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Church corruption in chaucer
Corruption of the Catholic Church in the Age of Chaucer
Chaucer and corruption summary and analysis
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In the Canterbury Tales Chaucer presents a story involved a malicious man. Chaucer uses the character and story of the Pardoner as a representative of a clergyman of the time and often of the church itself. There is irony in that he is only named as a pardoner with the power of a poena, the absolution of punishment, as he is the one in need of repentance. In his prologue and tale Chaucer presents the Pardoner as a blasphemous and dishonest man who freely admits to being a fraud to highlight the corruption of the workers of the church and to allude to the corruption in the Church itself. From the beginning we know that the Church is corrupt because it’s filled with corrupt people and give false documents. As a self-confessed ‘vicious …show more content…
man’ the Pardoner should have no place in the church, yet he carries documents given to him by ‘the auctoritee’. Pardoners during this time needed an episcopal license but many were forged or given to underserving people. The license gave them great power in the eyes of the public that was seen as part of the Church’s holy work. However as shown by Chaucer’s characterisation of the Pardoner in the contrast between the religious image of the dove and the devilish image of the pardoner as a snake spitting venom shows how blasphemous the pardoner is and that he should never have been granted documents from any bishop or priest. Chaucer illustrates that the fact that the Church offers these documents to such a blasphemer like the Pardoner is evidence that they are corrupt and this was acknowledged by the church itself when Pope Pius IV abolished pardoners as the church failed to stop the commercialisation of its relics. Chaucer uses many different methods to show how corrupt the pardoner and by association, the church, really was.
The image of the pardoner as a snake is emphasised by its repetition throughout the prologue to show his malicious nature. Contemptuous language is also used for example ‘I preche nothing but for covieitise’ and the pardoner has an arrogant tone throughout emphasised by the repetition of the personal pronoun ‘I’ in the opening of the prologue that displays how the Pardoner is extremely proud and self-involved and he was not alone. In The Portrait of The Pardoner ‘the Summoner’ is referred to as a ‘freend and compeer’ of the pardoner. By Chaucer’s characterisation of the Pardoner having ‘no berd’ and the two singing together he implies their homosexuality, a great sin in the eyes of the church and society in the 14th century. However there is no doubt that the Church was corrupted because the Pardoner’s job in the church in the Middle Ages meant status and thus attracted many people of questionable nature who did not have faith as their priority but rather wealth and position. Chaucer reveals to us that it was not only those working outside of the Church that were corrupt; the Church was corrupted from the inside and filled with immoral
characters. Corruption inside the Church is almost to be expected from what was an all-powerful institution that could easily manipulate the uneducated masses. Chaucer was not the only one to criticise the Medieval Church. Followers of Wycliffism known as Lollards criticised the Church for its hostility towards the public learning about other religions and philosophy and making their own interpretations of the Bible and Christianity. Chaucer uses the Pardoner as a representative of the church by doing this as he manipulates his audience with his boastful language stating ‘In latin I speke a words fewe’ in a patronising tone to simultaneously insult and impress the ‘lewd people’. Like the church, he plays on their illiteracy and ignorance by making wild claims that with his relics ‘beestes and stoor shal multiplie’ and he takes advantage of the peasants’ reliance on their livestock. As someone living in the 14th century Chaucer would have felt The Church’s iron grip on society that made it all powerful and undeniably corrupted from its origin. It is unsurprising then that the church became corrupted as it began to be operated as a business. Today the idea of paying to have sins absolved is ludicrous but nevertheless it was a wealthy industry in the 14th century. Chaucer shows his disdain for this through presenting the Pardoner as a business man working for the church as he sells his useless ‘cloutes..and bones’ for money. His candid language surrounding the ‘Hooly Jew’ and tone of feigned sincerity demonstrate how false his intentions are and that he only works for ‘pens or ells grotes.’ He is corrupt as he uses guilt and fear to increase sells claiming ‘swich folk shal have no power ne no grace to offren my relikes.’ And Chaucer uses irony in calling it ‘Cristes hooly werk’ to demonstrate the similarity in the tactics used by the Church and the Pardoner to make money. Chaucer criticises the clergy that lived lavish lifestyles funded by the taxes and commercialisation of the Church’s relics and behaviour that eventually led to the head of the church, Pope Boniface criticising Pardoners for their role in this corruption. The Church’s corruption is evident in requiring ‘tithes’ as tax and the fact that the more you paid the more sin you were freed from.
Chaucer was "not a reformer" or "satirist" whose goal is to reform the church. He merely wished to use different characters to tell his stories. Kittredge also mentions how the pardoner is not drunk when telling his tale, as only one draught of ale was consumed, not nearly enough to intoxicate a seasoned drinker like the pardoner. Through his reasoning, Kittredge concludes that the pardoner's foolish confession, in fact, has a purpose for the story. While the pardoner may seem foolish to reveal his sins and hypocrisies, there is reasoning behind this madness.
Throughout literature, relationships can often be found between the author of a story and the story that he writes. In Geoffrey Chaucer's frame story, Canterbury Tales, many of the characters make this idea evident with the tales that they tell. A distinct relationship can be made between the character of the Pardoner and the tale that he tells.
...nations of his thought processes, it is clear that the Pardoner does not practice what he preaches. It is ambiguous, however, as to whether the Pardoner believes what he preaches, but just doesn’t follow his preaches or whether he doesn’t believe what he preaches at all. It is evident, though, that the Pardoner has an astute mind. He is highly effective in what he does. Although he exploits the church for his own personal designs, he succeeds at obtaining that which he pursues. The efficacy of his strategy is confirmed by Chaucer’s description of the Pardoner as being a “noble ecclesiastic” and as being unmatched in his trade . Thus amidst all of his flatteries, there exists a spark of genius that complements his minimal level of ethics. This intellectual finesse is the riverbed from which all of the products of his mind flow.
of Death. When a young boy is asked what happened to a man who had just
but. "Chaucer: The Pardoner's Tale." Washington State University - Pullman, Washington . N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2011. .
He must be a sailor As critical as he was of ecclesiastical abuse, Chaucer was, nevertheless, Christian. I am a Christian. As impressive and complex as it is, even the Pardoner's. self-awareness has its limits. If the relationship between the teller and his tale is consistent with the other tellers and their tales, we can assume that Chaucer is suggesting that the Pardoner quite.
In Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the Pardoners Prologue, we see the theme of hypocrisy throughout the play. The pardoner knows he is a con artist and liar and freely admits it in both word and action in his tales prologue. The pardoner begins with the tale itself. In his sermon he describes gluttony in detail, and defines it as not only overeating, but the intense pleasure of doing it. He also denounces wine with examples of drunkenness. He also discusses swearing and cursing and concludes with condemning gambling.However, we can see hypocrisy be4 the tale even begin.The pardoner before telling his tale stops off at an inn for food &bear .He also partakes in a bet , whoever tells the best story wins. The pardoner also insults the host, who just before asking the pardoner to speak has been cursing and using bear to mend his broken heart. Furthermore, he is also the owner of the tavern which encourages eating &drinking. We can also assume that the pardoner and the host r drunk.In addition, the pardoner offers his lisnters a chance to redeem themselves, not through relics by acknowledging what they did wrong.However,at the end of his tale is saying his relics are needed for redemption eventhough he knows they are fake. In conclusion we see how through the pardoner the theme of hypocrisy.
The Pardoner is the best representation of an allegorical character in “The Prologue” of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The Pardoner is the perfect personification of fraudulence. He shows this in three basic ways: his appearance, speech, and actions. If one just glances through the reading of the Pardoner than one will think that he is a good religious man, but if one look further into it than he will find the small double meanings that he is the exact opposite. Chaucer likes to use an allegorical style to add some comedy and sophistication to his writings.
There are seven deadly sins that, once committed, diminish the prospect of eternal life and happiness in heaven. They are referred to as deadly because each sin is closely linked to another, leading to other greater sins. The seven deadly sins are pride, envy, anger, sloth, gluttony, avarice, and lechery. Geoffrey Chaucer's masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, provided an excellent story about the deadly sins. Focusing mainly on the sins of pride, gluttony and greed, the characters found in The Canterbury Tales, particularly The Pardoner's Tale, were so overwhelmed by their earthly desires and ambitions that they failed to see the effects of their sinful actions, therefore depriving themselves of salvation.
The Pardoner’s Prologue/Tale begins with a sort of introduction, hence the title “Prologue”. It is here that we learn of the reaction that the Host gives after hearing the Physician’s Tale previously. The Host seems to be so shocked at the death of the young Roman girl in the tale that he asks the Pardoner to tell the group a merrier, more farcical tale. After some time, the Pardoner is ready to present his tale, including both moral interjection and a merrier tone. The Pardoner begins by describing a group of young Flemish people who spend their time drinking and indulging themselves in all forms of excess. He continues to tell the tale, in which the people eventually end up drinking posioned wine and all die. As is, there are more details in the tale that we did not go over there are some key elements that help us to better understand the Pardoner upon hearing his tale. First of all, we know from The General Prologue that the Pardoner is just as bad or corrupt as others in his “profession”. However, after hearing his tale it is quite shocking about his frankness about his own hypocrisy. We know that he bluntly accuses himself of fraud, avarice, and gluttony all things that he preaches against throughout this tale. It is in lines, 432-433 that the Pardoner states, “But that is nat my principal entente;/ I preche nothyng but for coveitise.” It is here that we truly begin to learn that The Pardoner’s Tale is merely an example of a story that is often used by preachers to emphasize a moral point to their audience. That is why, this tale in particular helps to comprehend Chaucer’s own opinions, and how he used satire to display
The monk receives some scathing sarcasm in Chaucer’s judgment of his new world ways and the garments he wears “With fur of grey, the finest in the land; Also, to fasten hood beneath his chin, He had of good wrought gold a curious pin: A love-knot in the larger end there was.” (194-197, Chaucer). The Friar is described as being full of gossip and willing to accept money to absolve sins, quite the opposite of what a servant of God should be like. Chaucer further describes the friar as being a frequenter of bars and intimate in his knowledge of bar maids and nobles alike. The friar seems to be the character that Chaucer dislikes the most, he describes him as everything he should not be based on his profession. The Pardoner as well seems to draw special attention from Chaucer who describes him as a man selling falsities in the hopes of turning a profit “But with these relics, when he came upon Some simple parson, then this paragon In that one day more money stood to gain Than the poor dupe in two months could attain.” (703-706, Chaucer). Chaucer’s description of the pardoner paints the image of a somewhat “sleazy” individual “This pardoner had hair as yellow as wax, But lank it hung as does a strike of flax; In wisps hung down such locks as he 'd on head, And with them he his shoulders overspread; But thin they dropped, and stringy, one by one.” (677-681,
The Canterbury Tales is a literary masterpiece in which the brilliant author Geoffrey Chaucer sought out to accomplish various goals. Chaucer wrote his tales during the late 1300’s. This puts him right at the beginning of the decline of the Middle Ages. Historically, we know that a middle class was just starting to take shape at this time, due to the emerging commerce industry. Chaucer was able to see the importance and future success of the middle class, and wrote his work with them in mind. Knowing that the middle class was not interested in lofty philosophical literature, Chaucer wrote his work as an extremely comical and entertaining piece that would be more interesting to his audience. Also, Chaucer tried to reach the middle class by writing The Canterbury Tales in English, the language of the middle class rather than French, the language of the educated upper class. The most impressive aspect of Chaucer’s writing is how he incorporated into his piece some of his own controversial views of society, but yet kept it very entertaining and light on the surface level. One of the most prevalent of these ideas was his view that certain aspects of the church had become corrupt. This idea sharply contrasted previous Middle Age thought, which excepted the church’s absolute power and goodness unquestionably. He used corrupt church officials in his tales to illustrate to his audience that certain aspects of the church needed to be reformed. The most intriguing of these characters was the Pardoner. Chaucer’s satirical account of the Pardoner is written in a very matter-of-fact manner that made it even more unsettling with his audience. Chaucer uses his straightforwardness regarding the hypocrisy of the Pardoner, suggestive physiognomy of the character, and an interesting scene at the conclusion of the Pardoner’s Tale to inculcate his views of the church to his audience. The way that Chaucer used these literary devices to subtly make his views known to an audience while hooking them with entertainment, shows that Chaucer was truly a literary genius.
“The Pardoner’s Tale” is a short story in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. In the short story, the Pardoner tells a gruesome, shocking tale, and then offers pardons, or forgiveness, to the aghast audience (Chaucer 132-4). In The Canterbury Tales, the Pardoner does grant pardons, however, he grants them with greed (112). The Pardoner’s morals and characteristics are similar, but also different, than lawyers’ beliefs and personalities. The Pardoner and lawyers work in two very different ways, yet they both are terribly greedy and deceiving.
Chaucer uses the Prioress, the Monk and the Friar to represent his views on the Church. He makes the three model members of the Church appear to have no problems with self-indulgence, greed, and being unfaithful to their vows. He displays his anti skeptical thoughts of the faults of the medieval church by making fun of its teachings and the people of the church, who use it for personal gain. Chaucer see’s the church as corrupt, hypocritical and greedy.
The Church is the first institution that Chaucer attacks using satire in The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer wants to attack the church’s hypocrisy. Chaucer decides to create the character of the pardoner to prove his point. Cawthorne conveys, “His Canterbury Tales collects together 24 narratives with a General Prologue and an epilogue or Retraction.” Chaucer describes the character before telling their tale. The Pardoner is a man who steals from the poor. Chaucer says on page 127 line 77, “For though I am a wholly vicious man don’t think I can’t tell moral tales.” The pardoner knows what he does is wrong, but he continues to do it anyway.