In Geoffrey Chaucer’s frame story “The Canterbury Tales”, we read a story about a group pilgrimage from London to Canterbury, which gives us insight of the life in fourteenth century England. On this journey, the Pardoner, the Wife of Bath and the Nun’s Priest all tell stories reflecting their unique personalities and views on life. Two of these stories are the “The Pardoner's Tales” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, and even though these stories were written a long time ago, we are still able to relate to them today. The Pardoner is a self-serving, non trustworthy man, so it comes as no surprise that this is the story that he tells, as he sells indulgences for people’s sins.
Chaucer, a part of the merchant class himself, wrote The Canterbury Tales as a result to highlight the current social and religious climate of his society. In his approach, he integrated himself into the story to show his lack of bias as well as the fallacy of the social hierarchies in his portrayal of typical medieval societies. The tale itself follows the journey of twenty-nine pilgrims to the shrine of Saint Thomas Beckett in Canterbury. Each chapter is composed of a tale told in the point of view by one
Chaucer wrote the book: The Canterbury Tales, in which a group of men going on a journey all tell a tale. Within each tale is a moral lesson as well as each tale consists of a corrupt action committed within the church and is conveyed by those kind of characters within the story. One of the tales that Chaucer tells in his book is called: The pardoner 's tale. Within this tale the pardoner (who is telling the tale) is a preacher who often gives sermons but admits that he does is solely for money and not to condemn people of their sins. (Greed)
Satire In the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer used satire in many of his writings including the monk the general prologue and the friar. There are many satirical targets including the church. Out of everyone in his writings, he uses the friar, the pardoner, and the prioress to show his satirical views of the church. He isn't targeting the church but he is targeting church hypocrisy.
The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, reveals that religion does not make moral individuals. Chaucer goes on about telling how several of the characters on the pilgrimage had questionable lifestyles yet the characters were taking part in a religious journey. Religion can only influence a moral character but does not make its followers untouchable to the imperfections found on earth. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer’s character, The Pardoner, is a church official who altered the peoples mind by cheating the people into believing any nonsense.
In Canterbury Tales Chaucer presents the Church in a negative light in order to call attention to its corrupt practices. Examples of this can be seen through his depictions of the different clergymen present in the work. He harshly criticizes people such as the Monk, the Friar, the Summoner, and the Pardoner, suggesting that he was unhappy with their use of authority. One of the first corrupt church officials Chaucer mentions is the Monk. The Monk is described in the prologue as a fat man who ignores monastic rule in order to live modernly.
In The Canterbury Tales, readers met so many religious figures who amount to a pure source of hypocrisy and contradiction such as the Friar, the Pardoner, the Nun, and more. Geoffrey Chaucer, the author, brought a delightful dose of sarcasm in various descriptions of the religious characters
There are unlimited ways society can impact people. Society is a preconceived notion that limits our behaviors, in fear of being judged. It causes anxiety and burdens our conscious because we are unable to expose our true characters in public. Both authors of The Scarlet Letter and Canterbury Tales reveal corruption in the church that was prevalent in society. In the Canterbury Tales, pressures from society restricted characters to doing certain jobs in order to meet social expectations of success, status, gender roles, etc.
If Chaucer wrote the Pardoner’s Tale the same way but did not include that the Pardoner knew he was corrupt then the argument could be made that Chaucer believed the Christian religion had truly strayed away from the original doctrines as Luther describes in his 95 Thesis and work On Christian Liberty. Chaucer’s view on the corruptness of the Church differs from Luther’s view in that Chaucer believes a corrupt Christian figure is only corrupt because of the inner motive of greed not because his congregation entitles him to be
Calling the Church body “his apes” exemplifies the opinion Chaucer holds about the Church, as he believes they are like monkeys, blindly following others, unaware of their own stupidity. In terms of blindly following, the double entendre of the word “apes” comes into play, as it is defined as “imitating another person”. The members of the Church blindly imitate what they see in the Church, leading to a society of corrupted followers. Chaucer continues to present the hypocrisy prevalent in the Church through the character of the Pardoner, as he preaches, “For my intent is only pence to win,” (“Pardoner’s Prologue” 117). Through these lines, the audience receives their first image of the Pardoner’s satirical hypocrisy as, in his sermons, he preaches against greed while, at the same time, uses the guilt of his audience to feed his own.
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories that are verbally created as the Host requests that each pilgrim tell a story on the journey to Canterbury. Although this ultimately leads to conflict amongst the pilgrims, the entire spectrum of human personalities is presented by showing each character's qualities, flaws, and hypocrisy. In order to show multiple layers of perspectives, including that of the pilgrims, Chaucer as the narrator, and Chaucer as the writer, The Canterbury Tales is written as a frame narrative. The use of a frame narrative allows Chaucer to convey his own values in humanity by observing and reflecting on the strengths and weaknesses of human nature.
If someone has too much power, can that lead to that person becoming corrupt?. During the middle ages the church was corrupt and many church officials abused their power in order to steal money from the peasants. The Pardoner uses his speaking skills and church position to steal money from the poor peasants who don't know any better. Chaucer depicts the corruption among the Clergy during the Middle Ages through the Pardoner's tale. Chaucer also depicts how the Pardoner's appearance is a reflection of him.
Canterbury Tales Research Essay Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a poem in which thirty people who are on a pilgrimage to Canterbury each tell a tale to make the time go by faster. The group of thirty people include people from all walks of life such as a cook, sergeant at law, friar, etc. who in turn create a society. Each person defies their expectation and does not necessarily act like they are supposed to. The tales of the knight, the monk, and the sergeant at law correlate and relate to certain positions in present day society.
Geoffrey Chaucer’s satirical collection of stories called The Canterbury Tales, develops an insight of his criticism for the Catholic Church members during the medieval period. During the time period, the Catholic Church could be considered as the head of the society. The church held power over education, politics, economy, as well as the everyday lives of the citizens. Fear of excommunication kept the people from arguing with the ideas of the church. Some members of the church used this power to influence others to follow the rules of Catholicism; however there was a growing number of church members who were corrupt.
In “The Canterbury Tales” Chaucer illustrates the corruption of the church through the religious characters in both the tales and the prologue and their obsession with money. Illustrating the fact that medieval England, the church had a big impact on the lives of people due to them being able to “read” the bible. In many cases, this was uses to manipulate people into giving their money to church. Throughout the tales, people are shown to stand up to the church and beat them at their own game and this provides the ideal response to church corruption.
