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The medieval catholic church
Criticism of the Canterbury tales
Scholars analyzing the religious characters in the Canterbury tales
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Criticism of the Catholic Church in the Summoner’s Tale and the Prioress’s Tale
Many pilgrims in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales held a religious position. Some of these people’s personal ideas have caused debates and criticism over Chaucer’s opinion of the Catholic Church. Critics have discussed the ideas that were presented both subtly and openly. Two of the pilgrims and their tales will be discussed: the Prioress and the Pardoner. Both of these tales offer points of criticism in the Catholic Church.
The Prioress introduces herself as being like a child who does not know many words. She is going to try to tell a tale as best as she can. This child-like language can be seen through the whole tale. The Prioress speaks her tale in a fluent, sweet tone. Her innocence, like a child’s, can be seen as she tells her tale.
To see the entire criticism of the Prioress’s tale, the General Prologue must first be recounted. The Prioress was described as a very correct lady; all of her actions showed a very refined lady. She was also portrayed as being very sympathetic, “She wolde wepe, if that she saugh a mous kaught in a trappe, if it were deed or bledde.” (lines 144-146) She was sentimental enough to feed animals the best food she had. Thus, the Prioress was presented as a very compassionate, well-mannered lady.
However, in her tale, the Prioress has an obvious dislike for the Jewish. She relates them to the devil, “Our firste foo, the serpent Sathanas, that hath in Jues herte his waspes nest...” (Lines 558-59) She describes the Jews as “cursed” and “guilty.” She mentions the history of the Jewish as notoriously bad, “O yonge Hugh of Lyncoln, slayn also with cursed Jewes, ...
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...ummoner’s tale more openly criticizes the church, but the Prioress’s faults are fairly easy to recognize once the story is looked at closely. Chaucer used his tales to confront questionable acts of the Catholic Church.
Works Cited and Consulted
Ames, Ruth M. God’s Plenty Chaucer’s Christian Humanism. Loyola University Press: Chicago, 1984.
Colby, Elbridge. English Catholic Poets Chaucer to Dryden. The Bruce Publishing Company: Milwaukee, 1936.
Ellis, Roger. Patterns of Religious Narrative in the Canterbury Tales. Banes & Noble: Totowa, 1986.
Patterson, Lee. "The living witnesses of our redemption: Martyrdom and imitation in Chaucer's Prioress's Tale.” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies. Durham; Fall 2001. 507-560
Reiff, Raychel Haugrud. “Chaucer’s The Pardoner’s Tale.” The Explicator. Washington, Summer 1999. 855-58
A teacher’s most important duty is to protect the students they are in charge of. This duty includes both reasonably protecting students from harm and, when a student is harmed, reporting it to the proper authorities (Gooden, Eckes, Mead, McNeal, & Torres, 2013, pp. 103-109). There have been many court cases that reiterate this duty of school staff. One such case is Frugis v. Bracigliano (2003) where many staff at a school failed in their duty to protect students and allowed abuse to continue for years.
A new criterion for the ideal person must be made to not include things such as sex, but to judge a person based on his or her capabilities in doing what he or she does. The question remains on the support for equal treatment based on age, which is a very controversial debate, as factors such as higher wage from experience, or even having the contemporary knowledge for a certain job. One thing is for sure though, on a common view that as people reach old age, they become physically weaker, which may cause employers to not want to hire seniors that needs money to get by, which goes to show how there are many seniors out on the streets searching through public garbage cans for recycles in exchange for a meager income - with an out of portion amount of seniors of colour in such a circumstances goes to show an obvious language barrier still prominent throughout society. What amounts to a “fair” and “equal” treatment of the
Children exposed to violence within their communities are left with emotions of hopelessness, insecurity, and doubt. Historical events such as the war on terrorism, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the tragic events of September 11th have had a detrimental effect on the entire nation, including the children. Although every child is not directly affected by the aspects of war, it somehow has an emotional effect on all. The involvement of a nation with war affects every individual differently, whether it is out of fear, anger, doubt, hope, or love. In the short novel A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, he narrates the story by telling his own involvement in the Civil War in Sierra Leone as young boy and the many issues he faces while living in horror. Also, author Garbarino points out in his book Raising Children in a Socially Toxic Environment in the chapter involving the security of children that:
Williams, David. "Language Redeemed: 'The Pardoner's Tale,'." "The Canterbury Tales": A Literary Pilgrimage. Twayne Publishers, 1987. 53-100. Rpt. in Poetry for Students. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht. Vol. 14. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 Feb. 2011.
However, after hearing his tale it is quite shocking about his frankness about his own hypocrisy. We know that he bluntly accuses himself of fraud, avarice, and gluttony, all things that he preaches against throughout this tale. It is in lines, 432-433 that the Pardoner states, “But that is not my principal intent; I preach nothing but for convenience.” It is here that we truly begin to learn that The Pardoner’s Tale is merely an example of a story that is often used by preachers to emphasize a moral point to their audience. That is why, this tale in particular helps to comprehend Chaucer’s own opinions, and how he used satire to display them.
4. Helen Cooper, Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales (Oxford: OUP, 1989), p. 101.
The Friar and the Parson, as described in the General Prologue of the Canterbury Tales, can be used to portray both the good and the bad sides of clergy. They make a stark contrast to each other, often even directly, with their characteristics as told by the narrator. From physical traits to their actions, these two pilgrims are almost exact opposites in certain ways. Their motivations for these actions describe the differences in the mind sets of the good holy man and the one who is less true to his orders, the Parson and the Friar respectively. Throughout their portraits, the descriptions of the two are set at odds, so as to highlight their contrariety.
From The Riverside Chaucer, Third Edition. Ed. Larry D. Benson, Ph.D. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1987. Chaucer, Geoffrey. A. The Canterbury Tales.
Cooper, Helen. "Deeper into the Reeve’s Tale, 1395-1670." Pp. 168-184. In Chaucer Traditions: Studies in Honour of Derek Brewer. Ruth Morse and Barry Windeatt, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990.
This ensures that the practitioner takes necessary steps to protect a child and also promote their welfare. A practitioner will also need to promote good health of children and take appropriate action to prevent the spread of infection when a child is ill. Within the setting practitioners must work effectively to ensure that they manage the children’s behaviour effectively which is relevant to their age and stage of development.
Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales became one of the first ever works that began to approach the standards of modern literature. It was probably one of the first books to offer the readers entertainment, and not just another set of boring morals. However, the morals, cleverly disguised, are present in almost every story. Besides, the book offers the descriptions of the most common aspects of the human nature. The books points out both the good and the bad qualities of the people, however, the most obvious descriptions are those of the sinful flaws of humans, such as greed and lust.
The Canterbury Tales. Trans. Nevill Coghill. Literature: The British Tradition. Ed.
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a piece of work that resembles both a historical and sociological introduction the late middle ages. Chaucer’s ability to interpret basic human nature from different viewpoints is exemplified in the characters he created. I have selected two stories, The Prioress Tale and The Knights Tale, within the Canterbury Tales that manifest the strengths and weaknesses of human character. Than I will compare Chaucer’s pilgrims to figures portrayed by Dante in the Divine Comedy.
Chaucer uses the Prioress, the Monk and the Friar to represent his views on the Church. He makes the three model members of the Church appear to have no problems with self-indulgence, greed, and being unfaithful to their vows. He displays his anti skeptical thoughts of the faults of the medieval church by making fun of its teachings and the people of the church, who use it for personal gain. Chaucer see’s the church as corrupt, hypocritical and greedy.
The Prioress is just one example of the many flip-flop characters in Chaucer’s tales. On the outside, the Prioress appears to be someone who your parent’s wish you were like. However, once you get to know the Prioress through her tale, you wonder if she should instead join Hell’s Angels. Her thirst for the death of the young Jewish boy makes her frightening, if not almost evil, but at least she wipes her mouth neatly with a napkin.