Geoffrey Chaucer's Depiction of the Church in the Canterbury Tales

Geoffrey Chaucer's Depiction of the Church in The Canterbury Tales

Poetry is an excellent way to express your feelings and beliefs. A sensitive subject on which many poets focus is that of religion. Religion became a popular topic for poetry during the Medieval Period in Europe. During this time, the English church was a topic of much discussion and dispute. Throughout the many opinions of the church a negative one would be hard to come by when asking the higher class. In his poetry, The Canterbury Tales, fourteenth century middle class British author Geoffrey Chaucer blatantly portrays his opinion that the church is mostly hypocritical and corrupt.

In "The General Prologue" of The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer successfully conveys his feelings and beliefs of the immorality of the English church through the personalities and habits of his characters. Chaucer's opinion is best shown in the characterization of the Prioress, the Monk, and the Friar. Though it may seem in reading about these characters that the church is demoralized, not everyone is to blame. The character known as the Parson does whatever he can to make the church dependable and moral. Each of these characters have completely different traits and some display no virtue at all.

The Prioress has her priorities mixed up and focuses too much on her physical appearance. English professor Mark Lowry states, "The Prioress cares more of her appearance than the prosperity of the church" (Lowry 1). Her behavior is not that of a nun, but that of a materialistic young woman. She bends the rules and does not act properly. The Prioress wastes her time mourning over small tragedies like a mouse stuck in a trap, but not over people starving. She could be putting forth an effort to help out someone in real trouble, instead she wastes her time on these small tragedies. This is not the proper attitude or behavior of a nun.

The Monk crosses the line by openly breaking the rules of his position. Brother Anthony points out, "He has many horses at home; he does not respect his monastic rule, but goes hunting instead of praying" (Brother Anthony 213). A monastery requires plenty of work; therefore there would be no proper time for hunting or any other wasteful activity. Constant physical work is required for monasteries to run properly. This monk does not serve God, but uses the world for his enjoyment and pleasure, while the true duties of a monk are praying and helping people. This monk splurges on fancy clothes and expensive food and horses. Proof of this is evident when Chaucer writes, "I saw his sleeves were purfiled at the hand with fur of grey, the finest in the land" (Chaucer 193-94). He relentlessly wastes the money meant for the church on his own enjoyment. The Monk puts forth no effort to properly maintain monastery.

Similar to yet unlike the Monk, the Friar does not only break the rules of a proper religious figure, he even offends the laws of common man. He does not help people; he uses them. He benefits from the wrong doings of other people by making them pay money instead of giving penance, which is actually a sin in itself. The Friar is also a womanizer and wastes valuable time practicing "sweet talk" and romancing women. He could use this time to do something constructive or help someone. He does not do his duty; he is greedy and selfish. While he should help the poor and the sick, he is often found at bars socializing with rich people and showing off the luxurious clothes he has. As stated in Norton "he fraternizes not with the poor, but with the rich, and he goes wherever he can find a profit" (Abrams 247). The Friar is a dishonorable thief. The small amount of money the poor have is wasted by this disgusting person.

The church may be corrupt, but some people are not at fault. The Parson carries none of these despicable traits depicted by the other characters. Guy asserts, "While the previous churchmen were all interested in things of this world more than in true Christianity,