Tuesday, October 16, 2012

What was the appearance of the pilgrim and the parson in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer?i need to know about the physical appearance.

All the people on the trip to Canterbury were pilgrims, there is no one character called "pilgrim".  The parson, however, is one of the pilgrims in the group.  The parson was one of the few members of the clergy that Chaucer liked and so he gave the parson favorable traits.  The General Prologue doesn't give a physical description of the parson, but based on the fact that Chaucer gives other favorable characters such as the Oxford scholar traits such as thinness, it's safe to assume the parson is thin.  Plumpness, such as was found in the character description of the Prioress and the Friar, were equated wtih undesireable characters who took advantage of their position and didn't share with the poor.  Chaucer tells us that the parson tended to his flock more than himself, so it is reasonable to conclude the parson was not only thin, but probably appeared to be very poor.  He was most likely dressed in very simple, humble attire.  Also, since he walked, as Chaucer tells the reader in the General Prologue, to visit any of his parishoners who were ill or grieving, he probably is not only lean, but physically fit.  The parson's tale and prologue do nothing to expand on a physical description.  But since his tale and his description in the GP both note that he is a somber and devout man, he probably wasn't a man to smile a great deal.

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