Canterbury Tales Project Possibilities – Due December 3^rd/4^th

For this unit, you have several project options. You may work in groups for the modern adaptations only. Groups must keep to the same seminar teachers.

Please note: We are happy to provide this creative alternative to an essay or test. However, please keep in mind the spirit of this assignment, which is for you to demonstrate an understanding of Chaucer, his time, and his works. Please read the assignment carefully and fulfill its requirements! Also, you must cite page numbers and use our class translation to receive credit for this assignment!!

A Contemporary Pilgrimage

Create a modern tale which mimics the structure and purpose of Chaucer’s tale. Write from the point of view of a contemporary traveler, heading for a destination of worship (not necessarily religious) with a group of friends and acquaintances. For your pilgrimage, you must do the following:

1. Assume a persona: a football player, a teacher, a lawyer, a secretary, a person of ill repute, a construction worker, etc.. (Perhaps draw upon your own job experiences?)

2. Include a PROLOGUE in which you introduce the circumstances of the journey and the characters involved (no less than three, no more than five).

3. Write a linking prologue plus a tale by at least two of the characters. Employ one of the multiple types of tales used by Chaucer – i.e. fable, exemplum, sermon, romance, etc. These will of course be a great deal shorter than any of Chaucer’s tales due to space available.

4. Your tale(s) should have some moral truth, value, or advice to offer.

5. Write in iambic pentameter rhyming couplets, as Geoffrey Chaucer does in The Canterbury Tales’ original form (that is, È/ È/ È/ È/ È/). If you cannot maintain this meter and do it with some skill, then avoid this assignment. The most you will score without achieving successful meter is an 80%.

6. Edit your work before writing a final draft. You must use appropriate punctuation and grammar. That this is in verse is not an excuse to abandon mechanical accuracy.

7. Please keep this between three and six typed pages.

You will be graded on: how well you adhere to the stated criteria; imagination and creativity; skill; humor; presentation; mechanical accuracy.

Casting of the Canterbury Tales

Cast the pilgrims (at least 10) using modern-day actors. You must cast all the pilgrims whose stories we have read or discussed (the Miller, The Reeve, the Wife of Bath, the Nun’s Priest, the Pardoner, the Nun’s Priest, and The Knight), plus four additional choices from the General Prologue. For each pilgrim, include an image of your chosen actor, and a paragraph description (about 150 – 300 words) of why that actor is ideal for the role. This must include specific references to the text itself. That means quotations – and please cite appropriately! You should be able to justify your decisions not only based on the physical descriptions of the character, but also the character’s personality. Cite other roles your actor has played as evidence of their compatibility with this character. For characters whose tales you were assigned to read, you must take into account the deeper understanding of these characters you should have based upon reading their tales!

Myspace or Facebook

Create Myspace pages for at least three of the pilgrims – these could be turned in either in electronic form or hard copy. Some possibilities to include: profiles, friends, details, blog entries, favorites, etc. Be sure you capture the essence of the character!

College Application

Fill out the Common Application (easily available online at www.commonapp.org ; we also have hard copies available) for the Wife of Bath or the Pardoner. Please include essays and write at least two teacher recommendations as well of about a page in length each!

Canterbury Tales Board Game

Please create a board game that encapsulates the essence of The Canterbury Tales. We don’t want to limit your creativity too much with too many stipulations here. Suffice it to say, the ultimate aim of this is to show a deep understanding of the text: its characters, events, and themes. This assignment should include a one page write-up explaining your decisions as a reflection of CT (this is in addition to any instructions).

Character Sketches

For those of you with an artistic bent, draw/paint/create portraits of six of the pilgrims. At least four of those portraits should be of pilgrims whose tales we have read for class (the knight may be counted here, although we did not actually read his tale). For each portrait, write a paragraph explanation of the artistic decisions you made based on evidence from the text, both from the General Prologue and, if applicable, the linking prologue and character tale. Please do a bit of research into the dress of the time. We do not want anachronisms. Please do not do this option if you have no artistic talent! We do not want to look at stick figures.

Essay on The Canterbury Tales

Employ another text from Humanities to illuminate some aspect of The Canterbury Tales, as per the following prompts:

1. Using the “History of Medieval Women,” examine the women in the CT that we have examined, namely the Prioress and the Wife of Bath. You may also discuss the women that appear in the tales told by men.
2. Considering the rules of the monastic order you’ve read in Humanities, how do the pilgrims in CT reveal a perversion of those orders? (Consider the Monk, Friar, Pardoner, and Prioress). What seems to be the state of the monastic orders according to Chaucer versus their intent?
3. Examine courtly love in the CT (Merchant, Miller, Knight). How does Chaucer use the conventions of courtly love to comment on his characters? (See back of outline for courtly love – see also The Humanistic Tradition.)
4. Examine the excerpts on the handout from Paul’s epistles on women, children, and marriage and look at the way the Wife of Bath attempts to subvert them in her “sermon” on marriage.

The same rules apply to this essay as to previous essays. This should be over three pages (1100 words), typed. Your essay should have a cover sheet with appropriate information on it (including seminar number).

A Modernization (Group Option)

Put the characters in a modern context that suitably reveals the characters, their stories, Chaucer’s attitude about them, and message about their particular flaws. Your options include:

- appropriate television shows like Judge Judy’s court; the nightly news, Entertainment Tonight; Oprah Winfrey. Banned as possibilities are Jerry Springer, Howard Stern, Maury, any reality TV show, or any other shows we don’t know about that are too tasteless to be interesting and therefore appropriate. If you want to use some television format not mentioned here, please check with your teacher first!

- A Dr. Laura radio call-in show

- A sensational scandal-rag coverage of characters and their activities in a National-Enquirer- like newspaper

- Magazines like People or Seventeen (don’t forget a personals section)

Whatever you choose to do, you must show us the characters’ situations and unique personalities. Remember, Chaucer uses dry humor and often satirical wit to paint a picture of each character. Incorporate some of Chaucer’s humor and style into your project. Generally, capture the essence of the stories and Chaucer’s message – whatever it happens to be – in regard to this character or group of characters and their activities. You must include a script with all filmed or taped products! No script means no grade!