Destiny's Dinner

My group decided that a recurring theme throughout The Canterbury Tales is destiny.  Our graphic organizer was a dinner table with the names of the four tales eating at each side, and the quotation we chose from each written on their plates.  These are the four quotes we chose from each of the tales we have read so far to represent the theme we chose:

The Knight's Tale:  "I shall see to it carefully that Palamon, who is your own knight, shall have his lady as you have promised him...Although Mars shall help his knight" (1619-1620).

The Miller's Tale:  "And thanne shul we be lordes al our lyfe of al the world, as Noe and his wyf" (396-396).

The Tale of the Wife of Bath:  "Yet may the hye God, and so hope I, grante me grace to liven vertuously.  Thanne am I gentil, whan that I biginne to liven vertuously and weyve sinne" (317-320).

The Pardoner's Tale:  "If that yow be so leef to find Deeth, turne up this croked wey, for in that grove I lafte him, by my fey, under a tree, and ther he wol abyde" (298-301).

In all the quotations, there is foreshadowing of what will occur to the character that the quotation is about.  The foreshadowing often involves religion, and also often comes true, so the characters often have a "destiny" that can be seen before it actually occurs.  I could not always recognize the character's destiny the first time I read the tales, but when one follows the steps about becoming a better reader that we listened to in class, the desitiny is recognizable.  So when you read the last two pages of "The Pardoner's Tale" and then go back looking for parts in the tale that contribute to the overall picture, the foreshadowing of the old man telling the three sinners that Death is waiting for them at the tree is clear foreshadowing of what their outcome will be if they continue "looking for Death," which they do.  In the Wife of Bath's quotation, the Wife's destiny is that she will live a good life, and she does because she gets what she wants, having the knight as an obedient husband.