British Literature
Final Exam Review
Your test will cover…
•
•
•
•
The Canterbury Tales
Macbeth
MLA Format
Literary Terms
The Canterbury Tales
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Chaucer (the author)
Social Structure of Medieval England
The General Prologue
The Knight’s Tale
The Miller’s Tale
Code of Chivalry
Courtly Love
Geoffrey Chaucer
• Born 1340-ish, Died 1400
• Father was a wealthy merchant who helped
Chaucer get into King Edward III’s court
• His wife was one of the queen’s ladies in waiting
• He had the most social mobility between classes
of anyone of his time
• The Canterbury Tales was meant to be a satirical
reflection of his society
– Chaucer had access to all levels of the social
hierarchy (be able to identify the different levels)
God
Pope
King
Cardinals
Nobles
Archbishops
Bishops
Knights, Vassals
Priests, Abbots, Abbesses
Merchants, Farmers, Craftsmen
Monks, Nuns
Peasants, Serfs
The General Prologue
• The style or technique used in writing The
Canterbury Tales is a frame tale
• Chaucer uses the General Prologue to create the
frame by introducing the group of people going
on the pilgrimage to the Canterbury Cathedral
• These people are going to the Canterbury
Cathedral to see and pray over the relics there
• The most famous relic at the Canterbury
Cathedral is the skull of St. Thomas Beckett
The characters from the General Prologue
that you must know are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Knight
Squire
Prioress
Friar
5. Wife of Bath
6. Miller
7. Host
The Knight:
[A] reputable man,
Who from the moment that he first
began
Campaigning, had cherished the
profession
Of arms; he also prized trustworthiness,
Liberality, fame, and courteousness…
He had good horses, yet was far from
smart.
He wore a tunic made of coarse thick
stuff,
Marked by his chainmail, all begrimed
with rust, Having just returned from an
expedition,
And on his pilgrimage of thanksgiving.
The Squire:
His clothes were all embroidered like a field
Full of the freshest flowers, white and red.
He sang, or played the flute, the livelong
day,
And he was fresher than the month of May.
Short was his gown with his sleeves cut
long and wide.
He’d a good seat on horseback and could
ride,
Make music too, and songs to go with it;
Could joust and dance, and also draw and
write.
So burningly he loved, that come nightfall
He’d sleep no more than any nightingale.
Polite, modest, willing to serve, and able,
He carved before his father at their table.
The Host:
‘Ladies and gentlemen, attention please!’
Said he. ‘All of you know what we agreed,
And I’m reminding you. If evensong
And matins are in harmony – that’s to say,
If you are still of the same mind today –
Let’s see who’ll tell the first tale, and
begin.
And whosoever baulks at my decision
Must pay for all we spend upon the
way…
The Friar:
In all of the four Orders there was non
So versed in small talk and in flattery:
And many was the marriage in a hurry
He’d had to improvise and even pay
for…
For he was qualified to hear confession
And absolve graver sins than a curate,
Or so he said; he was a licentiate.
The Miller:
___was a curly fellow – brawn
And muscle, big of bones as well as
strong,
As was well seen – he always won the
ram
At wrestling-matches up and down the
land.
He was barrel-chested, rugged and
thickset,
And would heave off its hinges any door
Or break it, running at it with his head.
His beard was red as any fox or sow,
And wide at that, as though it were a
spade.
And on his nose, right on its tip, he had
A wart, upon which stood a tuft of hairs
Red as the bristles are in a sow’s ears.
The Prioress:
She sang the divine service prettily,
And through the nose, becomingly
intoned;
And she spoke French well and elegantly
As she’d been taught it at Stratford-atBow,
For French of Paris was to her unknown.
Good table manners she had learnt as
well:
She never let a crumb from her mouth
fall…
Her greatest pleasure was in etiquette.
The Wife of Bath:
In the whole parish there was not a woman
Who dared precede her at the almsgiving,
And if there did, so furious was she,
That she was put out of all charity.
Her headkerchiefs were of the finest weave,
Ten pounds and more they weighed, I do believe,
Those that she wore on Sundays on her head.
Her stockings were of finest scarlet red,
Very tightly laced; shoes pliable and new.
Bold was her face, and handsome; florid too.
She had been respectable all her life,
And five times married, that’s to say in church,
Not counting other loves she’d had in youth.
The Knight’s Tale
•
•
•
•
•
•
Characters – Arcita, Palamon, Theseus, Emily
Setting – Ancient Greece
Plot
Why did the knight tell the first story?
How the story reflects his personality
The Knight’s description from the General
Prologue
The Miller’s Tale
•
•
•
•
•
•
Characters – Alison, Absalon, Nicholas, John
Setting – Oxford, England
Plot
Why did the miller tell the second story?
How the story reflects his personality
The Miller’s description from the General
Prologue
Code of Chivalry
The Code of Chivalry first
came from the notion of an
ideal soldier. Men in the
military were expected to
follow and uphold all
commandments in the code.
It eventually developed into
a social value that was
expected of all knights.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
To fear God and maintain His Church
To serve the liege lord in valor and faith
To protect the weak and defenseless
To refrain from the wanton giving of
offence
To live by honor and for glory
To despise monetary reward
To fight for the welfare of all
To obey those placed in authority
To guard the honor of fellow knights
To avoid unfairness, meanness and deceit
At all times to speak the truth
To persevere to the end in any enterprise
begun
To respect the honor of women
Never to refuse a challenge from an equal
Never to turn the back upon a foe
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Courtly Love
The poet sings the joy of his love, which is an exalted feeling.
He praises and extols the woman he loves, who is superior and can be
approached only with veneration and restraint.
Love is a passion that affects the lover's body and soul and tends to
unbalance him (love-sickness).
The lover becomes his lady's servant. Her love must be difficult to
obtain, and he must prove his valor and faithfulness. The effect of this
love is that the male lover becomes ennobled in his whole being,
including his fighting power, social mores, and moral and religious
attitudes. "Courtly love" thus becomes the force that generates
courtliness or courtesy.
In some cases, this ennoblement is caused by the very thought of the
beloved lady.
It happens instantly. Love at first sight is a common characteristic of
Courtly Love.
Macbeth
• Shakespeare
• Parts of a sonnet
• Quotes from Macbeth
Shakespeare
•
•
•
•
•
•
1564-1616 April 23
Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England
wrote 37 plays
about 154 sonnets
started out as an actor
No women were allowed on stage, so all
characters were played by boys and men in
elaborate costumes
Sonnets
• 3 Quatrains (set of 4 lines)
• 1 Couplet (set of 2 lines)
• Rhyme Scheme: the rhyming pattern of
alternating rhymes in each quatrain
• Turn: the point in the 3rd quatrain when the
tone of the poem changes
• Sonnets are usually used to praise something
that the author holds in high regard
Quotes from Macbeth
1. Fair is foul, and foul is fair. (Act 1, scene 1) 4. Out, damned spot; out, I say. One, two,—
why, then ’tis time to do’t. Hell is murky. Fie,
my lord, fie, a soldier and afeard? What need
2. The raven himself is hoarse
we fear who knows it when none can call our
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
power to account? Yet who would have
Under my battlements. Come, you spirits
the old man to have had so much
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, thought
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full blood in him? (Act 5, scene 1)
Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood,
Stop up th’access and passage to remorse,
5. Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That no compunctious visitings of nature
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
between
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Th’ effect and it. (Act 1, scene 5)
Signifying nothing. (Act 5, scene 5)
3. What hands are here! Ha, they pluck out
mine eyes.
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this
blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will
rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red. (Act 2, scene 2)
6. Macduff was from his mother’s womb
Untimely ripp’d. (Act 5, scene 8)
MLA Format
Font: Times New Roman
Font size: 12
Margin size: 1 inch
Spacing: Double
Heading: Your first and last name, Your teacher’s
last name, the title of the class, the date the essay
is due
• Citations: In-text citations with a Works Cited
page.
•
•
•
•
•
Vocabulary
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Relic
Satire (satirical)
Genre
Frame Tale
Bawdy
Chivalry (chivalrous)
Plot
Theme
Symbol
Tone
Mood
Stage direction