'Chaucer’s Depiction of the Corrupt Church in the Canterbury Tales\r'

'The Canterbury Tales is a famously satirical piece create verbally by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the fourteenth century. Though there ar some(prenominal) theories of what Chaucer was criticizing, he mainly was questioning the motives of the church service service building. Chaucer use important figures in the church as reputations in the story who go on a journey to Canterbury although the characters do non match the typical ideals of those who would be attributed with the church.\r\nHistorically, harmonise to the feudal system, the king was to give 25 percent of his wealth to the church, which proves the church had hand of money to use in ways that would non agree with the typical morality of the church. Chaucer is making amicable commentary by highlighting on the sacred untruth and the church as it relates to money. Chaucer begins with his criticism in â€Å"The Prologue” by immediately characterizing those who are connected with the church in order of their social status, showing that there are umteen aspects of the church that fall short morally.\r\nFor example, the cavalry, though he is a noble firearm and not a religiously associate character, is the nigh virtuous; he comes at the baksheesh of the hierarchy in terms of social status. Chaucer has nothing but good things to judge about the Knight, especially when he says â€Å"he had proved his worth in his superior’s wars…in Christendom and in hea whence-lands and he had invariably been honored for his valor. ” (ll 47-50) The Knight was always respected for what he had done, even when he was doing things for his religion which cannot be said for many a(prenominal) of the other characters that Chaucer was describing.\r\nThough he is not part of the churchman group, Chaucer highlights on the Knight’s religious affiliation, saying of him that he is â€Å"a valiant warrior for his overlord. ” (ll 47) French speaking, with a dainty smile and polite look with a hidden agenda, the Prioress offers an cleverness to the twisted world of the church that Chaucer wants the referee to see. The Prioress was characterized as a expound woman because â€Å"she never let a morsel fall from her lips” (ll 128), though this is dry because as a nun she was divinatory to take a vow of poverty.\r\nChaucer then goes on to explain that the Prioress â€Å"had a few small dogs that she fed- with roast sum total or milk and fine loot” (ll 146-147), further showing that the nun didn’t take her religious duties as naughtily as she should hurl. The monk comes next in Chaucer’s hierarchy, with the description being â€Å"he didn’t give a draw hen for that text that said huntsmans are not blessed men”… â€Å" wherefore should he study and drive himself mad. ” (ll 177-178) Chaucer mocks the Monk’s lifestyle by criticizing what he chose to do instead of taking his Blessed vow of silence.\r\nHe was a hunter and wore expensive clothes: â€Å"I power saw that his sleeves were edged at the cuff with colourize fur…and to fasten his hood on a lower floor his chin he had a real intricate pin make of opulent” (ll 193) though as a man of the church he should not pass had the funds to support his lavish lifestyle, which is why Chaucer criticized the church, because he thought that it was corrupt. Chaucer goes on to say, â€Å"He was a fine fat lord in splendid shape,”(ll 200) of the Monk, hinting to the reader that he was well fed as well, though like the Prioress, he should not have been collectible to a vow of poverty.\r\nThe excuser’s purpose in the church was to pardon the sins of the church goers, though Chaucer made his character corrupt too, by charging large number to pardon their sins, something that should be unheard of, though unfortunately, it happened quite comm and. This just relates foul to Chaucer’s t houghts of the church being corrupt by wrongly using the money that it had. The pardoner’s description says, â€Å"he’d make more(prenominal) money in one day alone than the subgenus Pastor would in two months come and gone,” (ll 703-704).\r\nThis breeze also makes mention of the Parson, another religious character, though he was not criticized as ofttimes as other characters due to his description of being the only god-fearing churchman. Chaucer uses less harsh descriptions of him and even explains that he does work for the church in non-corrupt ways, much un-like the other religious characters he describes. He says of the Parson, â€Å"[he] was poor, but rich in holy thought and work.\r\nHe was also a learned man, a clerk; The Christian gospel he would truly preach, piously his parishioners to teach,” (ll 479-482) from this line the reader gains a more clear understanding for how the church was suppose(p) to be viewed. Those who were affiliated wi th the church were supposed to be devout and faithful to their God, though many did not fulfill the stereotypes that they were evaluate to. All in all, the problem with the church is that those who are supposed to be the most holy are not at all.\r\nThe obsession with money and the wrongful expense of it by all of those who are affiliated is what made the church receive so much criticism. The implied solution to the corruptness of the church is simple: to remove the money. The one character who received little criticism was the only one who helped the church be seen in a positive light, and that was the Parson. By removing the profuse money from the church, the corrupt clergy members would go back to their vows of silence and poverty and the church would be restored to its original holiness.\r\n'