained by chains. This guy is Ephialtes, who challenged the gods back in the day. Now he's restrained forever. Dante asks when they can see another giant, Briareus. Virgil didn't really listen and says they'll see Anteaus soon and he'll take us to the bottom. He finally answers Dante and says they'll see Briareus soon. They reach Antaeus. Virgil asks them to take them below. He does. They finally get to the last circle.
Canto XXXII has Dante, again, at a loss for words. He and Virgil are really at the bottom of Hell. Dante looks out at the frozen river before them. The ice is super thick. The sinners here are in the ice up to their chins. They keep their heads down and curse the cold. Dante sees two sinners whose hair is tangled together, and he asks who they are. They've been crying, so their tears have frozen their mouths shut. Can't talk, Dante. A sinner says they are the Bisenzio twins, who killed each other because of politics. The speaker says he is Camiscione dei Pazzi, who killed a family member for political power. Walking forward, Dante kicks a sinner in the head. Dante stops to figure out who this guy is. The sinner doesn't really want to talk to Dante. Dante hulks out on the guy and grabs him by the neck. He screams at him, telling him to tell Dante who he is or he'll keep pulling until he pulls out all of his hair. What? Roid-rage, Dante. The sinner doesn't care and Dante makes good on his threat. As the guy is screaming, another sinner tells Bocca to shut up. Now we know his name. Dante trash talks him, then they leave.
Canto XXXIII is ridiculously long. FYI. A sinner, bleeding from the head, begins to talk to Dante. He is Count Ugolino. Right now he's eating Archbishop Ruggieri (yes, eating). Ugolino says that the Archbishop tricked him then killed him. Ugolino was a magistrate of Pisa. He was eventually exiled from Pisa. Ruggieri invites Ugolino back into the city, but then betrays him. Ugolino is locked in a tower for a long time. He's pretty much starved out with his sons. Makes sense why he's eating Ruggieri. Dante and Virgil move on. They pass through another ring. Dante is starting to feel cold and he's going numb. He feels a wind, which is weird. He asks Virgil what's up. Imagine this: Virgil doesn't answer just says, yeah, you'll find out soon. A sinner yells at them. Dante wants the sinner's name and story. Fra Alberigo says that he had his relatives killed at a dinner. This fun place, has the ability to take a soul via demon without the person actually dying. So, Alberigo doesn't know if he's already dead. Antoerh sinner, Branca Doria, is recognized and he's still alive. This means a demon has possessed his earthly body.
Canto XXXIV (finally!) starts with Latin that says, "The banners of the King of Hell draw closer." Sweet. Dante is told to keep his eyes open for Lucifer. The wind is going crazy right now, so Dante uses Virgil as a shield. Virgil announces they're in Dis. Dante tells the reader, "I did not die, and I was not alive." Interesting. He sees Lucifer. He's so ugly. He has three heads--one red, one yellow, one black--and underneath each head there is a pair of huge wings. Source of the wind. Lucifer is crying out of his six eyes. His tears fall into his three mouths. He's eating sinners, by the way. In the middle mouth, there is a sinner there. It's Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus. The man in the black mouth is Brutus, who betrayed Julius Caesar. The last sinner is Cassius, who also betrayed Caesar. Virgil says it's time to go. Guess what? It's hard leaving Hell. Dante jumps on Virgil's back as Virgil jumps onto Lucifer. He rappels down using Lucifer's hairy skin as rope. Nasty. Once they get to the nether-region, Virgil starts going up Lucifer's legs. Dante freaks, but Virgil says, yeah, we're leaving Hell. Virgil takes a breather and sets Dante down for a moment. Dante leans over to look back up Lucifer's torso, but the world has flipped. Instead of seeing Lucifer's chest, he sees his legs. Virgil says, let's go. They start walking. Dante asks what just happened. Virgil says they're no longer in the northern hemisphere. Oh. Right. Medieval people thought Lucifer's body spanned the diameter of the earth. Now you know. Now it's dawn. Dante and Virgil find a cave. They follow a stream back to the surface of the world. They emerge under to see the stars.
That's is, folks. To the pits of Hell and back. Next post is about why teaching this thing is important.
Also, you should read the rest of The Divine Comedy, just so you feel fulfilled.
Cassy
Canto XXVII has Virgil letting Ulysses leave, but he's quickly replaced. This flame is making a strange noise. This new sinner, according to Dante, sounds like a dying bull. This sinner is in a lot of pain, so much that Dante can't understand him. Finally, he gets his words out and he asks Virgil to stay and talk. Virgil tells Dante to talk to this sinner because he's Italian. This sinner talks about the city of Romagna and how it's being pillaged. Dane asks this sinner his name. The sinner was a soldier who repented his sins and became a Franciscan monk. This sinner's name is Guido da Montefeltro. As a young man, the sinner was an all-together bad person: backstabber, liar, cheater, etc. Realizing he was a bad person, he became a friar. Guess who ruined his life though? Pope Boniface. Boniface is fighting with Christian families who oppose him. He tells Guido that if he sides with him, he'll clear all his sins. So the Pope can wage war on innocents because of Guido. When Guido dies, a black demon takes him to Hell. After his story, Guido leaves. Our pilgrims leave as well and cross the bridge into the next pouch.
Canto XXVIII takes us to the ninth pouch. So many pouches! Dante is at a loss for words. Nothing can capture the degree of suffering and all of the "blood and wounds" in the pouch. A sinner comes up to Dante literally ripped to shreds. His body is cut down the middle so his insides are hanging out. Luckily for Dante, the sinner opens his chest for Dante to see. The sinner introduces himself as Mohammed. He gestures to another sinner, whose face is cut in half. His name is Ali and he's responsible for splitting the Muslims into the Sunnis and Shiites. Mohammed says they're all sowers of dissension and they're punished by being cut in half. The sinners walk in circles until they get to a demon with a sword who cuts them in half. They eventually heal then get cut again. Pretty gruesome. Mohammad asks why Dante isn't cut and Virgil says he's alive and on a trip sanctioned by God. That's a big deal to the sinners. Mohammad wants Dante to tell his friend Fra Dolcino to not die of starvation (but he does). Another guy, with his throat cut open, talks to Dante. He is Pier da Medicina. Pier wants a message to be taken to the living world, too. Dante agrees. Another man, Curio, comes to talk to Dante. Curio is the one who convinced Caesar to betray Pompey and invade Rome, which started a civil war. In Hell, Curio's tongue is cut in half so he can't speak. The next guy who talks to Dante is Mosca, who has his hands chopped off. Dante tells him off. The next is the most grotesque sinner yet. This guy is carrying his head like a lantern. He tells Dante to see if he can find anyone in Hell who suffers more than him. He is Bertran de Born, the man who turned Prince Henry against his father, King Henry II. Because he divided a father from his son, Bertran is punished to carry his own head.
Canto XXIX is in the tenth pouch. So many pouches! Dante's pretty upset about seeing all these gross things. Virgil tells Dante to suck is up. Why was Dante crying? He saw a sinner from his own family. Virgil doesn't care; he tells him to forget about it. They walk and talk and at the top of the bridge crossing into the last pouch, they hear a scream. Dante and Virgil keep walking on. They get to the bottom of a bank. Sinners here have a terrible disease. Dante sees two sinners propped against each other. The two sinners are hitting each other with their claws (yeah, claws). Virgil tells the two guys to stop, and asks them if they're Italian. Yes, they're Italian and yes, they want to know who they are. Dante gets the sinners to say who they are. The first one says he's mad at the Bishop of Siena. He was practicing alchemy and got caught. This guy's name is Griffolino. Dante says that his people are so vain. Another sinner agrees with Dante. This guy is Capocchio, who is an alchemist as well. Irony: he's from Sienna, too.
Canto XXX (30!!) starts with Dante giving us some epic similes. Google them. There's a shade who runs over Capocchio and bites him in the neck. Gross. Griffolino says that this is Gianni Schicchi, whose crime is impersonation. In his friend's will, Gianni said he was someone else so he could get a horse. Dante asks about another sinner. She's a princess named Myrrha. She fell in love with her father, impersonated another woman, and slept with him. Gross, gross, gross. Dante lets these guys pass on by and checks out the rest of the sinners. One sinner is contorted into a lute, has the skin of his face rotting off, and is bloated from disease. This guy says he is Master Adam. His punishment is craving water. He counterfeited coins. He wants to find Guido (remember him?) and punish him because apparently it's Guido's fault he's here. Dante doesn't care and ask who the two sinners are that are sitting beside Master Adam. FYI, their bodies are smoking. Master Adam says one is Potiphar's wife--the lady who falsely accused Joseph of raping her--and Sinon of the Greeks. He tricked the Trojans into taking the Trojan horse into their city. They both have a fever which makes their skin smoke. Sinon starts fighting with Master Adam because he's insulted. Virgil breaks things up and warns Dante to stop watching the argument because it's pointless. Dante apologizes. Virgil is always right.
Canto XXXI has Dante and Virgil walking towards the ninth (and last!) circle. Problem: it's dark. Good thing they can hear, right? They can, and hear a bugle. Suddenly, Dante can see. He sees hundreds of towers. He thinks it's a city, but of course, Virgil says, you'll see when we get there. He apparently has a change of heart though, and says that those towers are actually giants trapped in the central pit of Hell. Dante is a little scared about that. They get to the giants and they are, well, giant. They're huge. One speaks gibberish and Virgil tells him to hush. Dante asks who this giant is. Guess what his name is? Nimrod. Nimrod (makes me chuckle) was the king of Babylon. Remember those people? They built the Tower of Babel. This is Nimrod's punishment: he can't speak a language anyone can understand. Makes sense. They come to a giant bigger and scarier than Nimrod. He's retrained by chains. This guy is Ephialtes, who challenged the gods back in the day. Now he's restrained forever. Dante asks when they can see another giant, Briareus. Virgil didn't really listen and says they'll see Anteaus soon and he'll take us to the bottom. He finally answers Dante and says they'll see Briareus soon. They reach Antaeus. Virgil asks them to take them below. He does. They finally get to the last circle.
Canto XXXII has Dante, again, at a loss for words. He and Virgil are really at the bottom of Hell. Dante looks out at the frozen river before them. The ice is super thick. The sinners here are in the ice up to their chins. They keep their heads down and curse the cold. Dante sees two sinners whose hair is tangled together, and he asks who they are. They've been crying, so their tears have frozen their mouths shut. Can't talk, Dante. A sinner says they are the Bisenzio twins, who killed each other because of politics. The speaker says he is Camiscione dei Pazzi, who killed a family member for political power. Walking forward, Dante kicks a sinner in the head. Dante stops to figure out who this guy is. The sinner doesn't really want to talk to Dante. Dante hulks out on the guy and grabs him by the neck. He screams at him, telling him to tell Dante who he is or he'll keep pulling until he pulls out all of his hair. What? Roid-rage, Dante. The sinner doesn't care and Dante makes good on his threat. As the guy is screaming, another sinner tells Bocca to shut up. Now we know his name. Dante trash talks him, then they leave.
Canto XXXIII is ridiculously long. FYI. A sinner, bleeding from the head, begins to talk to Dante. He is Count Ugolino. Right now he's eating Archbishop Ruggieri (yes, eating). Ugolino says that the Archbishop tricked him then killed him. Ugolino was a magistrate of Pisa. He was eventually exiled from Pisa. Ruggieri invites Ugolino back into the city, but then betrays him. Ugolino is locked in a tower for a long time. He's pretty much starved out with his sons. Makes sense why he's eating Ruggieri. Dante and Virgil move on. They pass through another ring. Dante is starting to feel cold and he's going numb. He feels a wind, which is weird. He asks Virgil what's up. Imagine this: Virgil doesn't answer just says, yeah, you'll find out soon. A sinner yells at them. Dante wants the sinner's name and story. Fra Alberigo says that he had his relatives killed at a dinner. This fun place, has the ability to take a soul via demon without the person actually dying. So, Alberigo doesn't know if he's already dead. Antoerh sinner, Branca Doria, is recognized and he's still alive. This means a demon has possessed his earthly body.
Canto XXXIV (finally!) starts with Latin that says, "The banners of the King of Hell draw closer." Sweet. Dante is told to keep his eyes open for Lucifer. The wind is going crazy right now, so Dante uses Virgil as a shield. Virgil announces they're in Dis. Dante tells the reader, "I did not die, and I was not alive." Interesting. He sees Lucifer. He's so ugly. He has three heads--one red, one yellow, one black--and underneath each head there is a pair of huge wings. Source of the wind. Lucifer is crying out of his six eyes. His tears fall into his three mouths. He's eating sinners, by the way. In the middle mouth, there is a sinner there. It's Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus. The man in the black mouth is Brutus, who betrayed Julius Caesar. The last sinner is Cassius, who also betrayed Caesar. Virgil says it's time to go. Guess what? It's hard leaving Hell. Dante jumps on Virgil's back as Virgil jumps onto Lucifer. He rappels down using Lucifer's hairy skin as rope. Nasty. Once they get to the nether-region, Virgil starts going up Lucifer's legs. Dante freaks, but Virgil says, yeah, we're leaving Hell. Virgil takes a breather and sets Dante down for a moment. Dante leans over to look back up Lucifer's torso, but the world has flipped. Instead of seeing Lucifer's chest, he sees his legs. Virgil says, let's go. They start walking. Dante asks what just happened. Virgil says they're no longer in the northern hemisphere. Oh. Right. Medieval people thought Lucifer's body spanned the diameter of the earth. Now you know. Now it's dawn. Dante and Virgil find a cave. They follow a stream back to the surface of the world. They emerge under to see the stars.
That's is, folks. To the pits of Hell and back. Next post is about why teaching this thing is important.
Also, you should read the rest of The Divine Comedy, just so you feel fulfilled.
Cassy
The Inferno: Cantos XVIII-XXVI Summary
Let's dive right into the text, shall we?
Canto XVIII takes us into the eighth circle of Hell. Remember all those sections and rings of the seventh circle? Well, the eighth has pouches. The eighth's nickname is Malebolge, which essentially means evil pouches. Sounds fun, right? Virgil leads Dante to the leftmost side of the circle and Dante views the sinners on the right. These sinners are naked and marching in a long line where they are whipped on every side by demons with horns. Dante locks eyes with one of the sinners and realizes he knows him. The sinner tries to hide his face, but Dante knows it's Venedico Caccianemico. Dante, without being subtle, asks him why he's in Hell. Venedico says he pandered his sister, Ghisolabella, into doing sexual favors. Yes, pandering means pimping back in the day. Venedico says that he's not the only Bolognese guy in Hell. At this point, a demon hits Venedico on the head, pretty much saying, "Shut up." Dante and Virgil start walking again. The sinners marching, being tormented by demons, starts walking in the same direction as Dante and Virgil. Virgil says, "Hey, Dante. Look there. It's Jason of the Argonauts." What? What is Jason doing in Hell? Well, Virgil explains, Jason, being the dashing man he is, impregnated Hypsipyle of Lemnos, and left her pregnant so he could go steal the Golden Fleece. After this chipper tale, the two cross a bridge into the second pouch (remember, we're in the evil pouches), where flatterers are submerged in a ditch full of bodily wastes. These sinners scream and fight amongst themselves. They're so disgusting that their moans turn into mold that grows on their bodies. Dante and Virgil are watching the sinners from a bridge, and Dante, again, thinks he recognizes someone. This sinner yells at him, asking why he's singled him out. Dante says that he knows him as Alessio Interminei of Lucca. Alessio hits himself repeatedly over the head, and says that he's in Hell because he's a flatterer. Virgil says, "Hey, Dante. Look over there, this time. It's Thais." Thais was a courtesan (prostitute), who gave excessive thanks to her lover for sex. Virgil and Dante decide it's time to move on.
Canto XIX starts with Dante going on a tirade about simonists. Simonists are clerics who sell absolution for money. Chaucer will talk about this in The Canterbury Tales, as well. Dante says these sinners fornicate for gold and silver. Pretty heavy accusations. Now, Dante and Virgil are in the third pouch. That's where the simonists are. What's their punishment? They are buried upside-down in holes where their feet stick out. Their feet are burnt by flames. What does this mean for the simonists? Eternal suffocation. Dante sees that one sinner is exposed to redder flames than any other sinner. Dante asks Virgil why. Virgil, doing his not-answering bit, suggests they go find out. At the feet of the sinner, Dante asks to name himself. Dante, imagine, is now taking on the role of a friar at the confession. Ironically (comically?), the sinner mistakes Dante for his successor in simony, Pope Boniface VIII, coming to take his place in Hell. He obviously can't see Dante, so this makes sense. Virgil orders Dante to tell the man (Nicholas), that he isn't Boniface. Pope Nicholas changes his tune and, being annoyed, asks what they want from him. He goes into a story about how he was a great pope, but he used simony to try and get more money for his family. He explains that for simonists, that once their successor shows up in Hell, they drop farther into the rock they're buried in, making the whole third pouch bedrock buried simonists. Pope Nicholas says that following Pope Boniface, there will be an even worse Pope on the way, Pope Clement V. Dante is tired of this talk and eventually says that Nicholas had what was coming for him. Dante goes on a diatribe about how Rome, the papal seat, is like a whore who has sex with kings for money. Popes are idolaters, and he even says Constantine funded the Church after his conversion to Christianity. Virgil is proud of Dante's anger and carries him across the bridge to the fourth pouch. They walk across the steep valley.
Canto XX has Dante looking at a group of sinners walking very slowly, as if in a procession. Upon further inspection, Dante sees that these sinners have their heads turned backwards on their shoulders so they must walk backwards (since they can't see in front of them). Gross. Dante is appalled by what he sees and has tears in his eyes. Virgil gets mad. Dante shouldn't have pity for these sinners. Virgil tells him to look at the sinners. There's Amphiaraus, a king who saw his defeat and tried to hide; there's Tiresias (remember him??), who changed himself from a man to a woman then back to a man; Aruns, who foretold of Caesar's victory; and a witch named Manto, which Mantua--Virgil's hometown--is named after. As you might have guessed, Dante wants to know who some more sinners are. Virgil shows him Calchas (from the Aeneid), Michael Scot and Guido Bonatti who are both atrologers, and Asdente who was a shoemaker/soothsayer. Virgil says it's time to move on because the moon is getting low on the horizon.
Canto XXI takes us into the fifth pouch. It's rather dark here. As Dante is trying to gather himself in the darkness, Virgil tells him to be careful. Dante turns around and almost faints at the sight of a black demon running towards them. The demon doesn't really care about Dante or Virgil because he has a sinner thrown over his shoulder. Dante tells us that this sinner is a barrator, or a corrupt politician from Lucca. The demon proceeds to throw the sinner into a boiling river and calls his demon friends, or Evil-Claws (Malebranche), to come join. They congregate around the sinner and poke and push him under the water with pitchforks and hooks. Virgil tells Dante to keep down so the demons don't see them. That's great advice, but Virgil doesn't listen to himself. He goes up to the demons and tells them to put their weapons down. Seriously, Virgil? Smart move. The demons laugh at him. The leader, Malacoda or Evil-Tail, asks why a living dude is down in Hell. Virgil says, "Because God wills it." Evil-Tail thinks that's a good reason and says he won't mess with Dante. Virgil tells Dante to come over. One demon says they should stab Dante in the butt with a pitchfork. They all laugh, but Malacoda says they better not do that. He then tells Virgil they can't keep walking the way they're going because the bridge is broken. He volunteers ten of his demon minions (is that repetitive?) to accompany them to the next bridge that is intact, as long as they keep torturing sinners along the way. Dante doesn't trust anyone but Virgil, and he doesn't want to die at the hands of these demons. Virgil tries to comfort Dante, saying that the demons are only evil toward the sinners. As they walk, the demons think it would be funny to fart. Maybe that's the only kind of humor demons enjoy.
Canto XXII starts with Dante not really enjoying the demons' flatulence. I bet it smells awful. They keep walking. Dante stares and looks for more sinners. One of the demons, Grafficane, catches a sinner. He tells Rubicante, another demon, to put his claws into the sinner. Dante tells Virgil to stop by asking the sinner some questions. Virgil asks the sinner where he was born. The sinner says that he was born in Northern Spain. He gives more background information, but never his name. Virgil gets the information he wanted and watches as another demon, Ciriatto, rips the sinner open. Barbariccia, the farting demon, wants Virgil to keep questioning the sinner. Virgil asks if he has any Italian friends in Hell. He says yes and points to one, wishing that he was not in the situation he is in. The demons are frenzied at this point and start ripping at the sinner's flesh. Barbariccia tells them to stop. Virgil asks who the Italian is. The sinner says it's Fra Gomita, a clergyman. Fra Gomita always managed to take gold from the people he worked for. He's a swindler like his friend Don Michele Zanche. The nameless sinner is so freaked out by the demons that he says he'll get him friends out of the pitch if they show him mercy. As the demons are laughing, the sinner escapes. This obviously doesn't make the demons happy. While they're arguing amongst themselves, Dante and Virgil sneak away.
Canto XXIII starts with our two pilgrims running away from the demons. Dante is so scared that his hair literally curls up. Dante tells Virgil that they should hide because he hears demons coming. Virgil thinks that's a pretty good idea. The demons are getting pretty close, so in a hurry, Virgil picks Dante up and they run to the edge of a cliff. They slide down the cliff. Just as they get to the bottom, the demons scream because they can't cross the border into the next pouch. Dante and Virgil find the next group of sinners. These guys are walking around in circles and dressed in gold cloaks. The cloaks are heavy because they're lined on the inside with lead. A sinner recognizes Dante's accent and tells them to stop. Dante and Virgil join the circle and talk to the two men who are wondering why a live guy is in Hell. Dante asks who they are and why they have this punishment. They tell Dante they are hypocrites. Dante is about to tell them off, but he sees something is crucified. It's a naked sinner crucified to the ground. Dante is told that the crucified man is Caiaphas, a priest who came up with the idea to crucify Jesus. Caiaphas's family is also affected by his punishment. Virgil asks the guys if there's a way another bridge close by. Virgil finds out the demons lied because the bridge is broken but there's enough debris they can still cross. The guys are astonished that they actually trusted demons because they're liars. Virgil leaves in a huff with Dante at his heels.
Canto XXIV begins with Virgil telling Dante to keep moving down the rocky bank. Dante tells us that if Virgil wasn't there he would have given up a long time ago. Dante keeps chatting and a voice from the next pouch answers him. It's too dark for Dante to see who's talking to him. They cross the bridge to try and find him. They get to a valley filled with snakes. With these snakes are sinners. The snakes are a little possessed and do things like tie themselves around the sinners. As soon as the sinners are bitten by the snakes they turn into piles of ash, but only for a moment, because they re-form. Virgil asks a sinner who recently turned back from ash who he is. The sinner says he is Vanni Fucci and he's from Pistoia. Dante tells Virgil he knew who Vanni was and that he should actually be in the fifth circle. Vanni says that he was a thief; he stole from a church. Vanni then talks about the future of Florence and Dante's exile because his political party will fall.
Canto XXV starts with Vanni finishing his rant then makes a blasphemous gesture towards God. Dante isn't too happy with him. Just then, snakes come and wrap around Vanni so he can't move. A centaur comes by covered in snakes, too. Virgil tells us that his is Cacus. Cacus stole cattle from Hercules and Hercules punished him by beating him to death. A voice calls out, "Who are you?" We don't know who this question is directed to. A sinner asks where Ciafna is. Ciafna pops out, but it's not a human. Ciafna is a serpent with six legs. Ciafna starts to devour the sinner who called him. If that isn't weird enough, they begin to meld together. A whole bunch of things happen and Dante goes into detail about how the snakes start attacking sinners.
Canto XXVI takes us to the next pouch (that's eight if you haven't been counting). They have to crawl on their hands and knees to get to the next valley. Dante says that these thieves and counselors should have used their abilities for good. In this pouch, there's a ton of flames. Why? Each flame is a sinner . Dante asks who the double-flame sinner is approaching them. Virgil says it's Ulysses and Diomedes (I know. When I first read it I was a little outraged that they were in Hell). Virgil says that they were responsible for the Trojan horse and pillaging of Athena's temple. Virgil told us this in the Aeneid. Dante wants to talk to them, but Virgil says that he'll do the talking. Virgil asks how they died. Ulysses says that what was covered in the Odyssey doesn't quite tell his whole story. He sailed past Spain and Morocco, which was like the edge of the world. Ulysses makes them keep sailing because no one else had ever sailed that far. They find the Mount of Purgatory. God says this is far enough and sends a whirlwind and everyone dies. The end.
What a good day for learning about Dante's Hell. Next post is summarizing the rest of the text!
Cassy
Canto XVIII takes us into the eighth circle of Hell. Remember all those sections and rings of the seventh circle? Well, the eighth has pouches. The eighth's nickname is Malebolge, which essentially means evil pouches. Sounds fun, right? Virgil leads Dante to the leftmost side of the circle and Dante views the sinners on the right. These sinners are naked and marching in a long line where they are whipped on every side by demons with horns. Dante locks eyes with one of the sinners and realizes he knows him. The sinner tries to hide his face, but Dante knows it's Venedico Caccianemico. Dante, without being subtle, asks him why he's in Hell. Venedico says he pandered his sister, Ghisolabella, into doing sexual favors. Yes, pandering means pimping back in the day. Venedico says that he's not the only Bolognese guy in Hell. At this point, a demon hits Venedico on the head, pretty much saying, "Shut up." Dante and Virgil start walking again. The sinners marching, being tormented by demons, starts walking in the same direction as Dante and Virgil. Virgil says, "Hey, Dante. Look there. It's Jason of the Argonauts." What? What is Jason doing in Hell? Well, Virgil explains, Jason, being the dashing man he is, impregnated Hypsipyle of Lemnos, and left her pregnant so he could go steal the Golden Fleece. After this chipper tale, the two cross a bridge into the second pouch (remember, we're in the evil pouches), where flatterers are submerged in a ditch full of bodily wastes. These sinners scream and fight amongst themselves. They're so disgusting that their moans turn into mold that grows on their bodies. Dante and Virgil are watching the sinners from a bridge, and Dante, again, thinks he recognizes someone. This sinner yells at him, asking why he's singled him out. Dante says that he knows him as Alessio Interminei of Lucca. Alessio hits himself repeatedly over the head, and says that he's in Hell because he's a flatterer. Virgil says, "Hey, Dante. Look over there, this time. It's Thais." Thais was a courtesan (prostitute), who gave excessive thanks to her lover for sex. Virgil and Dante decide it's time to move on.
Canto XIX starts with Dante going on a tirade about simonists. Simonists are clerics who sell absolution for money. Chaucer will talk about this in The Canterbury Tales, as well. Dante says these sinners fornicate for gold and silver. Pretty heavy accusations. Now, Dante and Virgil are in the third pouch. That's where the simonists are. What's their punishment? They are buried upside-down in holes where their feet stick out. Their feet are burnt by flames. What does this mean for the simonists? Eternal suffocation. Dante sees that one sinner is exposed to redder flames than any other sinner. Dante asks Virgil why. Virgil, doing his not-answering bit, suggests they go find out. At the feet of the sinner, Dante asks to name himself. Dante, imagine, is now taking on the role of a friar at the confession. Ironically (comically?), the sinner mistakes Dante for his successor in simony, Pope Boniface VIII, coming to take his place in Hell. He obviously can't see Dante, so this makes sense. Virgil orders Dante to tell the man (Nicholas), that he isn't Boniface. Pope Nicholas changes his tune and, being annoyed, asks what they want from him. He goes into a story about how he was a great pope, but he used simony to try and get more money for his family. He explains that for simonists, that once their successor shows up in Hell, they drop farther into the rock they're buried in, making the whole third pouch bedrock buried simonists. Pope Nicholas says that following Pope Boniface, there will be an even worse Pope on the way, Pope Clement V. Dante is tired of this talk and eventually says that Nicholas had what was coming for him. Dante goes on a diatribe about how Rome, the papal seat, is like a whore who has sex with kings for money. Popes are idolaters, and he even says Constantine funded the Church after his conversion to Christianity. Virgil is proud of Dante's anger and carries him across the bridge to the fourth pouch. They walk across the steep valley.
Canto XX has Dante looking at a group of sinners walking very slowly, as if in a procession. Upon further inspection, Dante sees that these sinners have their heads turned backwards on their shoulders so they must walk backwards (since they can't see in front of them). Gross. Dante is appalled by what he sees and has tears in his eyes. Virgil gets mad. Dante shouldn't have pity for these sinners. Virgil tells him to look at the sinners. There's Amphiaraus, a king who saw his defeat and tried to hide; there's Tiresias (remember him??), who changed himself from a man to a woman then back to a man; Aruns, who foretold of Caesar's victory; and a witch named Manto, which Mantua--Virgil's hometown--is named after. As you might have guessed, Dante wants to know who some more sinners are. Virgil shows him Calchas (from the Aeneid), Michael Scot and Guido Bonatti who are both atrologers, and Asdente who was a shoemaker/soothsayer. Virgil says it's time to move on because the moon is getting low on the horizon.
Canto XXI takes us into the fifth pouch. It's rather dark here. As Dante is trying to gather himself in the darkness, Virgil tells him to be careful. Dante turns around and almost faints at the sight of a black demon running towards them. The demon doesn't really care about Dante or Virgil because he has a sinner thrown over his shoulder. Dante tells us that this sinner is a barrator, or a corrupt politician from Lucca. The demon proceeds to throw the sinner into a boiling river and calls his demon friends, or Evil-Claws (Malebranche), to come join. They congregate around the sinner and poke and push him under the water with pitchforks and hooks. Virgil tells Dante to keep down so the demons don't see them. That's great advice, but Virgil doesn't listen to himself. He goes up to the demons and tells them to put their weapons down. Seriously, Virgil? Smart move. The demons laugh at him. The leader, Malacoda or Evil-Tail, asks why a living dude is down in Hell. Virgil says, "Because God wills it." Evil-Tail thinks that's a good reason and says he won't mess with Dante. Virgil tells Dante to come over. One demon says they should stab Dante in the butt with a pitchfork. They all laugh, but Malacoda says they better not do that. He then tells Virgil they can't keep walking the way they're going because the bridge is broken. He volunteers ten of his demon minions (is that repetitive?) to accompany them to the next bridge that is intact, as long as they keep torturing sinners along the way. Dante doesn't trust anyone but Virgil, and he doesn't want to die at the hands of these demons. Virgil tries to comfort Dante, saying that the demons are only evil toward the sinners. As they walk, the demons think it would be funny to fart. Maybe that's the only kind of humor demons enjoy.
Canto XXII starts with Dante not really enjoying the demons' flatulence. I bet it smells awful. They keep walking. Dante stares and looks for more sinners. One of the demons, Grafficane, catches a sinner. He tells Rubicante, another demon, to put his claws into the sinner. Dante tells Virgil to stop by asking the sinner some questions. Virgil asks the sinner where he was born. The sinner says that he was born in Northern Spain. He gives more background information, but never his name. Virgil gets the information he wanted and watches as another demon, Ciriatto, rips the sinner open. Barbariccia, the farting demon, wants Virgil to keep questioning the sinner. Virgil asks if he has any Italian friends in Hell. He says yes and points to one, wishing that he was not in the situation he is in. The demons are frenzied at this point and start ripping at the sinner's flesh. Barbariccia tells them to stop. Virgil asks who the Italian is. The sinner says it's Fra Gomita, a clergyman. Fra Gomita always managed to take gold from the people he worked for. He's a swindler like his friend Don Michele Zanche. The nameless sinner is so freaked out by the demons that he says he'll get him friends out of the pitch if they show him mercy. As the demons are laughing, the sinner escapes. This obviously doesn't make the demons happy. While they're arguing amongst themselves, Dante and Virgil sneak away.
Canto XXIII starts with our two pilgrims running away from the demons. Dante is so scared that his hair literally curls up. Dante tells Virgil that they should hide because he hears demons coming. Virgil thinks that's a pretty good idea. The demons are getting pretty close, so in a hurry, Virgil picks Dante up and they run to the edge of a cliff. They slide down the cliff. Just as they get to the bottom, the demons scream because they can't cross the border into the next pouch. Dante and Virgil find the next group of sinners. These guys are walking around in circles and dressed in gold cloaks. The cloaks are heavy because they're lined on the inside with lead. A sinner recognizes Dante's accent and tells them to stop. Dante and Virgil join the circle and talk to the two men who are wondering why a live guy is in Hell. Dante asks who they are and why they have this punishment. They tell Dante they are hypocrites. Dante is about to tell them off, but he sees something is crucified. It's a naked sinner crucified to the ground. Dante is told that the crucified man is Caiaphas, a priest who came up with the idea to crucify Jesus. Caiaphas's family is also affected by his punishment. Virgil asks the guys if there's a way another bridge close by. Virgil finds out the demons lied because the bridge is broken but there's enough debris they can still cross. The guys are astonished that they actually trusted demons because they're liars. Virgil leaves in a huff with Dante at his heels.
Canto XXIV begins with Virgil telling Dante to keep moving down the rocky bank. Dante tells us that if Virgil wasn't there he would have given up a long time ago. Dante keeps chatting and a voice from the next pouch answers him. It's too dark for Dante to see who's talking to him. They cross the bridge to try and find him. They get to a valley filled with snakes. With these snakes are sinners. The snakes are a little possessed and do things like tie themselves around the sinners. As soon as the sinners are bitten by the snakes they turn into piles of ash, but only for a moment, because they re-form. Virgil asks a sinner who recently turned back from ash who he is. The sinner says he is Vanni Fucci and he's from Pistoia. Dante tells Virgil he knew who Vanni was and that he should actually be in the fifth circle. Vanni says that he was a thief; he stole from a church. Vanni then talks about the future of Florence and Dante's exile because his political party will fall.
Canto XXV starts with Vanni finishing his rant then makes a blasphemous gesture towards God. Dante isn't too happy with him. Just then, snakes come and wrap around Vanni so he can't move. A centaur comes by covered in snakes, too. Virgil tells us that his is Cacus. Cacus stole cattle from Hercules and Hercules punished him by beating him to death. A voice calls out, "Who are you?" We don't know who this question is directed to. A sinner asks where Ciafna is. Ciafna pops out, but it's not a human. Ciafna is a serpent with six legs. Ciafna starts to devour the sinner who called him. If that isn't weird enough, they begin to meld together. A whole bunch of things happen and Dante goes into detail about how the snakes start attacking sinners.
Canto XXVI takes us to the next pouch (that's eight if you haven't been counting). They have to crawl on their hands and knees to get to the next valley. Dante says that these thieves and counselors should have used their abilities for good. In this pouch, there's a ton of flames. Why? Each flame is a sinner . Dante asks who the double-flame sinner is approaching them. Virgil says it's Ulysses and Diomedes (I know. When I first read it I was a little outraged that they were in Hell). Virgil says that they were responsible for the Trojan horse and pillaging of Athena's temple. Virgil told us this in the Aeneid. Dante wants to talk to them, but Virgil says that he'll do the talking. Virgil asks how they died. Ulysses says that what was covered in the Odyssey doesn't quite tell his whole story. He sailed past Spain and Morocco, which was like the edge of the world. Ulysses makes them keep sailing because no one else had ever sailed that far. They find the Mount of Purgatory. God says this is far enough and sends a whirlwind and everyone dies. The end.
What a good day for learning about Dante's Hell. Next post is summarizing the rest of the text!
Cassy
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