Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Honestly, I don't understand the point of anyone or any event in the book. There were very few conflicts that all turned out ideally, and no characters had a flaw. The only exception was Gawain's slight cowardice at the end. For this reason, the book was tedious and repulsive to me, albeit the point of an Arthurian legend is to exaggerate and idealize the characters and events.

Despite Gawain's cowardice, he gains victory over the green knight, showing that repentance and sustained virtue is the key to a prosperous life.
England is exalted as the best place in the world because of Arthur's presence and deeds.
Why is everything idealized and exaggerated?
The green knight turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Gawain.
strop-sharpen, especially a weapon
486-490: Why does the narrator directly address Gawain here? No one else, even Gawain, is addressed in this manner again.
The whole book is a quest for Gawain for him to discover how much of a perfect, gentle knight he really is.
palisade-defensive fence
The author uses enjambment so the poem flows like prose.
vespers-evening prayers
942-969: This juxtaposition of the two ladies implies that wisdom comes with old age but not beauty. Beauty and wisdom cannot reside in the same person.
Gawain is tempted by the lady's beauty, but he forces himself to stay pure and resist. He is rewarded by the green knight for this.
fealty-fidelity
The whole book with the exception of the green knight's confession (lines 2337-2368) is extremely predictable, another reason I did not enjoy it.
Is Gawain related to the green knight through Morgana?

Everyman

Being a transitory being is a good thing.
Because of Adam and  Eve's original sin, Everyman must go through the reckoning.
Why are all of the characters in the play there? Why were they chosen over other qualities?
If people are not angels, they will become devils.
The people will destroy themselves if God does not call them to the reckoning. The play is a portrayal of the Last Judgement.
God made Everyman divine, but he forgets about his God.
abject-utterly hopeless
proffered-offered
The play is a quest to win God's favor and enter Heaven.
The rich are rich in order to share their wealth.
respite-delay
Everyman must die alone, and he is responsible for his own actions.
Everyman is selfish and immature. He tries to bribe Death into waiting and pleads with everyone else to come with him, but all but Good Deeds are hypocritical and abandon him at the end. Good Deeds are all that matter before the throne of God.
Death is an equalizer and does not play favorites.
Everyman has problems trusting everyone.
Everyman gives a soliloquy after every person abandons him, then he pleads with someone else, forming a pattern that is only broken with Good Deeds and Knowledge.
Everyone promises to be loyal to Everyman, but they all end up being hypocritical.
Everyman is miserly and keeps Goods stored away. Goods can only fix worldly problems, so he says immediately that he cannot come with Everyman. He is not hypocritical.
Every person tells Everyman that if he had done this or that he would not be in this situation. It is foreshadowing for a need for Confession.
vouchsafe-grant, give
Confession saves Everyman from the fires of Purgatory and grants him safe admission into Heaven.
He is forced to die, but he sincerely repents.
Doing penance is the only way to have temporal punishment relieved.
Reconciliation brings Good Deeds back to life.
behoof-benefit, behalf
699-705: Everyman's self-denial parallels that of Zaccheus. Both must repent of their sins, too.
Priests have the keys to Heaven because they can forgive sins.
881: These words parallel Jesus' last words in the Gospel of Luke.
Is the Doctor God or just a precursor to seeing God?
Is Everyman's place in Heaven guaranteed? 

The Nun's Priest's Tale

dale-valley
apoplexy-stroke, mental disorder
The widow was sane even though she had no material comforts.
Chanticleer is equated to a great king or a perfect gentle knight, but his major flaw is believing the fox.
debonnaire-carefree
affright-to frighten
Pertelote cannot love anyone other than a prefect gentle knight, so she tells Chanticleer that and gives him a sermon meant to make him submit to her will, much like the old woman does to the knight in the Wife of Bath's Tale.
ague-fever
Chanticleer insists that dreams can foretell the future and does not submit to Pertelote's will like the knight submits to the old woman.
harbourage-shelter
All of the dreams in this tale are literal and exact foretellings of the future, but most dreams are not like that if they are like that at all.
All of the dreams Chanticleer tells about and his own dream come true, except Chanticleer has the intelligence to change his fate.
Pertelote believes laxatives will fix his fright of dreams, but he does not believe her.
Chanticleer fears Pertelote's death, although it is not imminent.
The question becomes will Chanticleer die? And what do you believe about dreams after being presented with both sides of the issue?
austere-self-disciplined
fain-gladly
benefice-income, prestigious position
Chanticleer accepts the fox's challenge for him to surpass his father's abilities. Does this show that Chanticleer has hubris?
staves-plural of staff
beshrew-curse
Is this tale Chaucer speaking about believing cunning people?

The Nun's Priest's Prologue

clapper-tongue
"Fortune covered with a cloud"=tragedy (l. 16)
The group begs the monk to stop talking and for a different tale to be told, particularly about hunting.
jade-worthless or vicious horse

The Pardoner's Tale

The tale is set in the past in Flanders.
lechery-unrestrained sexual desire
unwittingly-unintentionally
behest-command
Lines 23-195 are a digression preaching about the immorality of gambling, drinking, gluttony, and swearing. Why does he spend so much time preaching about these sins, even though he does not follow his own theme?
The knave says that Death kills the roisterers' friend. It seems so obvious to us that Death would kill people, but not to the roisterers. Chaucer's diction makes it appear like the knave might be telling a trick on them, like he knows better than them (l. 213-4, 224-9).
stile-stairs over a fence
The old man is a symbol of Death, and the roisterers do not respect him. Thus, they will be punished for it. They trade their youth for the man's old age.
269: Who is Mother?
fay-fairy
The old man warned them to mend their ways, but they did not heed his advice.
They find Death, but it was not in the form they expected.
It is impossible to cheat Death, no matter what happens.-moral of the story
440-1: The pardoner implies that Jesus died for nothing because people are still greedy, gluttonous bunny rabbits.
wend-direct
This is the only tale that does not focus on married love.
Why does he offer the group a chance to repent and touch the relics?

The Pardoner's Description and Prologue

The Pardoner is rich and complies with the latest styles.
22: He is assumed to be young because he has no beard.
veronica-a veil or piece of cloth bearing the image of Christ
He carries fake relics around, the veronica being one of them, so that he can make more money through the selling of pardons.
bent-direction
parson-Protestant minister
paragon-model for excellence
He did everything he could to make money. He was especially gifted at singing, and people would listen well.
A story must be retold exactly or it is lying according to the pardoner. In a sense, it is lying, but only to the degree to which the story is distorted.
writ-law, edict
78: Is the host's wits who are not the best or the pardoner's?

exemplum-moral story
marshal-arrange
17-23: He openly admits he scams people and uses fake relics to do so.
draught-drop, dose
trow-to believe
shriven-granted penance
He continually opposes his "theme" of "Radix malorum est cupiditas" by lying about his holiness and the origin of his relics.
beck-greet
yarn-craft stories, usually false stories
He could care less about the souls of the people he preaches to on a regular basis.
He insists that he is not the only one making up sermons for money. Some even do it for vainglory, hate, flattery, or the people's pleasure.
defamations-unjustified injuries of reputation
Why does he insist that greed is the root of all evils but indulge in it anyways? Making money is a valid and motivating reason, but it cannot be enough.
109: He calls the people he preaches to vulgar, implying that he considers himself above them, the common people.
He is drunk before he tells the tale, so he must be drinking throughout the prologue.
Both the Pardoner and the Wife of Bath use other people to get rich. Although both are experienced, the Wife of Bath is old, and the Pardoner is young.

The Wife of Bath's Tale

Arthurian legend
Limiters drove away the faeries, and it can be assumed that the faeries are ungodly creatures.
motes-dust particles
copse-small thicket
maidenhead-virginity
The king is not a sucker for a weeping woman. The queen must pray for the knight's life to be spared although he is far from perfect and gentle.
purvey-provide
behest-command
None of the women he asks can agree on anything, so he thinks he will never find the answer.
Midas, because he is embarrassed about his ears, tells his wife. She then whispers it to the river, who then whispers the secret to everyone. Chaucer says through this digression that women cannot be trusted with secrets.
The 24 dancing ladies, assumed to be absolutely gorgeous, are a huge temptation for the knight.
greensward-turf
crone-a witchlike old woman
She manipulates the knight by making him swear on something unbeknownst to him. He is desperate for the answer, so he obliges.
She says that women desire most to control their husbands.
fastidious-squeamish
There was only sorrow at the wedding feast because the knight did not want to be wed to the crone, but he must fulfill his promise.
Her sermon on gentleness forces him to submit because she took him on a guilt trip.
Old people should be revered.
Poor people should be seen as manifestations of Jesus.
Ugly people should be considered faithful prospective spouses.
362-370: "'Choose, now', said she, 'one of these two things, aye,/To have me foul and old until I die,/Or else to have me young and very fair/And take your chance with those who will repair/Unto your house, and all because of me,/Or in some other place, as well may be./Now choose which you like better and reply.'"
The above lines constitute the most important question of the book because the knight could have picked like she asked, but he lets her choose, exemplifying the knightly virtues of courage and nobility. This does count for something, even though he has already ruined his chance at being a perfect gentle knight.
The transformative kiss is the magic of the story. The pathos becomes that even though the wife of bath is like the crone, she will never have that kiss in the form of a sixth husband. Her tale is based on wishful thinking.