Any valued status that may hold moderate power or elevation over others can easily grant one individual with an unhealthy dose of pride, ego, and pretension. One might find themselves blind of said pride, ego, and pretension, allowing such qualities to take root and foster, only to transfigure into hypocrisy (certainly no better). Terribly so, such a case is arguably inescapable, proving itself present in just about every walk of life in some form or another. Covering every broad field of profession (science, religion, and religion/law), Chaucer utilizes social strata to efficiently convey his critique of hypocrisy in late 14th century England.
Introducing his character The Physician, Chaucer remarks that there was "none like him to pick"
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In the case of this monk, he is supposed to be following the Rule of St. Benedict (written by St. Benedict of Nursia). It is first worth establishing that The Monk had explicitly dismissed his Rule:
The rule of Maurus or Saint Benedict,
By reason it was old and somewhat strict,
This said monk let such old things slowly pace
And followed new-world manners in their place. (Chaucer, 6)
Taken from the Order of Saint Benedict's website are some of the Rules of Saint Benedict to which The Monk should be abiding by, including, though not limited to: little to no material property, working with hands six hours a day, spending leisure time on prayer, fasting, and service of neighbour. Certainly, it is worth mentioning that the subject of prayer was not even mentioned once throughout The Monk's entire introduction. Even more evident are his many personal belongings (considerably flashy, valuable ones at that), denial of work, and eating habits. Christianity having had a rather strong hold on the status of late 14th century England, hypocrisy in religion (this one specifically) holds potential to become a dangerous influence on its surroundings (people, specifically).
Finally we have The Summoner. Surely there is no better subject than this
Why Henry VIII Closed the Monasteries There were 800 monks and nuns in 1500s they had strict rules, The rule of St. Benedict for monks of the Benedictine order was prayer should take place eight times a day, all monks should sleep in separate beds, all monks must rise quickly when signal is given to attend the services and all monks must not grumble about the colour or rough material of their clothes. The rule of St. Augustine for the monks of the Augustine order was love god and your neighbour and monks should spend their time when not praying, coping books, looking after the poor and old, nursing the sick and crippled, teaching children and looking after travellers. Between 1536 and 1539 Henry V111 and Cromwell decided to close the monasteries because the monks are not flowing rules and take all the wealth to defend the country. In order to complete this essay I am going to explain below in detail why the monasteries were closed by Henry V111 between 1536 and 1539
The Virtue of Men and Women in The Canterbury Tales People never change. In every town you will always be able to find the "rich guy," the "smart guy," the "thief," and the "chief." It has been that way since the first man was swindled out of his lunch. Throughout his life, Geoffrey Chaucer encountered every kind of person and brought them to life for us in "The Canterbury Tales," a collection of short stories written in the 1300's. There are tales of saints, tales of promiscuity, tales of fraud, and tales of love.
“The Canterbury Tales” was written in the 14th century by Geoffrey Chaucer. These tales constitutes a frame story which each pilgrim has to tell their own story to the Chaucer, the pilgrim; not the poet. As we know, the tale itself is a satire, but the stylistic structure in the tales creates a sense that can be a parody as well. To support this idea of parody, it is need to know the definition of parody and how Chaucer use this style to make his own ideas clear through the general prologue and the tales such as “The Miller’s Tale” and “The Knight’s Tale”.
During the medieval ages, women were described as evil creatures that would destroy anyone standing in their way to get what they want. People claimed that women's malicious intentions clouded their judgment from doing the right thing forcing them to be selfish. In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales and Malory’s The Death of King Arthur, both focus on women’s behavioral impulses through their dishonesty, manipulation, and their promiscuity.
Although society has advanced dramatically technologically, I feel that we still have a long way to go when it comes to how we view one another. It amazes me that in a society such as ours, that bases its existence on the equality of all people, that misogyny (as it occurred in medieval times) still takes place. A timeless example of misogyny is the objectifying of women, which suggests that a woman's sexual beauty is her only worth. In dealing with this misconstruction, some women, as in the case of Bercilak's wife in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" and Alisoun in "The Miller's Tale" from The Canterbury Tales, use their sex appeal to deceive, lure, and, manipulate men. A small part of me shamefully admits that I respect, and even appreciate, the way in which a woman can outsmart a man by entertaining his sexist views; however, as a whole, I strongly feel that if a woman uses her sexuality for her own advancement, then she is contributing to her own misogyny.
made his profession as a monk in the fall of 1506, and his superiors selected
The stories on The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer often undermine societal hierarchies at the time. The tales Chaucer tells highlight aspects of authority that would otherwise never be questioned. In “The Miller’s Tale”, the notion of a clear useful economic hierarchy is challenged. Chaucer critiques chivalry in “The Knight’s Tale,” testing the value of the authority it provides. In “The Friar’s Tale”, Chaucer questions the benevolence of the church and its position hierarchy. By giving archetypal characters the freedom to act in opposition to their hierarchical roles, Chaucer calls the nature of authority into question.
In the prologue, Chaucer mentions the Monk had "let such old things pass and followed the ways of the newer world", meaning he did not follow the rules of his religion as he was supposed to. He went against his religion in many ways: being a hunter, wearing jewelry and riding horses. In the prologue for the Monk's tale, he somewhat gets exposed by the host. The host says, "May God bring to destruction the one that first brought you to the religious life", basically saying the Monk doesn't deserve the position he has. Since the Monk is so lenient with his religion, he might even be able to be considered a regular citizen.
An interesting aspect of the famous literary work, "The Canterbury Tales," is the contrast of realistic and exaggerated qualities that Chaucer entitles to each of his characters. When viewed more closely, one can determine whether each of the characters is convincing or questionable based on their personalities. This essay will analyze the characteristics and personalities of the Knight, Squire, Monk, Plowman, Miller, and Parson of Chaucer's tale.
In his story titled "The Canterbury Tales" Chaucer seems to truly admire some of the pilgrims while displaying disdain and sarcasm towards the others. The pilgrims that he most seems to admire are the Knight, the Oxford Clerk and the Parson. The knight he seems to admire based on his notation of all the campaigns in which the knight has participated in service to just causes. Chaucer makes mention of the knight 's worthiness, wisdom and humility "Though so illustrious, he was very wise And bore himself as meekly as a maid." (67,68 Chaucer). It seems as though Chaucer admires the knights great ability both in warfare and practicing what he preaches. This can be seen in his description of all those he seems to admire in the tale. The Oxford Clerk
Many of the religious characters in The Canterbury Tales represent character traits that are different from what is traditionally expected of them. This is because the Catholic Church, which ruled all of England, Ireland and most of Europe in the Fourteenth Century, was extremely wealthy. Extravagant cathedrals were built in every big city while the people suffered from poverty, disease and famine. The contrast between the wealth of the church and misery of the people was overwhelming. As a result, the characters in Chaucer's tales were portrayed as deceitful and greedy. Two examples of this are the Summoner from the "The Friar's Tale" and Death from the "The Pardoner's Tale."
It is a sad commentary on the clergy that, in the Middle Ages, this class that was responsible for morality was often the class most marked by corruption. Few works of the times satirically highlight this phenomenon as well as The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer’s "General Prologue" introduces us to a cast of clergy, or "Second Estate" folk, who range in nature from pious to corrupt. The Friar seems to be an excellent example of the corrupt nature of many low-level clergymen of the times- while his activities were not heretical or heinous, his behavior is certainly not in accord with the selfless moral teachings he is supposed to espouse. According to the Narrator’s account, he is a snob, corrupted by greed, and acts in very un-Christian ways. It is clear that he is a man of low moral standards.
In the middle ages Friars, Monks and Prioresses had very specific roles in society. A Friar had to follow the mendicant order while living off of charity, preaching, educating, attending to the sick and absolving people from their sin. The Prioress was the head of a group of nuns. She would have had a low social standing as she belongs to the Theocracy. Her roles included growing vegetables and grain, producing wine and honey, providing medical care for the community and being in charge of the Priories. Lastly, the Monk’s role was to remain in his cloister and study religious texts; “And that a monk uncloistered is a mere/ Fish out of water, flapping on the pier…”(177-178). All of these people were supposed to model holiness; they were bound to the community and had no personal possessions. They are supposed to be selfless Christians dedicated to the Church.
Stability for Saint Benedict inculpates the commitment to nest out the rest of someone’s life in a community that is in monastery in which they are introduced. In order to have stability no one moves away from the monastery to another monastery, or from one place to another place.
In The Canterbury Tales, author Geoffrey Chaucer writes of the journey several pilgrims make from London to Canterbury to visit the shrine of St. Thomas Becket. Many of the pilgrims are discussed at great length, from their physical appearance to their personality traits. Many of these pilgrims represent a paradigm of their role in the 14th century when this set of tales was written. For example, the knight represents chivalry and honor to the highest degree, while the pardoner embodies Chaucer’s view on several negative aspects of the religious system at the time. These characters are the opposite extremes of Chaucer’s totem pole of morality, but most characters reside somewhere in the middle. Two of these characters are the Sergeant of Law