Q and (hopefully) A's

I have a question which I hope to be able to answer after finishing all of The Canterbury Tales;

How does the fact that they are going to a pilgrimage play into the types of stories the traveler's are telling?

I am curious about this because it seems to me that the kind of improbable story that the Knight tells may have some type of meaning in regards to the type of person he is. I hypothesize that perhaps when we have finished reading all of the stories, we will be able to say that maybe these devotees are going on the pilgrimage in order to cleanse themselves of some type of offense or misdeed that they have comitted. I am interested in continuing The Canterbury Tales in order to more fully comprehend the author's purpose for writing the book.