The Destruction Of Wealth In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

Media and television have set high expectations for living that many people desire to attain through the accumulation of wealth. Reality television stars, professional athletes, and musicians are often in the headlines for their new salaries. These salaries continue to rise, often in disregard of the actual work that is done by these celebrities and the way of which each individual use this money varies greatly. Some choose to use their money in productive ways, including contributing to charitable causes while others may spend their money more frivolously. Regardless of how they spend their money, children, teenagers, and adults idolize these celebrities and their wealth. However, these same celebrities are often seen in the news headlines

for family problems and disruptions that they cause in society. One of the more common problems seen is divorce, however there are several other events that destroy these well-known celebrities, families, and communities.

Dante Alighieri, born far before the age of media and the exposure that comes as a result, suggests that the accumulation of wealth does destroy both families and community. This destruction can be seen in a number of famous works written in prior centuries as well as in society today. As suggested by Dante, the accumulation of wealth does in fact destroy family and community primarily as we see in Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta, Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales and in several modern reality television shows including TLC’s hit show 19 Kids and Counting.

The first example of how the accumulation of wealth destroys families and communities comes from the 16th century play, The Jew of Malta by Christopher

Marlowe. The play focuses on a Jewish merchant, Barabas, who spends a great deal of his time in his counting house and obsessing over his money. In fact, Barabas shows love for only two things in his life: his money and his daughter, Abigail whom he loves “as Agamemnon did his Iphigen” (Marlow). When the day comes that he must surrender all of his money and belongings, including his home, to the Turkish emperor, Barabas is furious and he seeks a way to reclaim his wealth and seek revenge for his losses. He uses Abigail to retrieve the money that is left in his house that is taken from him showing that he is willing to take advantage of his daughter for his own personal profit. Then, once he is able to reclaim some of his money, he exacts revenge on the government by pitting the governor’s son, Lodowick, against Mathias whom Abigail loves, which further weakens his relationship with Abigail. Unfortunately, both of the men end up dead in a dual and Abigail loses her lover. Clearly, Barabas is more concerned on his own personal resentment and hatred to think about the well being of his own daughter. Readers and viewers of the play sympathize with Abigail because she is simply used as a pawn by her father in an attempt to get his wealth back. This play confirms Dante’s statement by showing that the obsession with wealth can destroy a family through the characters of Barabas and Abigail. Barabas initially expresses his love for both Abigail and his money, but once he loses his wealth, it becomes obvious that his priorities further focus on such.
The next example of how the accumulation of wealth destroys family and community comes from the Seaman’s Tale in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

This tale centers on a frugal merchant who refuses to give his money to his own wife because of her habits of reckless spending. In order to get the money, she turns to a friend, a monk named Sir John, to get the one hundred francs that she needs from her husband. Sir John is able to get the money from the merchant and in turn gives the money to the wife with the agreement that she spends the night in his arms (Chaucer 156). This act demonstrates the destruction of community. In the community, monks ranked higher than merchants and Sir John abuses his status as a monk because he knows that the merchant will give him the money as a sign of respect. He takes advantage of his social ranking in return for personal pleasure. In addition, the story shows how the bond between the merchant and is wife is now weaker due to her obsession with accumulating wealth. Obviously, it is not healthy for a married woman to seek sexual activities with another man, regardless of her own personal incentives. Thus, the wife’s acts prove to weaken their relationship. Although the merchant is unaware of the affair, he does become angered with his wife when she fails to tell him that Sir John “returned” the money to her. If this angers the merchant, he would certainly be angered to find that the monk lied to him in order to obtain the money for the

wife. The merchant does forgive his wife for her misconduct, but there are moments when the wife’s obsession with money weakens the bond between the merchant and herself.
The third example of how the accumulation of wealth can destroy a family and community is through the media. A primary example of how the media’s obsession with wealth can destroy families is the modern reality television show, 19 Kids and Counting. This show, aired on TLC, showcased the lives of one of America’s largest families. This family was not your stereotypical reality family, however. They were known for their extreme conservativeness and their Christian faith. They grew to be one of America’s better-known families and of course, fortune comes with this amount of fame. While they didn’t flaunt their wealth, it is obvious that they have collected a great deal of money from their show. This accumulation of wealth led to the family become further well known and exposed. Unfortunately, with the exposure that this family had, one event caused the downfall of their extremely successful lives. The oldest child in the family, Josh Duggar, has recently found himself in the spotlight for allegations of sexual assault. This type of news came to a shock to the viewers of the show, as it was never revealed in any of the episodes. However, it unfortunately forced TLC to stop airing the show.
While it may not seem as if his act of sexual assault directly relate to wealth, it can be clear shown that his story can be used for profits by tabloids and news channels. These news companies are focused on gaining wealth from the stories and the publication of Josh’s actions and the amount of publicity that the story has received has caused stress on both his family and his community. Some of the other siblings in the family have begun to turn on Josh for his poor choices and others are even encouraging his wife to seek a divorce from him, impacting both of their lives and the lives of their children.
When it comes to within his community, many admired Josh for his faith and his devotion to religion. Unfortunately, when the allegations were revealed, many lost respect for him and he was forced to quit his job. Because of the status of the family, this news will quickly be known across the country and the stress within the family will remain. Had the Duggar’s not exposed their family through reality television, they would not be in the financial situation that they are in today, but they also would not have the tension that has been caused by their exposure and the media’s desire to profit off of their stories. This is a more modern example of how Dante’s words still hold true today.
Clearly, the accumulation of wealth can lead to the downfall of both family relationships and relationships within the community. Wealth has become an obsession in recent years, especially with the false reality that media creates. In Dante’s time, wealth was often the sign of hard work and sometimes, like in the case of Barabas it was their only symbol of status in society. In modern society, wealth has become one of the only symbols of fame and success so people choose to make their wealth know. However, as we now know, it is clear that flaunting and accumulating wealth can lead to destruction. In both modern society and the societies of Marlow, Chaucer, and Dante the obsession over wealth diminishes the quality of life for families and communities. Christopher Marlowe and Geoffrey Chaucer’s stories were written centuries ago and their messages still hold true today. As for Dante, his statement that the accumulation of wealth destroys family and community highlights a modern trend that will continue to grow for several centuries to come.