Canterbury Tales The Monk Essay

The Monk, the Fifth Portrait in the General Prologue When a person thinks of a monk, how do they imagine this type of person? They imagine this religious figure that lives a monastic life of deprivation and hard work that prays every day, studies and is obedient to God. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s, “The General Prologue” from The Canterbury Tales, the monk, one of the thirty pilgrims travelling on a pilgrimage to Canterbury is not the ideal religious figure monk that everyone expects him to be. He lacks respect for the “old” traditions of the religious life, he is overtly disobedient, he lives his life the way he wishes and he is quite hypocritical. Chaucer demonstrates the monk’s characteristics through the monk’s physical appearance, the

Chaucer describes him as a “a fair for the maistrye” (165) meaning extremely fine but the next few lines would be as follows, “An outridere that loved venerye,/ A manly man, to been an abbot able./Ful many a daintee hors hadde he in stable” (166-168) which indicates he is admirable in many ways however, not as a monk. The word “outridere” is used to indicate he was considered worthy to look after the monastery while “venerye” can indicate two different meanings; the monk enjoys hunting or an indulgence in sexual pleasure. The phrase “A manly man, to been an abbot able” refers to the way the church will be in a dangerous state if a manly man were to become an abbot. Chaucer is criticizing the church for having such low standards when it comes to the monk and he is also criticizing the monk for living such a luxurious life when he is supposed to be a humble servant of the church living in poverty. This is not your typical religious leader who studies in a cloister; this is a monk who has good, fine horses which indicate he is quite wealthy and lives a life of luxury and ease. Considering the monk’s favorite past-time is hunting, the life of luxury that he lives and the fine horses that he has, one can only assume that this monk does not show a dutiful spirit of reverence for God or an earnest wish to fulfill religious obligations. One can

Typical ideal monks tend to wear plain habits with hoods while this monk’s robe is completely different from the other monks. Chaucer describes him as, “I sawgh his sleeves purfiled at the hand/ With gris, and that the fineste of a land; / He hadde of gold wrought a ful curious pin: / A love-knotte in the grettere ende ther was” (193-197). This monk has fine gray fur, the finest in the land, on the sleeves and a gold pin with a love knot at the very end of his hood. Having a gold pin signifies he is not religious at all because what he should have would be a rosary as his only devotion should be to God. Just as hunting, the gold pin can also represent his interest in sexual pleasures confirming that this monk is a man of venery and certainly not a true man of God. From Chaucer’s given description of the monk as “He was a lord ful fat and in good point; / His yen steepe, and rolling in his heed” (200-201) we learn he was well fed and in good shape and also that he has eyes that roll in his head. In a monk, rolling eyes like this can represent impatience or lust for women. It can indicate that the monk is lustful which makes it a sin because a monk is not supposed to think of women which makes Chaucer’s overall description of the monk odd, considering the way he describes him at the end, he writes, “Now certainly he was a fair prelat” (204). The tone in this