Greed In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

“Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction”(Erich Fromm). Greed shows how the class systems in the fourteenth century were corrupt by people tying to climb to the top. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s frame narrative “The Canterbury Tales”, tells the reader about the life of twenty-nine pilgrims. It explains their quest of telling four tales each to win a free dinner. Although some medieval characters were moral and followed their expectations of their social status or occupation, many were easily persuaded by greed and other worldly possessions for social advancement. Both the Friar and the Nun show attachment to worldly items, that makes their greed thrive. But differ in their morality and the way they see the world.

The Friar and the Nun are people who work hard for all the wrong reasons, they should have devoted their life to God but they care more about money and possession. The Nun shows the way she climbs to the top through her obsession of looking rich and lavish. “She wore a trinket on her arm, / a set of beads, the gaudies tricked in green”(162-163). The Nun shows through the frame narrative that she tries to represent herself as something she is not in any way, shape, or form. The Friar shows his attachment to worldly things when he only cares about money. “But anywhere a profit might accrue, / Courteous he was and lowly of service too”(253-254). The Friar shows through the story that he is hungry for money, he wants it even if it means taking it from the poor. He is not a man of honor he is a sly and devious, he would have done anything for a dime. Both of these people show how the lavish possessions and the money over take their