The Cantebury Tales was Geoffrey Chaucer's Satire Towards the Catholic Church

During this time, the Church was everything- everyone believed in their teachings and would go by their rules- and so did

Luxury played an immense role in medieval Catholicism by taking the focus from God and placing it on the acquisition of riches and glory, which is shown by these sources: The Apology by Bernard of Clairvaux, The Book of Suger by The Abbot Suger and Guilty Pleasures: Luxury in the Middle Ages. These sources demonstrate the exorbitant manner that the churches and monasteries were being built in during that time. This not only drew attention away from the real reason for these buildings, but also was a form of idolatry for these monks, despite the honest intentions of some of them, including the Abbot Suger. Each source lends different insight into the corruption of the church during this medieval period.

The pardons that the Pardoner was to sell were pieces of paper that the bishop's signature on them, permitting the conveyer to pardon for their sins. As the readers kept reading the prologue of the Pardoner, they learned that he did not necessarily care about do his job. The readers learned his character when he told them that greed is the root of all evil. He only cared to make a mockery of everyone else for his selfish needs. The Pardoner wanted to cash in on religion in any way he can, and he did that by selling palpable, substantial objects. His greed controlled his life and took over the wellbeing he once had in him. His greedy ways only were going to hurt him, but he sold any relic he could for profit. Whether it were slips of paper that promise forgiveness of pardons or animal bones that people can twine around their necklines as charms against the evil spirit. The greed the Pardoner had in him played a significant role when it came to the tale he told while traveling to

During this brutal century of disease, plague, famine, and scarce labor, the sight of such a beautifully gilded cathedral seemed unjust to many people, and all preaching about greed made the wealthy Church seem hypocritical. Common antipathy for the Church’s luxurious tastes resulted in tales of clergymen accepting bribes and indulging

In “The Pardoner’s Tale”, the Pardoner is someone who sells relics. Remember most relics are not real, so selling these relics is an easy way to get money. The Pardoner tells us “... I’ve relics, pardons

·   "Why should he study and drive himself crazy, always poring over a book in his cloister, or work and slave with his hands as St. Augustine orders?" (Chaucer Pg. 4-Line 21)

Plain and simple, the Pardoner is a self-centered, greedy human being whose motive is to take from the poor and personally benefit from their contributions. What the Pardoner does is travel from town to town giving pardons, which forgives people of their sins and allows them to enter the Kingdom of God. Though this seems like an honest trade, he adds a sickening twist to it. The Pardoner shares, “I preach for nothing but the greed of gain and use the same old text, as old as brass, and thus I preach against the very nice. I make my living out of avarice.”

The pardoner does whatever it takes to get money from is listeners, which includes lying, and tricking them into buying “relics” in bottles. He sells these bottles claiming them to be some kind of miracle cure, “Where there is a pox or scab or other sore/all animals that water at that well/are cured at once…And it’s a cure for jealousy as well…” (260). He is never going to see these people again so he says whatever it takes to get their money. “That tricks been worth a hundred marks a year/since I became a pardoner, never fear” (260), he tells the people whatever they want to hear in order for them to buy into his scheme, he has no real care for the people or his job. He refers to his life as a game, because he travels to

Chaucer demonstrates corruption of the clergy through the pardoner who is a sinner since he deceives the innocent through greed, which at the time was a mortal sin. Chaucer describes the pardoner as having a bunch of relics in his pouch such as “a croys of latoun, full of stones” (GP 699). However, Chaucer retorts,

The Pardoner use deceit and lies to pray on the poor and innocent, his characterization represents the churches misuse of its vast power. Chaucer fortifies this idea when he describes the Pardoner as “And thus I preach against the very vice/I make my

The funds to build this enormous cathedral came partly from the laity, many of whom wanted to see a fitting place for the housing of the cloak of the Virgin. Many people came to worship the objects connected with religious figures, called relics, that were stored in cathedrals through Europe during the Middle Ages. One of the most widely known relics was housed in Chartres cathedral. This cloak, which was supposed to have been worn by the

Both the Pardoner and the Friar are portrayed as quick-thinking charlatans. Chaucer does seem to admire the Pardoner’s skill, and skilled he is, but his actions do not befit a man of the cloth. The Pardoner is spoken of as using bogus relics to con “poor up-country parsons” out of their hard-earned cash. These small hustles netted him “more in a day than the parson in a month or two”. When choosing his occupation, I’m sure the Pardoner did not see the light of the lord but rather, dollar signs. Chaucer goes on to say that yes, the pardoner did preach rather well and his stories were quite splendid, however that might be on account that he could “win money from the crowd”.

The life of a pilgrim during the middle ages were harsh because of the type of life they had to live while traveling. The routes that they would take were so hazardous and filled with criminality that the pilgrims would then start to travel in bands to make it less threatening for them. Pilgrimages were very expensive because they had to pay for certain items or necessities that they needed along the way. Items such as: water, food, clothing, or housing. The trips would last days depending on how the pilgrims would

One could suggest that one of the main reasons why Church was such

The aim of any true satirical work is to poke fun at a certain aspect of society, while also inspiring reform to that very same aspect in one way or another. In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Chaucer satirizes the Medieval Church and those associated with the church. Medieval society was centered largely around the Church. Ideally, the people were expected to understand that earthly possessions were meaningless when compared to the prospect of closeness with God. Man was expected to work until he died, at which time he would receive eternal salvation. This eternal salvation was achieved by obeying God's commandments. This theory, however, was becoming progressively corrupted as hypocrisy began to pollute the Church, particularly at the higher