What Is The Frame Narrative Of The Canterbury Tales?1

"The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer is a medieval collection of stories framed within a larger narrative known as a "frame narrative." In this literary device, a main story serves as a framework within which several smaller stories are told. The frame narrative in "The Canterbury Tales" centers around a group of pilgrims who are traveling together to the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.
The pilgrimage itself is the outer frame, providing the context and setting for the storytelling. The pilgrims are a diverse group, representing various segments of medieval English society, including knights, clergy, merchants, and commoners. This diverse assembly allows Chaucer to explore a wide range of characters and social classes, enabling him to comment on the complexities of human nature and societal dynamics.
As they journey, the pilgrims decide to engage in a storytelling contest to pass the time. Each pilgrim is tasked with telling two stories on the way to Canterbury and two more on the return journey, making a total of 120 stories planned. However, Chaucer completed only 24 tales before his death, and the work remains unfinished.
The individual tales themselves make up the inner narrative layer. Each tale is told by a different pilgrim, showcasing their distinct voices, perspectives, and storytelling styles. These tales encompass a variety of genres, including romance, comedy, tragedy, and moral allegory. They touch on themes such as love, honor, deception, friendship, and morality.
The interactions and reactions among the pilgrims during the storytelling sessions also contribute to the depth of the narrative. Their responses to the tales, whether in the form of laughter, criticism, or contemplation, reveal their personalities, biases, and relationships. The interactions provide Chaucer with a platform to satirize various aspects of medieval society, including religious hypocrisy, social hierarchy, and gender dynamics.
Through this layered narrative structure, Chaucer not only entertains his audience with a diverse collection of stories but also offers a multifaceted portrait of medieval England. The pilgrims and their tales serve as a microcosm of society, reflecting its strengths and flaws, virtues and vices. Chaucer's keen observation and critique of human nature are embedded not only in the content of the stories but also in the way the pilgrims interact and respond to one another's narratives.