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The Canterbury Tales

Canterbury Tales Quizzes

Reading quizzes cover the General Prologue and the main tales.

By Rick Reed

Chaucer Canterbury Tales Medieval literature Quiz

The General Prologue

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Quiz – The General Prologue (The Canterbury Tales)

NameDatePer.

1.
Where are Chaucer’s pilgrims headed?
2.
What word means “a journey to a holy place for purposes of religious devotion”?
3.
In what month does the story begin?

For each remaining item, identify the pilgrim whose occupation is defined.

  • the Knight
  • the Sergeant of the Law
  • the Wife of Bath
  • the Shipman
  • the Squire
  • the Franklin
  • the Parson
  • Chaucer
  • the Yeoman
  • the Haberdasher
  • the Plowman
  • the Host
  • the Prioress
  • the Carpenter
  • the Miller
  • the Doctor
  • the Nun
  • the Weaver
  • the Manciple
  • the Cook
  • three Priests
  • the Dyer
  • the Reeve
  • the Pardoner
  • the Monk
  • the Arras-Maker
  • the Summoner
  • the Friar
  • the Clerk of Oxford
  • the Merchant
4.
a person able to read and write; a scholar
5.
a non-noble freeholder of the middle class
6.
a steward or purchasing-agent for a college
7.
a steward or bailiff of an estate
8.
one empowered to call others before an ecclesiastical court
9.
one empowered to grant indulgences
10.
a young nobleman attendant upon a knight and ranked next below a knight

The Knight’s Tale (1)

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Quiz – The Knight’s Tale (1) (The Canterbury Tales)

NameDatePer.

1.
Identify Theseus by his relationship to another character in the Knight’s Tale.
2.
Identify Emily in the same manner.
3.
Identify Arcite in the same manner.
4.
Identify Palamon in the same manner.
5.
Which of the Thebans imprisoned by the duke of Athens sees Emily first – and as a goddess? [He later escapes prison.]
6.
Which of the Thebans is later freed? [He sees Emily as a woman.]
7.
What about the two prisoners’ falling in love is typical of the Renaissance?
8.
Give Philostrato’s true identity.
9.
Who arbitrates between the two Thebans, establishing who will have Emily?
10.
Which of the following is the closest in meaning to providence: nourishment; divine direction; or equipment and provision for knightly combat?

BONUS:

A.
Explain what hereos is.

The Knight’s Tale (2)

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Quiz – The Knight’s Tale (2) (The Canterbury Tales)

NameDatePer.

1.
What Petrarchan attitude toward the nature of love does the Knight’s description of the shrine of Venus in Theseus’ arena recall?
2.
Does the Knight’s description of the shrine of Mars emphasize the triumphant or the more grisly aspects of war?
3.
Does the Knight’s description of the shrine of Diana emphasize her gentle or her cruel nature?
4.
Of the three principals – Arcite, Emily, and Palamon – who prays to Diana?
5.
Who prays to Mars?
6.
Who prays to Venus?
7.
Of the two knights whom does Emily want to marry, according to her prayer? [The answer is NOT “neither one of them.”]
8.
Who officially wins the tournament?
9.
Of the gods, who sends a fury from Hades to upset the outcome of the tournament?
10.
Whom does Emily marry?

The Wife of Bath

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Quiz – The Wife of Bath (The Canterbury Tales)

NameDatePer.

1.
How many husbands has the Wife had?
2.
Which of her husbands did she marry for love? [Use a number to answer.]
3.
Was the husband she married for love younger, older, or about her same age as?
4.
What habit did the husband she loved practice that most annoyed her?
5.
Is the Wife of Bath a relatively wealthy or a relatively poor woman?
6.
Has she ever been a pilgrim before?
7.
What is the Wife’s physical ailment (for which she might be seeking healing)?
8.
In the time her Tale is set, who is king?
9.
In the Wife’s Tale what question does the Queen put to the young man?
10.
What is the correct answer to that question?

BONUS:

A.
What is the Wife of Bath’s name?
B.
What does the young man in her Tale win by finding and using the correct answer to the question?

The Franklin’s Tale

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Quiz – The Franklin’s Tale (The Canterbury Tales)

NameDatePer.

1.
What is Arveragus’ occupation?
2.
What is Aurelius’ occupation?
3.
What is Dorigen’s kinship to any other character?
4.
What promise did the knight make his wife when they were married?
5.
Why did the knight leave his wife?
6.
What was her emotional state while the knight was gone?
7.
What “impossible” challenge did she set for the squire who desired her?
8.
With whose help does he accomplish this “impossible” feat?
9.
What does the knight say when his wife tells him of her promise to the squire?
10.
What does the squire do when he learns about the knight’s generosity?

BONUS:

A.
What does prudent mean?
B.
What does beneficence mean?
C.
What does precipitous mean?

The Prioress’s and the Nun’s Priest’s Tales

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Quiz – The Prioress’s and the Nun’s Priest’s Tales (The Canterbury Tales)

NameDatePer.

1.
How is the child in the Prioress’s Tale murdered? (Be specific.)
2.
Who placed a grain upon the child’s tongue?
3.
What miracle dominates the action of the story?
4.
This tale depicts the animosity between which two religions? [Use blanks 4 and 5 placing one religion on each blank.]
5.
6.
Who/what is Chanticleer?
7.
Who/what is Lady Pertelote (Partlet)?
8.
Who/what is Sir Russel?
9.
Which of the three major characters in the Nun’s Priest’s Tale believes dreams are false – and that they can best be quieted and avoided by a laxative?
10.
What method was used on Chanticleer that resulted in his capture? (HINT: I’m looking for something more specific than “trickery.”)

BONUS:

A.
To whom does the Prioress pray in her prologue?
B.
What is the name of the young saint mentioned at the end of the Prioress’s Tale?
C.
What is the Nun’s Priest’s name?

The Pardoner’s Tale

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Quiz – The Pardoner’s Tale (The Canterbury Tales)

NameDatePer.

1.
Is the Pardoner a noble ecclesiastic, a secular nobleman, a member of the bourgeoisie, or a peasant?
2.
He says his theme is “Greed is the root of evil.” Is his subject, then, gluttony, gambling, avarice, or blasphemy?
3.
He also sells relics. Is a relic in this case something of artistic value, something associated with a saint, or something associated with the study of history?
4.
Is the Pardoner an honest or hypocritical?
5.
Is his primary objective to save souls, make money, or entertain his fellow pilgrims?
6.
How many rioters appear in his tale?
7.
Who is it that they set off to kill at the start?
8.
What do they actually find under the tree where an old man says they will find the “traitor” they are looking for?
9.
What do they actually kill by the end of the tale?
10.
What does the Pardoner attempt to do after he has finished his tale? [HINT: The Host strongly objects.]

BONUS:

A.
On which sin does the Pardoner blame Adam and Eve’s eating of the forbidden fruit?
B.
Who also wrote a book of short stories that involved a group of people telling tales to amuse one another?

The Canterbury Tales

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Quiz – The Canterbury Tales

NameDatePer.

1.
Who is the Father of English Poetry?
2.
In what language did he write?
3.
In what month does The Canterbury Tales begin?
4.
At what geographical point does the story begin to unfold?
5.
Why have all the characters come to be assembled there?
6.
The Knight is the most gentle of all the characters. What did the word “gentle” mean in his time?
7.
Which class does the poet depict as most corrupt – or, at least, most careless of their supposed purpose in life?
8.
How often has the Wife of Bath been married?
9.
Which husband had she married for love?
10.
What was her physical defect?
11.
According to her prologue and her tale, what is it that all women most want?
12.
What was the vocation of Madame Eglantine?
13.
What genre of tale does she tell?
14.
What religious figure does she invoke in her prologue and place in a key role in her tale?
15.
What genre of tale does the Nun’s Priest tell?
16.
Who are the three principal characters of that tale? (They were stock characters in many such tales. I want their names, not their species.)
17.
18.
19.
The Pardoner is a seller of indulgences. What is an indulgence?
20.
What is the subject of every one of his sermons?
21.
What does he sell besides indulgences?
22.
What sin does he employ as a basic tool of his technique? [not the same as #29]
23.
Besides Death or Satan, who might the old man in the Pardoner’s Tale be?
24.
What literary device is used extensively in developing the Pardoner’s character and in telling his tale?
25.
What is the genre of the Pardoner’s Tale?

BONUS: Identify the following.

A.
manciple
B.
reeve
C.
summoner
D.
clerk
E.
haberdasher
F.
franklin