Comparing The Summoner And The Friar In The Canterbury Tales

During the Medieval time period, Geoffrey Chaucer was an English writer who was well known for his magnificent literary work. The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, is a work that includes different stories about twenty-eight pilgrims who travel to Canterbury, England. With one of the twenty eight pilgrims being a Friar. Chaucer describes the Friar in the general prologue, a physical description and in his occupation. The Friar's Tale is told by the Friar himself and consists of a conversation between the summoner and a bailiff. The friar tells his tale about the corrupt summoner while the summoner tells his tale about the corrupt friar. Chaucer expresses that the Friar takes advantage of his position in the church and that he represents

A summoner deals with people who sin and sends them to a special court through the church; however, he fails to do this. They are also known for fortification, poor behavior and being unfair. The Summoner in the Friar's Tale abuses his job by pressuring people who need his help. He tells people their sins will be forgiven if they give him money. He collects money from people who have sinned or from those who have bad behavior. The Summoner and the Friar have a lot in common in the way they both steal and bribe from people for money. The Friar’s job is to listen to people's confessions for money; however, he abuses this job and begs others for money he claims is for the poor but keeps this money for himself. If people do not donate money to the church the Friar tells them they are sinful. People idolize the Friar because he works in the church and one should look up to anyone who works in the church. The Friar also uses women in a poor way and proceeds on to the next women after he gets what he wants from them and this relates to the summoner because he uses women in the same way. The Friar and the Summoner are both awful people who do not fulfill their duties for their

The story begins with the introducing of an archdeacon and this archdeacon shows characteristics of bold determination. The Friar’s Tale is a conversation between the summoner and a bailiff and their conversation reveals how corrupt they both are. The summoner rides into a yeoman while on his way to collect money that is overdue from a widow. The summoner asks the yeoman what he exactly does as his job and the yeoman begins to tell him, “my lord is hard, he’s difficult to please” so the yeoman claims his lord makes him work hard and that he is tired of working (1427). When the yeoman and the summoner discover they are both bailiffs, the yeoman suggests to the summoner that they travel together and become brothers until the day they die. On their ride, the yeoman tells the summoner about his “chest holds gold and silver” and the summoner begins to have excitement because he plans to steal this gold and silver from his chest (1400). This shows the poor characteristics the summoner has and digs deeper into trying to find the chest by asking the yeoman where he lives so he knows where he can accommodate the gold and silver from. However do not feel bad for the yeoman, because both the summoner and the yeoman have a poor reputation of stealing from others. The yeoman is serving for God when he works, but he abuses his job while trying to find different ways how he could accommodate