The Friar In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

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The most immoral character in The Canterbury Tales is the Friar. Why he is the most immoral is he breaks all of the four vows. The four vows are obedience, chastity, poverty, and stability. In the vow of obedience it says, “Therefore instead of weeping and of prayer one should give silver for a poor friars care (Chaucer 235).” This states that they should pay him instead of him giving the word and love of god. The vow of obedience states a person listens to people more than self, and listens for the word of god in all things. In this case for him to take money from them instead of listening to them and giving the word of god is breaking the vow of obedience. In the vow of chastity it says, “He’d fixed up many a marriage giving each of his young women what he could afford her”(Chaucer 216). …show more content…

Once he is done seducing the women he bribes other men to take the women for marriage and other such things. The vow of chastity say a person promises not to marry or be sexually active or interested so that he may attach himself/ herself to God alone. So for him to have many women and be sexually active with them this breaks the vow and he is distracted by other things whether then him attaching himself to God. In the vow of stability it says, “ he knew that taverns well in every town and every innkeeper and barmaid too”(Chaucer 244). For him to know the taverns and etc. very well and that he explores other places without his community and isn’t in search for God that says he breaks the vow of stability. The vow of stability states the person promises to stay with other members of the community for mutual support in the search of God. He traveled other places where the word of God was not talked about and wasn’t a godly place nor was it with the community of God, and that states that he broke the vow of