Religion In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

Greed and religion are two things you would not expect to intermingle, and yet Chaucer is able to develop a greedy religious character known as the Pardoner. There are many religious characters in The Canterbury Tales besides the Pardoner including the Prioress, the Monk, the Friar, and the Parson. Each character carries their own good and bad characteristics, but the Pardoner is obviously greedy. This character brings into question the greediness of the Church and Chaucer’s views. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer explores the theme of greed in relation to religion through The Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale. Despite his religious position, the Pardoner will demonstrate his greed by outlining the tricks he often plays on his listeners through his prologue and tale.

The Catholic Church was a dominant and powerful foundation represented throughout The Canterbury Tales and through the Medieval Era. The majority of religious figures in the story portrayed characteristics of unscrupulousness and deceitfulness which emerged from the corruption of the church. The exception is the Parson; who is an accurate symbol of what the Clergy should be, unlike the Friar who neglects to pursue his missionary. For instance both men act in contrast of each other and illustrate both the admirable and the sinful appearance of the clergy. Throughout the tales these two men and their polarity are presented on accounts of their obligations of the clergy, charitable nature, and their lifestyles.

The end of the Middle Ages in Europe marked a great shift in the mindset of the people regarding the Church. The Church had always been a prominent aspect of the people's everyday life, but the Church lost some of its credit as new ideas and beliefs arose. Because of various catastrophic events, people also went to extremes to justify their behavior and find forgiveness for their sins. Literary works such as Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales and Boccaccio's The Decameron show this shift in attitude through tales and stories. The many events that took place between the late 1300s and early 1400s explain resulting shift in attitude toward the Church.

The Canterbury Tales were written and pieced together in the late 1380's, early 1390's.  The author of the book is Geoffrey Chaucer.  When considering the structure of the tales, one can deduce that they were put together using Framework Narrative, a very unique style of writing.  The opening prologue speaks of 29 pilgrims, including Chaucer, who are all on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. All of them are seeking a certain shrine for spiritual cleansing, and relief.  The journey was to be long, but in the end it would all be worth it.  Chaucer's social views and prejudices are revealed through his description of the pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales.

In The Canterbury Tales, the narrator sets out on a pilgrimage to Canterbury along with twenty-nine other people. They agree to a storytelling contest in order to pass the time. All levels are

The story is structured as a series of parables. Parables are stories that have hidden meanings or life lessons that you figure out as you read. The stories are connected because each story is being told by a different contestant in a storytelling contest. The Canterbury Tales is the first instance of an author creating this kind of nested structure to house multiple smaller narratives. With Chaucer came the advent of the frame

By analyzing “The Canterbury Tales”, one can conclude that Chaucer did see the merits of the church, but by no means regarded it in a wholly positive light. Whereas some of the clergy are viewed as devout and God-fearing, others are viewed as con- men and charlatans. One can even venture to say that Chaucer was using this story as somewhat of a criticism of the church, showing the flaws of its leaders and the greed that permeated it at the time.

Pilgrims are journeys to a sacred lands for religious purposes. In some religious pilgrims, religious seekers take time to reach the sacred place for religious reasons such as being reincarnation, and being forgiven. The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, is a book of individual tales called pilgrims. Geoffrey Chaucer’s book is about a group of people who take a pilgrim to Canterbury, which is located in England. The group starts their journey at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, England. In the beginning he starts off by acknowledging who is traveling to the shrine of Saint Thomas a Becket in Canterbury. He gives descriptions of each character. With his words he describes the personality of the characters. Geoffrey Chaucer

“Barna surveyed 718 self-identified Christians from a variety of denominations to find what extent their actions and attitudes line up with Jesus’s. Researchers found only 1 in 7 Christians manages to hold Christ-like beliefs and also act in Christ-like ways” (Steffan). Chaucer depicts a group of twenty-nine diverse travelers on a pilgrimage to Canterbury to visit the grave of St. Thomas a’ Becket. Many of the religious figures from the tales fail to measure up to the actions and attitudes of Christ as well. It is ironic because their attitudes consist of helping people and honesty but their actions show a completely different image. In The Canterbury Tales, the Nun, the Monk, and the Pardoner are rich, which is ironic because they take a vow of poverty.

During the time period that “The Canterbury Tales” was written, England went under massive changes of all kind, specifically religious, political, and medically. The changes of this time inspired many of the stories and characters as most of them formed their lives around these changes. During this era of England, the Church of England gained immense amounts of influence, enough to have control over the King himself. The characters named the Pardoner and the Summoner were both from the church, or so they pretend. Their stature with the church gave them respect among the other members of the group heading to Canterbury. The character, the Doctor, took advantage of the sick by telling them that they need a special medicine that only his friend sells. The plan was that the Doctor would send people to his friend for a special deal and the Doctor would get a cut of the profit from his friend. As the church rose to power, they officially had their own military power in forms of knights and squires. Their influence stretched far and wide, only becoming even larger by the holy wars being fought throughout Europe. The church turned their knights into crusaders and ordered them to go to places such as Alexandria, Benamarin, Flanders, and other places around Europe. It was revealed that the Knight and the Squire were indirectly mentioned as being part of the crusades. It was revealed by how they were mentioned to have been in those cities at the same time of the crusades.

Chaucer lived in a time dictated by religion and religious ideas in which he uses The Canterbury Tales to show some of his views. Religion played a significant role in fourteenth-century England and also in Chaucer’s writing. His ideas of the Church are first seen in “The Prologue,” and he uses seven religious persons to show the influence of the religion in his writing. Although many of his characters appear to portray part of the corruption in the Church, he does give a small example in which one can conclude that he is speaking in praise.

In The Canterbury Tales by Geoffery Chaucer, religious figures are constantly being satirized by being shown in a negative way that is contrary to their religion. One such character is the Monk. The Monk should be living a life of poverty and humility, but instead he enjoys hunting, is overweight, and extravagantly dressed due to his wealth. In Dante’s Inferno, the Monk would be classified in the third circle of hell due to his gluttonous lifestyle. In the Inferno Dante designates the third circle of hell for those who live in gluttony.

keep to his studies, but instead would rather be doing labor. In addition, he holds

Geoffrey Chaucer is known as the “Father of English Poetry” because of his book The Canterbury Tales (Chaucer & Canterbury Tales Notes taken in Mr. Dye’s Advanced English 12 class). The Canterbury Tales comes from the Canterbury Pilgrimage, which was a significant part of Christian faith. Pilgrimages helped spread religion and help the pilgrims advance in their spiritually. The main difference between a pilgrimage and a vacation is that pilgrimages are uncomfortable in some way and pursue spiritual or religious growth. The Canterbury Cathedral was a Christian architecture in Kent, England, where pilgrims could gather and worship God. However, in 1067, a fire incinerated the cathedral and repaired later under Lanfranc’s supervision (Canterbury Cathedral). The Danes invaded and had set nearby cottages on fire, right outside of the Monastery (The Cathedral’s Great Fire). The embers went undetected, and by the time the villagers noticed something was wrong, the interior of the cathedral was in flames. However, in 1675, the Canterbury Cathedral was being rebuilt and took a total of 35 years to complete.

The duration of the novels, the characters are seen lamenting their pasts and longing for a future, ready for whatever seems to be awaiting them. The journey that the pilgrims takes and the stories they tell attempts to reconcile their purpose for the journey. At the same time they reconcile their pasts, and not just their pasts but also the past of humanity. The underling issue of the novel is that the characters are unable to properly grieve for their pasts and it is ultimately recreated in an odd, intergalactic colonialism that causes a war.