The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer was written at the end of the fourteenth century, a rather turbulent time in English history. The Catholic Church was in the midst of the Western Schism and was a subject of heavy controversy. Though it was immensely powerful and wealthy, people grew suspicious about the Church’s pretentious wealth. After the Black Death wiped out over one-third of Europe’s population, people began to no longer trust the Church and question its officials. Among the people who viewed the Church as corrupt was Chaucer, as he highlights many of its problems through the characterization of the pilgrims in his tale. In particular, he uses the characters of Chanticleer, the Pardoner, and the Parson to satirize the Church corruption. …show more content…
Though he is a member of the clergy, he goes completely against the rules of the Church through his deceitfulness and stealing of money. Prior to telling his story, he has “drunk a draught of corn-ripe ale” (Chaucer 244). Drinking before he tells his story is quite hypocritical because he preaches that “wine is a lecherous thing and drunkenness a squalor of contention and distress” (Chaucer 247). As he tells his tale, he describes men who deceive and kill each other out of greed for material possession, clearly providing the lesson of avoiding greed. However, he openly admits to selling false relics to parishioners, as he says that his “exclusive purpose is to win and not at all to castigate their sin” (Chaucer 243). He even declares that he does not care for the welfare of humanity, but rather his own luxury and wealth. Though he always preaches “Radix malorum est cupiditas” (Chaucer 243), or that greed is the root of all evil, he himself falls victim to this evil. The Pardoner’s overtly hypocritical acts are perfectly consistent with the religious allusion that Chaucer is trying to make. Chaucer essentially utilizes the Pardoner’s stature as a clergy member to show that some church officials, like the Pardoner, are not always honest, thus demonstrating the overall corruptness of the Church during the time period. The Pardoner’s Tale perfectly illustrates both how much The …show more content…
The Parson gives to the poor despite his own poverty because he wants to set a good example for his parishioners, for “if gold rust, what shall iron do?” (Chaucer 16). Since the “gold” refers to religious figures and the “iron” refers to laypersons, the Parson is suggesting that laypersons cannot be expected to live a holy life if religious figures do not do so. Unlike many of the religious figures in The Canterbury Tales, the Parson does not “rust,” as seen in his refusal to take a benefice. Even though many parish priests at the time chose this option, the Parson rejects it because he was “a shepherd and no mercenary” (Chaucer16), or willing to sacrifice his own comfort to do his job as a shepherd of souls. Due to his selfless devotion to his responsibility of being a caretaker of Christian souls, the Parson represents the old church - he truly cares for the parishioners, never cheats the parishioners, steers clear of hypocrisy, and tries to teach how the perfect life should be lived. Of the twenty-nine Canterbury pilgrims, ten of which being either members of the clergy or minor functionaries in the Church, the Parson is the lowest in the Church hierarchy. Since the Parson is the only religious character in the work that