[[Image:ChaucerPortraitEllesmereMs.jpg|thumb|250px|Portret Chaucer sebagai seorang peziarah Canterbury dalam [[manuskrip Ellesmere]] yang memuat ''The Canterbury Tales'']]
Tema-tema cerita ini sangatlah bervariasiberagam dan meliputi banyak topik seperti cinta kerajaan, pengkhianatan dan kerakusan. Jenis-jenis ''genre'' cerita juga bervariasi dan meliputi cerita ksatria (''romans''), cerita cinta Bretagne (''Breton lai''), khotbah dan cerita [[fabel]]. Tokoh-tokoh cerita yang diperkenalkan di dalam ''[[General Prologue]]'' mengisahkan cerita-cerita yang penting ditilik dari sudut pandang budaya.
SomeBeberapa ofcerita thesifatnya talesserius aredan seriousyang andlain othershumoristis. humorous;Namun however,semuanya allsangatlah arejitu verydalam precisemelukiskan insifat describingdan thekeburukan traitskarakteristik and faults of human naturemanusia. Religious malpractice is a major theme as well as focusing on the division of [[Estates of the realm|the three estates]]. Most of the tales are interlinked with similar themes running through them and some are told in retaliation for other tales in the form of an argument. The work is incomplete, as it was originally intended that each character would tell four tales, two on the way to Canterbury and two on the return journey. This would have meant a possible one hundred and twenty tales which would have dwarfed the twenty-six tales actually written.
People have sought political overtones within the tales, particularly as Chaucer himself was a significant [[courtier]] and political figure at the time, close to the corridors of power. There are many hints at contemporary events, although few are proven, and the theme of marriage common in the tales is presumed to refer to several different marriages, most often those of [[John of Gaunt]]. Aside from Chaucer himself, Harry Bailly of the Tabard Inn was a real person and the Cook has been identified as quite likely to be Roger Knight de Ware, a contemporary London cook.
