The Doctor In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

In Canterbury Tales, Chaucer reveals hypocritical qualities in the Pardoner through vivid characterization, tone, and morality. The Pardoner's total lack of respect for the Church's expectations and the congregation allows Chaucer to display flaws in society. Chaucer is able to demonstrate scams and illustrate hypocrisy in the Church, and society in general through the techniques he uses in Canterbury Tales.

One way the Doctor impacts The Canterbury Tales is by showing the difference between how devout the travelers were. The purpose behind this pilgrimage was to visit a holy place. While some of the characters are extremely religious and that truly was their motive, others had different reasoning. There is only one line in the Doctor’s section of the prologue that mentions religion, and it implies that the Doctor doesn’t practice religion much at all. There is a lot of emphasis on how much the Doctor reads, listing fourteen historical figures (Chaucer 439-444) and following that a few lines later by saying, “He did not read the Bible very much”

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.

The Canterbury Tales is a poem written by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1392. In this poem each character tells four stories, two on the way there and two on the way home, to provide entertainment for the people on the pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral. One part of Chaucer’s tales that truly stands out is the character prologue where he introduces all of the characters on the pilgrimage and conveys the narrator’s opinions of them using satire and other literary devices. Of characters that Chaucer’s narrator describes, two are the Parson and the Friar. Both of the characters share similarities in their social status and job position however greatly contrast in morals and character. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses contrasting characteristics to convey an idea that teaches that power does not always lead to corruption.

The Friar is one of the biggest examples of hypocrisy in the story. Throughout the Friar’s description, he is shown to take advantage of his position and shun his duties to benefit himself. Instead of conforming to the poor lifestyle of traditional friars, Chaucer’s Friar manipulates people into giving him money and then pockets it for himself. One way he takes advantage of his position is by charging people for confessions: “Sweetly he heard his penitents at shrift with pleasant absolution, for a gift” (103, 225-226). He also makes money by being an excellent beggar, as shown in the quote: “He was the finest beggar of his batch...For though a widow mightn’t have a shoe, so pleasant was his holy how-d’ye-do he got his farthing from her just the same...” (103, 259-261). The Friar also rejects his duties by refusing to associate with the needy, as described in the passage: “ It was not fitting with the dignity of his position, dealing with a scum of wretched lepers; nothing good can come of dealings with the

Geoffrey Chaucer’s famous medieval classic, The Canterbury Tales, offers its readers a vast array of characters. This God’s plenty features numerous unique and challenging individuals, but there is one specifically who stands out as particularly interesting. The immoral Pardoner, who, in a sense, sells away his soul for the sake of his own avarice, puzzles many modern readers with his strange logic. Already having laid his considerable guilt upon the table, this corrupted agent of the Church attempts to pawn off his counterfeit relics for a generous price. His actions are slightly troubling and mysterious, but his shameless misdeed is easily explainable if a reader chooses to interpret the man as a symbol rather than a fully formed human

Canterbury Tales is an exquisite literary work for numerous reasons among them being the satirical way that Chaucer is able to get his agenda across. However, as the times change, the areas where we need to provide more discretion change as well. There are a lot of characters in Canterbury Tales that while they were great for their time period are either nonexistent or not relevant anymore. The occupations alone have changed dramatically simply based on the demands that we now have socially or in the work force. In addition, while it is still a mainstay in millions of households, the church and religion don’t hold as big a sway over the current factions you would find in the world. While Chaucer, the father of the English language, does a masterful job when he intricately describes his characters in the general prologue, if the tales were adapted for modern times he would need to add a celebrity, an athlete, and a news anchor.

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.

Here, Chaucer calls the pardoner a liar who uses false relics to collect money from people he meets who are trying to repent of their sins. The pardoner is even more appalling because he preaches against greed, yet he is guilty of that very sin when he tricks the innocent into giving him large amounts of money by using these false relics.

He might be helpful on the journey, but he might also be a con artist. He enjoys obtaining gold. He might treat the patient and give them a medicine that won't benefit them much. He would continue to provide his service as long as his patients have money to scam. Chaucer reveals the flaw within the group to show that nothing could be perfect.

The Physician “dressed in red and blue cloth lined with taffeta and with silk (Chaucer 10),” which are types of clothing that represent wealth and money. The physician dressed in ways you would expect to see a typical wealthy doctor dressing. The Physician “especially loved gold (Chaucer 10),” and he was very blunt with the way he felt about money. He wore nice things and was always trying to get more money. The Physician would “help forecast the health and treatment of his clients (Lyons 6),” in the most beneficial way for him to get the most money. The Physician showed greediness by always looking for the most expensive diagnosis for the patient. “If they are very rich he orders twice the quantity for them as he does for the poor (Lyons 7),” because he was more willing to help those who could pay him in well in return. The Physician was indeed good at his job, but was also good at swindling his way to receive money. The Physician is an example of how in society, people dress to impress but even when they have nice things and enough is never

Chaucer characterizes The Pardoner this way to show the followers of the church how obliviously greedy the church is. Pardoners are expected to live modest lifestyles; they aren’t supposed to be more than well off. Speaking on

Perception can change everything. Often in life, one’s perception can become distorted by many factors including culture, goals, and emotions; these are just three items off a grocery list of influences that can affect how one expresses certain topics. Geoffrey Chaucer was extremely impacted by society’s influence as well as his own religious standpoint when writing The Canterbury Tales. When acquainting the reader with the Parson and the Pardoner, Chaucer describes their contradictory personalities by his biased perception of them due to the world around him. Additionally, throughout “The Parson’s Tale” and “The Pardoner’s Tale”, he is able to expand on specific topics through the characters, such as the seven deadly sins.

According to the philosopher Lucius Seneca, “Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.” There is a multitude of different religions, of all shapes and sizes. For each individual, religion is defined by what they learn from it, and how they apply it to their life. Therefore, they can use religion in a positive way, loving and helping others, or they can misuse it. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s

Chaucer’s writing involves a lot of hypocritical characters, for example the pardoner. He speaks of religious peoples wrong doings and the how the workers are compassionate and God fearing. If Chaucer were to still be alive in this day and age he would have plenty to write about. From major icons to the people in charge, there is always lying and hypocrisy. Examples of pilgrims that Chaucer would include in his Canterbury Tales today would be, celebrities, politicians, and modern religious figures who often display wrong doings.