stage 4

As spring’s “gentle rains” (Chaucer 1) “bathed each sprout” (Chaucer 2) in April, Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales opens with a fair company of pilgrims making their pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Thomas A Becket in Canterbury. As the pilgrims rest, travel worn, in the Tabard at Southwark, an interesting situation is devised in a clever scheme by Chaucer. By placing the socially diverse pilgrims in a common setting such as a tavern, the walls that separate the social classes that range from lowly millers, to gallant knights, and to religious pardoners. By removing these social bounds that have separated the classes for as long as the audience could remember, the characters can be analyzed for morals and virtues without the restraint of stereotypes and social pretense. For my resetting of The Canterbury Tales, I decided to place my characters at a train station in the rural area of Japan. The travelers of my tales are all traveling to Tokyo for a chance at a new life. As they sit at a bento [Japanese lunch box] food stand, waiting for their train, they are, like Chaucer’s pilgrims, reverted to being just simple travelers regardless of social standings, age, or reasons of travel. Unlike Chaucer’s tales, social class is not as prevalent in deciding a person’s worth. For this reason, I decided that age would also be a contributing factor. Respecting elders in Japan is a very important aspect of Japanese culture. By placing these travelers in a rural part of Japan where social hierarchy becomes null, I can replicate the techniques that Chaucer uses to create the same atmosphere in the Tabard at Southwark.

From a historical point of view, a pilgrimage in the spring would make the most amount of sense. The temperature would be approaching comfortable traveling weather and the pilgrims would have enough time to return before the next winter before travel becomes impossible. To the audience The Canterbury Tales was originally written towards, this setting would seem most appropriate as they can relate towards it. The setting is a key aspect that allows the reader to relate towards the tale, so as my tale is written with college students and professors in mind, I have decided to start my depiction of the Tales in the start of the fall semester of college. Some of the characters that I have in mind for my version of the Tales involve a college freshman moving into the city by himself, a teacher who was recently transferred from a rural elementary school to a Tokyo elementary school, and a business man getting his first job in the city. These characters would most likely make the journey during the fall and as college students ourselves, I believed that the audience could appreciate moving into a new setting at the start of the fall semester.

By placing my travelers in the rural train station of Japan, I can eliminate the rough barriers that separate the lives of such uniquely diverse characters. Much like Chaucer’s tales, I can analyze the characters as humans with out the interference of social standings. The time frame that I have set for my Tales can help the audience relate to my cast of characters in a way that would ordinarily not be possible because they have most likely never experienced traveling by train across Japan. The setting of a story is an essential part of conveying the meaning hidden behind the text. Choosing the right setting can either help successfully transfer the ideas to the readers or confuse them even more by distorting their views of your narrative. For this reason, I have chosen to rewrite Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales in the modern setting of Japan.






Works Cited
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Ed. W. W. Skeat. Trans.
Lynne, Jeff. Electric Light Orchestra, Mr. Blue Sky, "Out of the Blue", 1977, Musicland Studios, Munich, Germany.