“It is not all gold that glareth.”
On an evening in April, at The Tabard Inn, as Harry Bailly awaits to begin his pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas Beckett in Canterbury, there comes a group of twenty-nine pilgrims, belonging to the various ranks of the English society. And the next morning, as they all embark on their journey together, begins The Canterbury Tales.From the Knight, the Reeve, the Wife of Bath and the Clerk to the Monk, the Cook and the Yeoman, each one narrates his/her story as a part of the story-telling contest. As rich and varied as their lives are, interspersed with quarrels, conversations and opinions, the tales give a colourful insight into the medieval English society and social milieu of that period. Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is one of the greatest works of English Literature. This fourteenth century masterpiece has been delighting its readers for almost six centuries and will continue to do so for years to come.