Clergy Hypocrisy During Chaucer
In the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer portrays many aspects of the lives of people in the medieval era. He shows that there is more to someone than his or her class. This is especially true in his portrayal of the clergy in the general prologue and in the tales themselves. In the days of Chaucer, when the Christian church was the driving force behind most the political and moral decisions, to be part of the church was to be in a position of power and importance. These men and women were to be holy in every way and to be good examples of how others are to live. This was not always the case and Chaucer explains how, in his parody of the clergy. Chaucer criticizes the church from appearance to practice and shows that it's not what's on the outside that counts. The Canterbury Tales exhibits many examples of how life was in the Middle Ages by having people from all classes and social status on the pilgrimage to Canterbury. There are many members of the clergy on this journey, and Chaucer explains how they try to act holy and show themselves to be morally bankrupt in doing so. A nun was one of the characters traveling in the party. Chaucer writes that "...Frenssh she spak ful faire and fetisly (elegantly), after the scole of S
Chaucer continues, "She was so charitable and so pitous she woulde weepe if that she saw a mous caught in a trappe, if it were deed or bledde. This is not a bad flaw in itself, but she would only do so to act in a clean matter in front of others. Also, "hir smiling as ful simple and coy" (119) and that during meals she would "leet no morsel from hir lippes falle, ne wette hir fingers in hir sauce deepe. "He was also a lerned man, a clerk, that Christes gospel trewely woulde preche; his parisshen (parishioners) devoutly woulde he teche" (482-484) He was more concerned about the well being of the people he was instructing than he was of his own status. For a man who wasn't supposed to be caring for money, Charcer writes "his purchas (income) was wel better than his rente (expense). The monk cared more for the customs of the present than he did of preserving the customs of holy men in the Bible. He writes that the parson was a good man of religion. Chaucer examines the faults of the church's elite to show that people in society that are viewed as righteous are merely humans, and that sincerity is shown in the heart as well as in the actions. He would also frequent the taverns as Chaucer says, "he knew the taverns wel in every town and every hostiler and tapperstere (innkeeper and barmaid)" (240-241). tratford at the Bowe for Frenssh of Paris was to hire unknowe. He was saying that she would try to impress the others by speaking French, even though it wasn't in the traditional French accent, showing her falsehood even in her speech. Not only was he spending so much time away from holy things, he would also do his best to rob the poor of their money by putting guilt on them to pay alms, even if it was the rest of their money. The pardoner would sell indulgences and show people fake relics for money. The friar had to get these girls married off because he didn't want the guilt of their impurity on his shoulders.
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