Comparison Of Characters In The Canterbury Tales By Geoffrey Chaucer

The story The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is about a set of pilgrims traveling to a town called Canterbury. To entertain one another along their journey, each of them tells four total stories: two on their way to Canterbury and two on their trip back home. Of all of the pilgrims making this journey, many of them represent some bad qualities.

Many characters are named throughout Geoffery Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Two interesting characters are the monk and the parson. Chaucer did not admire the monk but admired the Parson for his loyalty to God and the church. The monk and the parson are very different in their thoughts on the rules and teachings of the church, thoughts on wealth, and their thoughts about material items; however they are similar in that they are both male and are considered to be holy men.

The Canterbury Tales, written and narrated by Geoffrey Chaucer, explores manipulation and dishonesty in the Catholic Church. The Nun in “The General Prologue” exemplifies improper qualities to which a Prioress should have. Along with the Nun, The Friar in “The General Prologue” uses false information to gain customer. In “The Pardoner’s Tale,” the Pardoner uses greedy tactics to wield other pilgrims into buying his relics.In Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses the Nun and the Friar in “The General Prologue” and the Pardoner in “The Pardoner’s Tale” to show the hypocrisy in the Church.

Chaucer was a writer from the Anglo Saxon Era in which he did many significant things in his short life. He is known to this day as the father of our language as we know it today. He wrote the series of stories called the Canterbury Tales, which consist of many different characters that each tell a story. In these series of stories he is us using the characters to express his mind and feelings towards the church. Chaucer is upset with the church because he knows what they are doing and how corrupt they really are. How the priests are supposed to be poor, but instead they tell the people that come to confess that everything will be alright if they give the priests a certain amount of currency. Also how the priests are not suppose to have intercourse because they are married to the church, but yet they are getting with women. The purpose of the tales is to make a political point on the hypocrisy of the church and the inequality of women to men. Of the twentyfive characters in the General Prologue there were three that stood out to me the most. The three characters are, The Squire, The Friar, and The Cook.

Through reading The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer reveals what he thinks about the characters in the medieval society. Chaucer’s general critique of society was that people during medieval times were faking who they are and aren't really doing their job in society. The nun in was a women who was friendly but had a side to her that was fake. She was not like a normal nun who wore clothing that was a little rough, “her cloak, i noticed, had a graceful charm,”(line 161) her clothing was the nicest around. More like the clothing of the nobility than the peasants, which is the class she is supposed to be like. Chaucer showed the image of a corrupt church, and how this corruptness can lead to misleading actions. The doctor was a character who on the

Initially, Chaucer describes the Parson as a “holy-minded man of good renown” (487), a statement that may bring to mind other characters who seem good, but are truly evil at their core. Though this may seem a likely case in the first few lines of the Parson’s introduction, instead he is found to be a man who lacks money, but makes up for it in his godliness (489). He is lowly of service and instead of moving to London to make an easier living (517), the Parson prefers to remain in his village and watch “over his fold” (520) because he views the townspeople as his sheep and himself as the shepherd.

The Friar and the Parson are both characters of similar social stature and are both “committed” to the church, one more so than the other. “In all Four Orders there was none so mellow” (Line 214). This quote shows that he is part of one of the four orders whom are allowed to beg for money. “There was a Friar” (Line 212). Here Chaucer very clearly states what his profession is. “He was a noble pillar to his Order” (Line 213). Once

In the Canterbury tales written by Chaucer, Chaucer uses them to describe his own position about the society he lives in. Chaucer lived in England during the 1300s-1400s, in which these times dealt with the church a lot. So, knowing that, Chaucer used a lot of his own beliefs and thoughts in his writings. He talks about The Monk, the Friar, the Summoner, and the Pardoner about how corrupt they were with the church. The Canterbury tales were used to expose the corruption of the Church’s, that’s how Chaucer wanted to bring this to light.

Money? Greed? A lot of people have some money at least. The everyday person doesn’t have all the money they want. Greed, by definition is an excessive or rapacious desire, especially for wealth or possession. At some point in time, there is always something someone is greedy for; it usually is money (let’s be honest, that’s the one thing people want the most.) People in today’s society always want more than what they have. Geoffrey Chaucer shows us this in The Canterbury Tales, especially in The Pardoner’s Tale.

The Canterbury Tales was written in Middle English and today, it is the most famous piece of work by the fourteenth century poet Geoffrey Chaucer. These tales were a series of stories told by a group of people taking a pilgrimage to Canterbury. Each member of the group was responsible for telling two tales on the way to Canterbury, then another two on the way back. Whoever’s tale was told best would be treated to a feast just to them self by the other members. Although each tale was different, the stories showed many similarities between the characters’ personalities. The stories: The Nun’s Priest’s Tale, The Pardoner’s Tale, and The Wife of Bath all show their personalities as arrogant.

Chaucer uses characterization and conflict in the story to develop thesis and theme. In the story the wife of bath is portrayed as a lot .Chaucer uses marriage and love to characterize.

The Monk and the Parson were both similar because they held positions in the church. That was one of the only similarities between the two. The main difference was that the Monk was a corrupted official of the church. The Parson was not corrupted and a good man. This corruption of the Monk and other church officials led to bad reputation of the church. Chaucer did not like the corruption within in the church but did show how everyone was not corrupt but the majority

The Canterbury Tales; written by Geoffery Chaucer in the middle ages stands out as one of the key pieces of poetry from the time. The Canterbury tales consist of many tales told by pilgrims on their way to The Cathedral of St. Thomas A. Becket in Canterbury. Thirty pilgrims gathered for the voyage to the cathedral and all agreed to tell two tales there and two on the way back. The pilgrims on the trip all come from different background and all have different professions that will make each of their tales’ unique. The Friar’s tale carries unique components and lessons. The Friar’s prologue and tale will be elaborated in the most detail here.

Chaucer’s portrayal of the Nun as a immoral and pompous figure further aids the argument of the Church’s hypocrisy. Continuing the themes of hypocrisy and corruption, Chaucer’s Friar contradicts his divine position with his deceitful actions towards society. He exploits his position in order to get

Canterbury Tales written by Geoffrey Chaucer was a story of not the people themselves but a social statement of how the people of higher standing were viewed by the middle class. In the time that Canterbury Tales was written it was a time of corruption of the Church. There were many clergy members that were mentioned in this story. Each of the characters was unique in the way they went against the standards they should be held to. The most interesting this story was definitely The Friar. The Friar was a man a bit above the monk, he was supposed to dedicate his life to poverty, he was supposed to be a beggar for the church. As Chaucer writes in his novel the reader knows just because that was what was supposed to happen, it never actually happened that way. The Friar that Chaucer introduces his audience to is one that does the opposite of what his duties actually were supposed to do. All of this being disguised as a good work. When the audience delves into the information Chaucer provides, there is a realization that the friar may not be the man good works that he is seen as. The Friar is seen in his sexual, financial with spiritual and social immorality.