Why is The Canterbury Tales unfinished?

The Canterbury Tales remains unfinished primarily because Geoffrey Chaucer died in 1400 before he could complete the ambitious scope of his original plan.123

While the work is considered a masterpiece of English literature, it is incomplete in several specific ways:42

• Scope of the journey: Chaucer’s original design included a storytelling contest for the pilgrims both on their way to the shrine of Thomas à Becket in Canterbury and on their return journey; however, the return trip was never written.412
• Missing tales: Although the "General Prologue" introduces approximately 30 pilgrims, not all of them tell a story.412
• Incomplete narratives: Some of the individual tales that were started, such as "The Cook’s Tale" and "The Squire’s Tale," remain unfinished fragments.4

Despite these gaps, the work is regarded as a unified book rather than a mere collection of fragments, offering a complex and humorous exploration of the human condition.12