Reading Notes: Canterbury Tales, Part A

Story source: The Chaucer Story Book by Eva March Tappan (1908)

I have really enjoyed reading the Canterbury tales. They seem very well thought out. They are mysterious, charming, and romantic. Many of these stories I have read for this class are dark and sometimes end badly, but these were more... hopeful. Especially the story with Dorigen, which was my personal favorite. It is such a sweet and sad love story and in the end it is almost a fight of who was more selfless, kind in the end, which is kind of a twist in itself.

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I love the first story, The Unknown Bride where the knight has a task to find what women want most to save his life. He finally finds an old woman and she tells him to trust her, that she would tell him the correct answer. He get the information from the woman and he lives. The old woman now wants the knight's love. She wants to marry him. Of course he is appalled. He does not want to be with an old woman that cannot give him, wealth, babies, or a good blood line. She assures him it will not matter. She finally convinces him and he gives in. Once they get married she turns into a beautiful young woman. They live happily ever after.

The Dorigen story is a lovely romantic story. It had me in a trance. The devotion that each person had to love was quite nice. This story had a happy and sad ending depending on who you are. Dorigen was deeply in love with her husband and felt much sorrow when he went away. Her husband loved her very much too. Another man appeared that love Dorigen too. Still Dorigen's heart was loyal to her husband. A deal was made that back-fired against Dorigen and her husband but they kept their promise and this made them have good fortune.

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