Canterbury Tales Essay: Immorality and the Friar -- Canterbury Tales E

Immorality and the mendicant in The Canterbury Tales It is a sad definition on the clergy that, in the Middle Ages, this class that was responsible for morality was practically the class most marked by corruption. Few works of the propagation satirically highlight this phenomenon as well as The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucers General Prologue introduces us to a cast of clergy, or Second demesne folk, who range in nature from pious to corrupt. The Friar seems to be an thin example of the corrupt nature of m any low-level clergymen of the times- while his activities were not heretical or heinous, his behavior is certainly not in conformation with the selfless moral teachings he is speculate to espouse. According to the Narrators account, he is a snob, corrupted by greed, and acts in real un-Christian ways. It is sink that he is a gentleman of low moral standards. When we are firstly introduced to the Friar, we are told that he possesses a level of social gr ace out-of-the-way(prenominal) above his station in life. We are told that in the four beggary orders, there is no one as k nowadaysledgeable in light language and sociability as he (lines 210-211, Norton), and that he is a very ceremonious fellow (line 209). This seems out of step with a man who is so-called to make a living by begging, a man who is supposed to go through life without a roof over his head. This level of breeding and affinity for ceremony has likely come from an aristocratic birth- often, the jr. sons and daughters of nobles who could not be provided for simply entered the clergy. This contributed to a large body of clergy members who came to the church building not because they felt a divine calling, but simply because that is what was expect of them (his fellow pilgrim, the Prioress, als... ...th money from those who can barely afford bread. This Friars morals are much closer to vice than virtue any doubts that he is a man of low morals are now completely swe pt away. Chaucers General Prologue is remarkable in that it allows us to see not only what characters may claim to represent, but withal how they really are inside. Chaucers depiction of the Friar, who should be a man of upstanding piety and virtue, makes it readily apparent that he is quite the opposite. The Friars elitist background and behavior, his begging-supported greed, and the vices that oppose true Christianity prove that he is a man of low moral standards. Certainly, Chaucer paints a masterful contrast of token vs. reality. Bibliography The Norton Anthology of English Literature Sixth Edition, Volume 1. M.H. Abrams, et al, Editor. W.W. Norton and Company. New York 1993.