A Reading of the Canterbury Tales

In this 1968 study, Dr Whittock argues that there is greater unity in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales than has been supposed. He sees the Canterbury Tales as as great religious poem, a Christian work of art in which certain topics deliberately recur, so that the Tales in sequence take on the nature of a debate on death, the role of women, marriage, the truth or deception of art, the function of evil in the Creator's plan, temporal imperfection, and the hidden mystery of God's being. The author illustrates his theme through a detailed examination of each of the Tales in turn.