Marxism In The Friar's Tale

The author of the Friar’s tale, is Geoffrey Chaucer and the poem is constructed of classist values, capitalism, the socioeconomic conditions of the proletariat and the bourgeois, and the organization of religion. The significance of the Friar’s Tale, is the plot and the grim behavior of the Summoner, as well as the evil that he commonly exhibited. In the poem, there are many marxists values, the biggest being classism and economic power. People in the church held higher power and often oppressed those in lowers socioeconomic status. For example, in the Friar’s Tale, the heated discussion between the widow and the Summoner, would have panned out much differently If the devil wasn’t present in that moment. The widow ultimately would have

In the scene where the Summoner and the Yeoman came across the farmer/working man, whose cart was stuck, neither helped him and if he would not have called on the devil, they would have probably not even acknowledged him. Social standing in this time was a huge aspect of defining whether or not if you were treated with respect or ignored as a insignificant person. The value of his person may have led them to believe that he had been irresponsible in order for his cart to become stuck and left him to find a way to get his cart on his own.

Capitalism in the Friar’s Tale, could be perceived when the summoner stole from the church and extorted money from anyone that he could without any consequences. He also used prostitutes to lure men into traps and then extorted them while he let the prostitutes go for his own personal gain. Another example of capitalism in the Friar’s Tale, is when the Summoner tried to extort the Widow and how if the Yeoman wasn’t present than he would have stripped her of both her frying pan and the money that she did not have. The widow had no power and no standing against someone in higher power than