Examine the Presentation of the Ecclesiastical Characters in Chaucer’s General Prologue

Chaucer’s account of the ecclesiastical figures is an example of his social satire. He presents the majority of these characters as people going on the pilgrimage for completely the wrong reasons, which suggests how seriously Chaucer is worried with the lowering of moral standards, as well as the avarice gripping society. This could be a definite criticism of the corrupt state of the church at the time. Out of the thirty pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales, eight are members of or have close dealings with the Church, which indicates just how much Medieval life is dominated by the Church, and how widespread it’s influence was. It is these descriptions of these ecclesiastical characters that demonstrates how the combination of larger amounts of power and money flowing into the Church have undermined the previously ascetic discipline, and distorted it’s moral values.

The Monk is presented as a man of the world, who relishes in good food, recreation and freedom. Monks in those days actually had to take a vow of poverty, chastity and obedience, living separate from the rest of the world so as to prevent any distractions from interfe

Despite books being not only rare, but very expensive because books had to be copied by hand, the Clerk seems to have managed to acquire no less than twenty, which could be a sign of his earnest devotion to his studies. The fact that he keeps the books at his head when he goes to sleep, also suggests that he values the books very greatly. This immersion in study comes at the cost of comfort. The Clerk, apart from the books, has almost nothing of value, as is mentioned, “Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre” (300). This poverty of possessions seems to be balanced out by the riches of his intellect, but he distances himself from other walks of life, where others might look for prosperous or powerful positions. His lack of wealth is taken to quite an extreme, as shown by his threadbare clothes, and horse that was as thin as a “rake”. This is significant because many of the fellow pilgrims have been defined by their horses, whether they were plump, well groomed, or well dressed, t!

which cleverly lets the pilgrim expound his own beliefs:

The Monk is described as a “manly man”, and as a man with

Some topics in this essay:
God Monk, Friar Friars, Church Instead, Madame Eglentine, Canterbury Tales, Bowe” Prioress’, Prologue Chaucer’s, Middle Ages, ecclesiastical characters, pilgrims french, wrong reasons, description chaucer, wild rose, ecclesiastical figures, threadbare clothes, middle ages,