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Chaucer's Hypocrisy

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Towards the beginning of the novel, Chaucer portrays the poor scholar, Nicholas, to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the Church. While the Church provides hope for many during the dark times of the Middle Ages, it also provided misinformation to its people. This complete totalitarianism, led people to sway their opinions. Nicholas, the student of astrology and a “great creator of plans and schemes” (Blamires 43-44), makes claims that an omen, far greater than Noah’s ark will strike Oxford. “Now, John, I will not deceive you,” Nicholas claims, “there shall fall a rain so wild and mad that never was Noah’s flood half so great” (Chaucer 3512-3521). While Nicholas laid out his hoax, the carpenter became alarmed. The carpenter’s lack of remembrance and knowledge about the pivotal point of Noah’s ark.

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