The Canterbury Tales Friar Analysis

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The Unworthy Friar
It is hard to believe that the clergy, in the Middle Ages, was supposed to be the class for morality, yet the clergy was filled with corruption. Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales, does a miraculous job of highlighting the Middle Age clergy. Chaucer’s Prologue introduces the viewers to a number of pilgrims, who range from pure to unprincipled. The Friar is a magnificent example of how corrupt the clergymen can be at times. A friar is supposed to represent the Mendicant Catholic church. A friar’s job description is to give up worldly possessions and to travel place to place by begging. However, Chaucer’s description of the Friar varies very differently to the job title he supposedly represents. Chaucer’s focus …show more content…

The narrator gives the readers a few important details, “In all four Orders there was none so mellow,/ So glib with gallant phrase and well-turned speech” (Chaucer, 210-11). The reader analyzes that the Friar is very knowledgeable and sociable. Also that the Friar is a “very ceremonious fellow” (Chaucer, 209). Which tells the reader that he invited to many events in his district. This does not seem to be the typical friar who is supposed to live through life traveling without a roof over his head. The level of comfort the Friar has with those around him impose that he came from aristocratic birth. When nobles who could not provide for their children, the nobles would simply give the child to the clergy. This is most likely the case with the Friar that Chaucer tells the readers of. The text seems to indicate why the Friar’s morality may not have been of his concern. As the Friar believed it was below his standards to, “dealing with a scum/ Of wretched lepers; nothing good can come/ Of commerce with such slum-and-gutter dwellers” (Chaucer, 249-251). Considering the position of the Friar, it is very unusual for him to refer to those he is supposed to care for. Furthermore, the readers are told that the Friar knows all the worthy women of his territory. Without doubt, the Friar feels his duties are below his standards and associates with others of his social class. The speaker narrates the Friar as a high

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