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What the pilgrims wear is often a very important sign of their characters. Outward appearance indicates who one is in medieval society. The Knight’s armor is stained from battle, indicating that he not only talks the talk, he walks the walk. The Prioress wears fussy, heavily ornamented clothes, showing that she is more preoccupied with her earthly appearance than her devotion to God. Similarly, the Friar is supposed to be a poor beggar, yet he wears rich clothes. The red clothing that the Wife of Bath wears signifies her lusty nature. An overemphasis on clothes and physical appearance usually indicates the hypocritical nature of that vain pilgrim.
Clothing and Appearance Quotes in The Canterbury Tales
The The Canterbury Tales quotes below all refer to the symbol of Clothing and Appearance. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The General Prologue
Quotes
Ful weel she soong the service dyvyne
Entuned in hir nose ful seemly,
And Frenssh she spak ful faire and fetisly,
After the scole of Stratford atte Bowe,
For Frenssh of Parys was to hir unknowe.
Related Characters:
Chaucer (speaker), The Prioress
Related Symbols:
Clothing and Appearance
Related Themes:
Get the entire The Canterbury Tales LitChart as a printable PDF.
Clothing and Appearance Symbol Timeline in The Canterbury Tales
The timeline below shows where the symbol Clothing and Appearance appears in The Canterbury Tales. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The General Prologue
...modest and meek as a maid. He never speaks ill of anyone. He wears modest clothes, and his mail is stained with rust.
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The Squire, says the narrator, wants to find favor with his lady. His tunic is embroidered with flowers, as if he had gathered a meadow and sewn it to...
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The only servant the Knight has with him is the Yeoman, who wears a green hood and coat. The Yeoman takes great care of his bow and sharp, keen peacock arrows....
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The Prioress wears a wimple draped to show off her well-formed nose, gray eyes, and small red mouth. The narrator...
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...Monk is a good horseman and rides along with a pack of swift greyhounds. His sleeves are trimmed with expensive squirrel fur, and his hood is fastened with a gold pin...
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...behaves not like a cloistered cleric but like a master or pope, donning an expensive cloak and frolicking. This friar, whose name is Hubert, also has a lisp.
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...with a forked beard is also among the company. He is dressed in a multicolor cloak, fur hat, and boots. He speaks slowly, weighing the profit of expressing his opinions. He...
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The Clerk is an Oxford University student, thin and dressed in threadbare clothes. He would rather have books than fine clothes or money. Though he is a philosopher,...
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...little about the Bible. The Physician practices moderation in his diet. Though he wears taffeta robes, he saved much of what he earned: gold is the best medicine, the narrator says,...
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...she wraps her head in scarves that the narrator says must weigh ten pounds. Her stockings are as bright red as her face.
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...other foreign pilgrimage sites. She is gap-toothed; sits easily on her horse; and wears a wimple, an overskirt over her broad hips, and sharp spurs. The Wife of Bath gives excellent...
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...hay for Christ’s sake and always pays his tithes fully; he wears a loose workman’s tunic and rides on a mare.
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The Knight’s Tale
As Theseus is riding into Athens, he sees a group of women in black clothing weeping and wailing by the side of the road. He asks them why they are...
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...and Palamon. Though both are badly wounded, they are not quite dead yet. By their coat of arms , the scavengers can tell that they are of royal Theban blood. Theseus proclaims that...
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...He looks in the mirror and realizes he has become so thin that he can disguise himself as a poor laborer and therefore have the chance to see Emelye every day.
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The Wife of Bath’s Prologue
...whom the Wife of Bath gossiped with. The Wife of Bath wears her special red robes to the house. When she first meets Jankyn, she is still married to her fourth...
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The Tale of Sir Thopas
...battle. First, he eats sweets, and then he puts on layer after layer of fine clothes and armor.
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