ipl-logo

Corruption In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

1143 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Religion As A Major Theme In Canterbury Tales

Everything is not what it seems. Geoffrey Chaucer, the author of The Canterbury Tales, elaborates the previous statement in the best way possible. Chaucer’s descriptions of the religious characters reveal the ugly truth about the Church in the Middle Ages. Chaucer portrays most of the religious characters negatively, having them not follow usual stereotypes. The nun, who certainly goes against the status quo, reflects the Church structure. The characterization of the nun shows the Church’s power and mindset during the Middle Ages.
Most religious characters of The Canterbury Tales seem to be characterized negatively. Excluding the Knight and the Yeoman, the rest of the cast have a tendency to want for wealth, to have a sexual impulse, and …show more content…

The satire specifically looks into the corruption which comes with wealth and power. The nun has “a golden brooch… graven” with the words “Amor Vincit Omnia” (Coghill). Although, wealth was previously shown through implication, this time the nun has a visual representation of wealth, that being, gold. The character description of the nun is synonymous to the Church. Just as how the nun could not control herself from obtaining wealth, the Church could not the temptation of wealth. But the temptation of wealth was not the only thing which was holding the Church back from true Christianity. The nun also had a phrase graven on the brooch, which translates to “love conquers all” (Coghill). Just like how the nun’s greatest oath was contradictory, her brooch contradicts the vows which she was to recite. Nuns are to keep a promise, to make a “vow of chastity” (Daily). This brooch says otherwise. The nun believes love conquers all. She does not control herself from romantic love. Romantic love is defined as “love characterized by romance and involving sexual attraction” (Collins Dictionary). In other words, romantic love is the kind of love that conquers all, the kind of love which is unbounded. It is a “passionate fervor” over someone (Nugent). In the Middle Ages, romantic love was considered satanic while courtly love was godly and pure (Cohen). Vows of chastity were done to maintain a courtly …show more content…

At the time of when Chaucer lived, the lifestyle of the Middle Ages encircled the Church, both figuratively and literally. It was relevant and well-timed for Chaucer to discuss the issues going on in the Church. Instead of writing directly about the issues, he discusses these issues through indirect descriptions of religious characters in The Canterbury Tales. The nun was one of the many religious characters, which reflected the condition and the issues of the Church in the Middle Ages. The negative characterization of the nun shows the Church’s main areas of corruption: wealth, love, and vanity. Chaucer manages to expose the Church in the most humorous and negative way possible for the right

Show More
Related

Summary Of Masterless Mistresses By Emily Clark

1105 Words | 5 Pages

Clark argues that the sisters in the Ursuline convent broke traditional roles that had once been attributed to a male position. Clark’s argument is upheld well throughout the entirety of her book, and brings forth new ideas about women’s role in the church throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth century in society. Her bibliography contains a variety of sources which support her thesis, and displays the wide selection she chose from to create

Read More

Examples Of Greed In The Canterbury Tales

99 Words | 1 Pages

In The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, one of the many characters, the Pardoner, takes advantage of people’s vices and ignorance, preaching against avarice, a sin which he does not feel guilty of committing. The Pardoner in The Canterbury Tales speaks of greed as “the root of all sin” and of himself as doing “Christ’s holy work”; although, he “practices” avarice himself he has no guilt of his thievery. The Pardoner deceives the towns people by falsifying professionalism by “speak[ing] a few works in Latin” and displaying his “bishop’s seal” on his “license” disguising himself as a trustworthy person.

Read More

The Corrupt Religion In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

663 Words | 3 Pages

So there is really no one else to hurt you and he will do no more than take your virtue.” (53-56) Which means that those with high class or friars would rape women that were alone. In both stories, Chaucer shows how corrupt the political leaders were in his

Read More

The Punishment In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

880 Words | 4 Pages

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)

Read More

How Does Chaucer Use Satire In The Canterbury Tales

975 Words | 4 Pages

During the Middle Ages, at the time where Geoffrey Chaucer was alive, the Church was the highest in power in Europe. They were above the entire caste system, and they owned more land than anyone did at the time. Chaucer, as the son of a wine merchant and someone living in a Church-dominated society, had probably witnessed the dealings and actions of the Church and its associates of the time. As a satirist, Chaucer incorporated his skill of observation into his narration of The Canterbury Tales, and used it with satire to play the humor to his advantage, from poking light fun at some of the pilgrims to employing mocking sarcasm towards some of the others. This, of course, on a religious pilgrimage in the Middle Ages, includes the mocking of

Read More

Analysis Of Hypocrisy In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

2469 Words | 10 Pages

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

Read More

How Does Chaucer Use Character Archetypes In Canterbury Tales

556 Words | 3 Pages

Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales have provoked controversy for nearly 500 years. Canterbury Tales used everyday characters to point out the faults in 1500’s society. Chaucer used characters from religious figures, peasants, and even royalty. To this day, Chaucer’s smart, and witty department of people and what they do remains true to real life. When asked the question of who Chaucer would use in a modern setting, the choice is very clear.

Read More

Tricks Of Time In The Miller's Tale

1453 Words | 6 Pages

The tale itself is not complicated, but Chaucer’s writing in this creation is impeccable. There are examples of literary connections and the writing and language in itself show Chaucer’s peak in knowledge and intellect. Nathaniel Brody, author of the article Truth and Fiction in The Nun’s Priest’s Tale claim, “The story is so simple, and it is told with such precision, that the narrator could almost be taken to have witnessed the events he describes. Were it not that the tale is about speaking chickens in a barnyard, we might be tempted to call it realistic” (Brody 33).

Read More

Greed And Hypocrisy In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

721 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

Humanity In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

786 Words | 4 Pages

The narrator describes the friar as “that excellent limiter, the good friar” in The Friar’s Prologue. In actuality this is communicated in jest because the profession of the friar has similar faults as that of the summoner. Later the summoner tells of a friar who erases the names of donors from his tables as soon as they were out of sight. This shows that the way the system worked was corrupt. Chaucer is able to demonstrate that the medieval church was not without its own faults and sins.

Read More

How Does Chaucer Use Satire In The Canterbury Tales

924 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

Women In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

553 Words | 3 Pages

Medieval Women Are Not What You Think They Are Women of the medieval times are not like women today, women in the medieval times were known to be cunning and manipulative. In the book “The Prologue” to Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, Chaucer gives us details about a Nun who is shown as manipulative and cunning and that it is also a trend for medieval women to be manipulative and cunning not only her. “The Prologue” is about how author Geoffrey Chaucer goes on a pilgrimage and takes note about the people that he views. On his pilgrimage there is a Nun who does things that nuns would not typically do such as wear red lipstick. Chaucer then continues to write about how she is not your typical nun and shows manipulative and cunning traits.

Read More

Religion In The Pardoner's Tale Essay

503 Words | 3 Pages

The Good Wife was well known for the unending cycle of lust and passion among multiple men. “About her broad hips was a short riding skirt…Love and its remedies she knew all about,… for she had been through the old dance” (The Prologue, 4). The Good Wife had been on many pilgrimages in Rome and Boulogne, which did not alter the desire for men that dwelled inside. Religion is specific that a woman shall only have one husband unless the wife is widowed, only that way can the wife remarry. The Good Wife fornicated consciously knowing that it was against religion’s rules.

Read More

Church Corruption In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

1147 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More

Moral In The Nun's Priest's Tale And Flush

841 Words | 4 Pages

With varying narrators in both the Nun’s Priest’s Tale and Flush, the moral extracted from the text comes to be more interpretive previously was the case in Henryson’s work. Henryson presented short simple stories that explicitly told you what the purpose of the story was, giving you the meaning that he wanted you to take. As J. Allan Mitchell stated “medieval exemplary narratives serve as guide to personal deliberation and action” (3). Identically to Henryson, Chaucer at the end of the Nun’s Priest’s Tale gives a moral conclusion, where through the Nun’s Priest he states the supposed moral of the tale; “Allas! Ye lords, many a fals flatour Is in your

Read More

More about Corruption In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

Related Topics

Open Document