Chaucer's retraction at the end of the book surprised me. He apologized not only for some of the Canterbury Tales, but also for other books he had written, including, Nineteen Ladies, St. Valentines Day of the Parliament of Fowls, and Fame. Specifically, Chaucer apologized for the part of these books which tend towards sin and he prayed, "Christ have mercy on me and forgive me my sins."
This second apology is redundant after the apology that appears in the prologue of the Miller's Tale, and therefore, I believe it is unnecessary and odd. I found it to be strange for a writer to retract his work, within the very work he is apologizing for. After all, if he was that sorry, he could have just ripped the whole thing up.
Regardless of the oddity of his ending, I found The Canterbury Tales to be a wonderful collection of stories. I have never seen a story, made of stories, and agree with Hannah that this has the making of a movie.
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