preview

Essay on The Canterbury Tales

Good Essays

Through The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer is able to ironically portray the life friars lived throughout the 14th century. Geoffrey Chaucer was born around 1345 and lived in London. (Strohm par 1). He grew up being trained as a civil servant and diplomat. Around 1366 Chaucer married Queen Philippa of Spain (Encyclopedia of World Biography 483). Through being appointed to Parliament, he traveled to many different countries on diplomatic missions and was influenced by the contrasting types of writing (Strohm par 3). These experiences helped Chaucer to gain knowledge about diverse types of people and English writing, which influenced the way he wrote The Canterbury Tales (par 1). When Chaucer wrote, he often mocked and satirized people …show more content…

Friars accepcted vows of poverty, and only supported themselves by begging. Their mission was ultimately to spread the word of God and to relieve the pain of those affected by a disease (Rossignol 1). Friar’s vows of poverty were to be absolute. The order itself owned nothing, and did not accept any wages for labor. They relied purely on donors for clothing, food, and housing (Lambdin 81). Friars also gave confession and collected alms to live off of (80). However, friars were not allowed to assemble anything for themselves (81). Many of the friars, therefore, lived in the cities and towns, where there was a greater number of people living (80). A friar’s capital goal was apostolic teaching. Friars also held their own masses, maintained their own church, and buried patrons (81). However, in order to attain information on how to do all of these duties they had to have a teacher.
It is believed that the more humble you are the easier it is for people to focus on what you are teaching. This is where the vow of poverty started to emerge (84). Friars believed that the more humble they looked, the easier it would be for them to preach without disturbances (83). Friars, therefore, wore long, loose-fitting wool tunics with hoods. The fabrics were very tawdry, which emphasized their poverty (Newman 133). Certain orders of friars were also known to wear their own color, such as all black or all gray. Friars

Get Access