The Common People In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

The religious people in the church are expected to work as role models for the common people. Throughout this time period, religion is vital to the people’s way of life. The affiliates of the church are obligated to follow four vows. The vows consist of the vow of poverty, chastity, obedience, and stability. Out of the twenty-nine voyagers riding to Canterbury, only six of them are contained within the church. These six pilgrims are the Nun, Monk, Friar, Parson, Summoner, and the Pardoner. These characters insist on making individuals believe they are genuine in their church, but some of them are quite the opposite. Although these religious people are thought to act as counselors for the common people in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Prologue” in

The vow of obedience asks a person to follow the guidelines of the career path they chose in the church. The Friar, Monk, Nun, Summoner, and Pardoner break this rule. The Friar acts like he is above the poor and does not wish to associate with them in any way. He is supposed to treat everyone equal and not be rude to anyone. The Friar was continuously hanging out at taverns. In the story, Chaucer says the Friar “… knew the taverns well in every town” (Chaucer 244). The Friar occupies most of his time in taverns, which causes him to get farther away from the customs that would make him become more modest. The Monk tends to ignore the rules of all the monks and follows his own rules. Even though he does not study, read, or do hard labor as typical monks do, he is the leader of the monks but is unethical in his spirituality. Chaucer tells us, “Greyhounds he had, as swift as birds, to course,” (Chaucer 194). This shows he had worldly possessions. As Chaucer explains in the story, the Monk has broken the vow of obedience by breaking the other vows he swore he would keep. The Nun cares more about animals and herself instead of people. Chaucer tells us the Nun has “… a golden brooch of brightest sheen” (Chaucer 164). This proves she broke the vow of obedience by breaking the vow of poverty. The Summoner would drink until he could not see straight. As Chaucer states, the Summoner breaks this vow by “drinking strong red wine till all was hazy” (Chaucer 651). With this in mind, the fellows of the church were not allowed to drink during these times. In this case, it causes him to break the vow of obedience. He was an absurd man who would imitate the teachings of God but would not understand them himself. He encourages sinful behavior and blackmails sinners he summoned. The Pardoner made a living by selling false holy relics to the devout. When Chaucer talks about the Pardoner he states, “And with these relics, any time