Comparing The Friar And The Chaucer In The Canterbury Tales

After the Friar’s offensive tale, the Summoner “rose in wrath against the Friar”(303). As a bitter response to The Friar’s Tale, the Summoner tells a tale that mocks the Friar. Before his tale, the Summoner mocks the Friar in his prologue. In his prologue, a friar goes to hell with an and he is surprised that of all the friars “none ever come into this place?”(304). The angel then shows the friar “some twenty thousand friars...crept into his (the Devil’s) arse”(304). After his funny prologue, the Summoner then tells his even funnier tale.In The Summoner’s Tale , the tale includes acts of perversion of office committed by the friar. These perversions are mainly related to the Friar’s vow of poverty such as “pretence of praying”(308) for “those who gave him offerings or food”(305).

In the late 1300s Geoffrey Chaucer began wrote The Canterbury Tales, a story which follows the religious journey of twenty-nine people, who represent many aspects of Medieval society, to the Canterbury Cathedral in southeast England. While on the pilgrimage the host of the tavern, where all the pilgrims meet, suggests that the pilgrims each tell a story for the group’s entertainment. Chaucer intended for all the voyagers to tell two stories, but he unfortunately died before he could finish the book and only got to write one story apiece. However, the goal of the storytelling contest is to tell the most moral story possible, and the one who wins receives a free meal, which the rest of the pilgrims will pay for. Although some of the other stories have good moral messages, “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” are on different ends of the moral spectrum. “The Pardoner’s Tale” focuses on a pardoner who preaches against greed. While “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” exemplifies what all women want in their relationships: power. Although both “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” demonstrate the value of the opinion of elders, the stories differ in their moral values and their storyteller’s values.

Literature can be described and used as a portal to the past. The historical context written into the many different works of authors showcase social workings of a culture in a specific time period. The Canterbury Tales, which include “The Monk’s Tale” written by Geoffrey Chaucer is no exception to this. “The Monk’s Tale” are a collection of short stories classified as parables, and showcase what readers would consider sinful acts in the 14th century. Most of the passages have reoccuring sinful acts that appear story to story and include greed, desire for power, and a much too high trust in Fortune.

In the late 14th century that is represented in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, the most perceived element of a true gentleman was conceivably chivalry. This element is demonstrated in two of the many characters in the story, the Knight and the Squire. The Knight and the Squire are father and son who are both members of the aristocrat class; both ride honorably on their horses and have the aura of a true gentleman, but despite their similarities, they are different. Though the Knight and the Squire share the same profession and are both members of the same aristocratic class, they differ in the fact that the Knight portrays the ideal society while the Squire displays the reality of society.

Adapting to someone’s piece of art like this is like taking a craft, and altering it or to build off it to produce a new piece of art. Sometimes adaptation mimics the original piece. Other times the resemblance is so slight that it can be considered completely stray from the plot and theme.

into his trap, but what is ironic is the downfall of the fox.  When the fox

The Canterbury Tales is a poem written by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1392. In this poem each character tells four stories, two on the way there and two on the way home, to provide entertainment for the people on the pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral. One part of Chaucer’s tales that truly stands out is the character prologue where he introduces all of the characters on the pilgrimage and conveys the narrator’s opinions of them using satire and other literary devices. Of characters that Chaucer’s narrator describes, two are the Parson and the Friar. Both of the characters share similarities in their social status and job position however greatly contrast in morals and character. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses contrasting characteristics to convey an idea that teaches that power does not always lead to corruption.

This Canterbury tale is a detailed story of a summoner, told by The Friar. The Friar regards the summoner in this tale as a horrible and dishonest extortionist. The Friar spoke about a summoner manipulating prostitutes into giving him the men that they have seen, to then blackmail them. The summoner would supposedly do this by threatening these prostitutes and their johns with incarceration. You know from the get go that this is just the Friar trying to make the job of The Summoner look bad. The devil at the end of the story dragging the summoner to hell is supposed to describe a summoner’s job as evil. After reading the tale, you can assume that the Friar is jealous of The Summoner’s kind and fair nature.

the Wife of Bath says that "thus the apostle Paul has told it me, and bade

    The Friar was the least moral of all the other pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales. The Friar breaks all four of the moral rules. Poverty, chastity, obedience, and stability.

The Friar is the most immoral character in the canterbury tales. The Friar disobeys all the vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and stability. He disobeys the vow of of poverty in many ways like having people pay for his services. “Therefore instead of weeping and of prayer one should give silver for a poor friar’s care.” (chaucer 235-236).

In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer comments on moral corruption within the Roman Catholic Church. He criticizes many high-ranking members of the Church and describes a lack of morality in medieval society; yet in the “Retraction,” Chaucer recants much of his work and pledges to be true to Christianity. Seemingly opposite views exist within the “Retraction” and The Canterbury Tales. However, this contradiction does not weaken Chaucer’s social commentary. Rather, the “Retraction” emphasizes Chaucer’s criticism of the Church and society in The Canterbury Tales by reinforcing the risk inherent in doing so.

of the poor outfit of the Knight. Instead he attempts to point out that the

There is a specific reason that Chaucer gets the Summoner to tell that tale that he shares with the group. The Summoner is angry after hearing the Friar’s tale. He then sarcastically suggests that the Friar told a well-documented story since friars and fiends are always good friends (Chaucer, Geoffrey). The Summoner then makes a point about Friars in general telling a story of how twenty thousand Friars came from under Satan’s tail and that not all Friars are holy (Chaucer, Geoffrey). The Summoner then tells a tale of how a Friar goes around promising prayer for items people would give him, and then never sends the prayers (Chaucer, Geoffrey). The Friar then goes on to tell that the Friar fondles a sick elder man’s wife and kisses her on the cheek, then proceeds to tell the sic man that anger is not the way to go about things (Chaucer,

The Friar is a man of many traits, but trickery is one of his best traits. The Friar is a character in the poem The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. The Friar was in a religious Order, and he was loved by many people. He is a character that appears to be graceful and elegant, but he abuses his power as a clergyman, which was a common theme in the church during this time. The author, Geoffrey Chaucer, uses this poem to inform his audience of the practices in the Middle Ages. He uses the characters of the stories to show some of these practices. The Friar is one of the characters in which Geoffrey Chaucer shows the corruption of the church during the Middle Ages. The Friar is a prime example of one who used his position to get