Chaucerian Netflix
Binge-Worthy Love Triangles
Think Chaucer is dusty and boring? Wrong. The man basically invented the plotlines of your favorite TV shows — just with more doublets, fewer iPhones, and way some jokes about butts. If The Canterbury Tales were dropped on Hulu today, you’d call it “groundbreaking”. If you're in doubt, let's play a game. Let's call it Guess the Name of the Show.
The Knight’s Tale aka …
Two sworn brothers turned rivals for the same woman, locked into pageantry, honor codes, and fate itself deciding who gets the girl? That’s straight-up Regency courtship drama, complete with duels, longing glances, and a heroine framed as the prize of social destiny. We know it's The Knight's Tale. But do you know the show? Do you know the season?
The Miller’s Tale aka …
A gullible old husband, a clever younger wife, a sly scholar, and a hapless suitor who gets humiliated? Swap the medieval carpentry for S suburbs. You basically get a Homer-Marge-Barney love mess — played as slapstick, with butts and buckets instead of donuts and Moe’s. Easy for the Miller to recognise. Easier for you say I've seen that before!
The Merchant’s Tale aka …
A wealthy older man marrying a beautiful young wife who schemes behind his back with her lover, all while maintaining the façade of domestic respectability? That’s pure cul-de-sac melodrama: secrecy in the garden, whispered excuses, and a marriages rotting under glossy appearances. You get a clue for this. DH.
The Franklin’s Tale aka …
Here the drama’s not in betrayal but in the nobility of sacrifice and loyalty. Promises made under candlelight, impossible tasks attempted, and everyone ultimately acting with grace to preserve honor — this is high-period moral earnestness with just enough tension to keep viewers weepy and noble. The clue is in "high-period". But if you can name more than one, let's narrow it down for you. DA.
The Second Nun’s Tale aka …
A woman caught between human marriage and a higher calling, determined to give her loyalty to something transcendent rather than earthly compromise? That’s royal devotion re-scripted as saintly martyrdom — tiaras traded for halos, but the theme of duty over personal desire remains the same. Name it already.
The Manciple’s Tale aka …
A powerful man, consumed by jealousy, lashes out and destroys the very thing he loves most, ending in ruin with no redemption? That’s the sun god turned chemistry teacher — each unraveling into violence and paranoia, proving how destructive unchecked suspicion can be. Call it Breaking Bad.
A game has its own use. But this is better: you don't have to wade through all of Chaucer before claiming you've read it. We've just handed you unforgettable summaries. And let no one say you didn't do the work - that you've cheated. You spent hours glue to those screens!