The Canterbury Tales
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By mrssawyer
- The Canterbury Tales
- Created: Nov 1, 2007
- Last updated: Aug 14, 2008
- After episode: 3.22: Through The Looking Glass
- Status: Current
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…this is not really a theory so much as it is an attempt to spark some discussion on storytelling…
— mrssawyer
Jaz and Kat’s posts got me thinking about the archetypal characters in literature and I started drawing some parallels between Lost and The Canterbury Tales. Let me just say this is not really a theory so much as it is an attempt to spark some discussion on storytelling and how it is used on Lost.
For anyone not familiar with The Canterbury Tales they were written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century and are a collection of tales being told by pilgrims on a journey to Canterbury Cathedral, home of the shrine of Sir Thomas A Beckett, an English martyr. The pilgrimage is host to people from every social stratum at the time and while some of the tales are bawdy comedies, others are rather more serious. The characters include a physician (!), a nun, a miller, a knight, a cook, a man of law and so on. More info here if you’re interested!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheCanterburyTales
So back to the not-really-a-theory. I think we can draw direct connections between Chaucer’s pilgrims and our Losties. Firstly they are on an epic journey, admittedly mostly metaphorically speaking. Secondly, as I mentioned before, they come from many different social groups. Thirdly and most importantly (to my mind) they are telling us morality tales in one way or other.
Some of the larger themes running through the tales include religious malpractice, adultery, obsession, love and passion. Really The Canterbury Tales are a representation of the whole of the human experience. Just as Lost is.
Among the tales are the following stories which I think are of particular merit. In no particular order…
The Franklins Tale This is a story about a love that endured great separation and trials. A young knight, Averagus woos a lady, Dorigen and then goes on a great adventure during which time a distraught Dorigen is romanced by another suitor. Eventually true love prevails and the two are reunited.
Of course this is just another retelling of the Odyssey with Odysseus and Penelope which, as many have suggested before is the inspiration for Des and Penelope!
The Knights Tale Well this is a great one. Its about two knights Arcite and Palamon who, while imprisoned, spy a beautiful maiden, Emily and fall deeply in love with her. Both men compete to win her hand with Emily pledging to marry the one that really loves her. Arcite, having prayed for victory wins the contest but dies before claiming his bride so Palamin having prayed to win his true love eventually marries her.
Uh Kate, Sawyer, Jack triangle anyone?
The Millers Tale This is a story of adultery. A young lodger Nicholas convinces his possessive landlord to let him spend the night with his much younger wife, Alison. The two have sex and convince the husband that a great flood is soon to be upon them. All three eventually get their just deserts with Nicholas even receiving a red hot poker to the buttocks!!
Lol so far we haven’t seen any buttock burning on Lost but there’s still time, ahem, what I meant to say was that this could be the story of Sun and Jin. Jin is possessive yet drives his wife into the arms of another man. The other man dies (far worse than a burnt bum!) and Sun is also going to die pretty horribly if she stays pregnant on the island.
The Friars Tale A tale about a court official otherwise known as the Summoner. He is in a position of power but he abuses his power by means of extortion, bribery and corruption. Finally the Summoner meets a daemon who manipulates the Summoner into committing one last sin, and then carts him off to hell.
Well this is Sawyer again for me. The Summoner is little more than a medieval conman. And as for committing one last sin, some would say Sawyer has done this with the killing of Tom. (I’m ignoring, rightly or wrongly, the killing of Cooper as that was a crime of passion and almost inevitable in Sawyer’s story arc). Almost spooky how similar this one is.
There are another twenty tales so I’m not going to list them all but I do strongly recommend you read more on them if you have been at all interested in this.
Anyway, I’m not really trying to say that the writers took The Canterbury Tales as an inspiration for Lost. I guess it’s more that stories seem to just fall into certain patterns. At least those which are epic or serialised. I love the fact that there is such a great tradition of storytelling out there and that stories tell a history of the world. I think Lost is like one great big story with all these different threads and they’re all going to weave together in the end to make something pretty special. It’s the ultimate morality tale as well. Unlike Brer Rabbit the Losties do seem to get what is coming to them…
Mrs. Well I for one am sold. I will without question read this literary piece and be thinking of Lost as I read it.
You know one strong aspect of our show is that many of the storylines just seem to make you forget that this ‘type’ of story has been told before. But the intrigue of our modern day heros just seems to make you forget about all past tales. The talented writer, with such ease captivate the viewers with a fresh spin on an old story. They even tantilize the viewer by asking us to research a topic and learn something that we did not know before. What a masterpiece this series is indeed. Great thoughts, Keep up the good work! +1
This is comical.. I have serious doubt that you have ever seen an episode of Lost.
Pathetic.
-100 for rating.
mrsmrs—Now speakst thou that which is sweete to myn hearing :-)
I think one crucial overall idea is that Chaucer really helped introduce the unreliable narrator—and not just one, but every story filtered through a particular character. It’s very like the focus on one character with the flashback story, and also the whole imagery of eyes drawing attention to subjectivity.
The Knight’s Tale—the clean version of the Jack/Kate/Sawyer triangle. I actually think The Miller’s Tale would be another version—with Jack as Absolon and Sawyer as Nicholas. Hende Nicholas, that is (handy in all senses). Nicholas is an astrologer—but also a con artist—so he sells John the husband (and carpenter) the idea of a new flood—a new apocalypse. Maybe Nicholas is really Ben then? (hende also means clever) John forgets that the rainbow is a promise that there will be no second flood. He also buys into Nicholas’s scheme that he, Nicholas, and Alisoun will be the sole survivors—not two by two into this ark but, three by three. Now what was the french phrase for that again?
Nicholas at work: “And prively, he caught hir by the quainte…And held hire harde by the haunche bones/And saide, ‘Lemman, love me al atonce/Or I wol dien…”
Gotta love that Middle English alliteration
Jaz I should have known you would be right there with me. Good take on Nicholas = Ben. Both kind of prophets, as it were.
@ thank you Tharde I hope you do read it. You can read the original middle english version or the translation. Both are excellent!
To be honest, I didn’t pay too much attention as to relevancy to Lost, I just enjoyed reading the post. Now I guess I have another book to read, I usually go for SciFi but this sounds interesting.
Mrsmrs, you make me want to read them all over again! +1 for the spot on comparisons to our Losties.
tharde, I couldn’t agree more!
Missus, I read the Canterbury Tales as a young teen and loved them! I also visited Canterbury Cathedral, when I visited England, and it is breathtaking! My mothers relatives hail from Canterbury and Folkestone. +1
Mrssawbucks: I to be completely I would never make it through the olde english version. But look forward to the modern translation. Sorry I’m just not a very patient reader.
ah what a suprise,yet again we have negativefcf being rude.yo fcf you are pathetic.in fact what mrs is saying is spot on as i studied canterbury tales for my english degree,because the style of writing amused me,you on the other hand have not read these tales[you dont possess the intellect anyway]the only book you own is called wheres waldo,and your stiil on page three.Try to inspire ppl,not deflate ppls ideas without understanding the merits or origins of there proposals.
I rather like the idea of Ben being The Friar. What if Jacob is the daemon? What if Jacob eventually ‘tricks’ or manipulates Ben (the arch con man!) into a ‘sin’ that will cart him off to hell. Only hell, in this instance, is that Ben finds himself in the state that Jacob is currently in. . .
Really Dab? I’m originally from Kent myself and in fact used to live on the Pilgrims trail. Who knew eh!
KittenKat definitely read them! Cool info about daemons. Reminds me a little of the Philip Pullman books. Every human being has a real life daemon who takes the form of an animal. They are connected as if by a psychic bond and they have a name of their own.
mrsmrs—I love those Phillip Pullman books—the notion of the daemon as an animal spirit version of the person is so cool. I have great hopes for the movie. kitkat—I would highly recommend those books (first one is called “The Golden Compass”) very Jungian/archtype ideas going on beneath the story.
Me too Jaz. They are so beautifully written. A true take on heorism.
Me too Jaz. They are so beautifully written. A true take on heroism.
Ah. So that did post then. Oops.
great theory I had been kicking around the idea of connecting them for a while but never got around to it. I think the Tales fit perferctly with what is going on in Lost. great work
You must be English. We don’t get The Canterbury Tales here in the states, though I think there’s a Cliff’s Notes.