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The Guildsmen In Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer sets up the general prologue in a manner of social rank, he puts the upper class character in the beginning, like the Knight, and the lower class everyday people, like the estate caretaker, towards the end of the prologue. The Haberdasshere, a dealer of fabrics and hats; the Carpenter; the Webbe, a weaver; the Dyere, a dyer of cloth and other materials; and the Tapicer, a weaver of tapestry, are introduced toward the end of the list the social list. (OED) They are all guildsmen who are of a lower class, which is associated with their ancestry and not their wealth. Although they are all guildsmen, they do not belong to the same guild. The Haberdasshaee was a member of a merchant guild, which regulated trade. The other four guildsmen are all members of different craft guilds, which regulated standards, fix prices, and control journeyman and apprentices. (Cantor, p.493) Chaucer describes the five guildsmen as the aldermen or the councilmen of their respective guilds.
Approximate Word count = 656
Approximate Pages = 2.6
(250 words per page double spaced)
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