The Vows In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

Myles Bevenue

Mrs. Adcock

English IV

5 December 2015

The Vows

The Canterbury Tales is a story written by Geoffrey Chaucer. During the “Middle Ages” some of the members of the Catholic religion were very corrupt. In the story seven of the main Catholic members and some more people go on a missionary trip to Canterbury. Geoffrey Chaucer listens to each person’s story, and notices some inconsistencies. The stories they tell are very discrepant with what they are supposed to believe. There are four vows that each character breaks respectively. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s, The Canterbury Tales, the religious people that were supposed to be very righteous, were in actuality some of the most greedy and materialistic people of those times.

One of the

vows that are broken is the vow of chastity. The agreement to follow this vow implies that any actions, thoughts, or words that have anything to do with adultery are not allowed. The first person to break this vow is the Nun. You can tell she broke it because of something she is wearing. “Whence hung a golden brooch of brightest sheen on which there was graven a crowned A, and lower, Amur Vincit Omnia” (Chaucer, Geoffrey). The Latin quote on her brooch translates to, “love conquers all.” This means she has broken the vow of chastity.
The second person to break this vow is the Friar. He likes young girls. He does not think of his role in the church. He has sexual relations with young girls, and gives them gifts. “He kept his trippet stuffed with pins for curls and pocket-knives to give to little girls” (Chaucer, Geoffrey). This is just one example of what he does to break his vow of chastity. The last one to break this vow is the Summoner. He is a very sexual. He thinks of sex and adultery all day. He is a very corrupt and deceitful man. “He was as hot and lecherous as a sparrow” (Chaucer, Geoffrey).
Another vow that is broken is the vow of poverty. This vow represents the riches and luxuries that are prohibited for the people that made this vow. This vow is to ensure the members do not get swayed by material things of the world and to remind them to always rely on god to provide for them, but some members lack faith. The nun is one of the first to break this vow. She wears jewelry, which is a materialistic thing. “She wore a coral trinket on her arm, a set of beads, the gaudies tricked in green” (Chaucer, Geoffrey). She has pieces of jewelry on. She breaks the vow. Another one to break the vow is the Pardoner. He is very deceitful and evasive. He uses his trickery to deceive the congregations to give him money. “And by his flatteries and preverification made monkeys of the priest and congregation. But still to do him justice first and last in church he was a noble ecclesiast” (Chaucer, Geoffrey). He was always looking out for himself only. He had no regards for the church. The Monk is the last one to break the vow of poverty. He is fat and shiny headed. His girth shows his wealth. He eats a lot. He is very greedy and does not care for anyone but himself. The ones who break this vow have no faith and do not rely on god for their luxuries.
The next vow that is broken is the vow of stability. This means you are not to travel outside of the confines of your monastery or abbey. The monk is the only member of the church that breaks this vow. He is not satisfied with his “boring” life. He thinks he should have more fun and enjoy himself more than he is. “He did not rate that text at a plucked hen which says that hunters are not holy men and that a monk uncloistered is a mere fish out of water flopping on the pier” (Chaucer, Geoffrey). This means that if he leaves his walls he is just a lost man walking which does not know where he is going.
The last vow that is broken is the vow of obedience.

This vow means that you are to follow any and everything that the church tells you, and to follow the morals and standards that the church has set for every member of the church. The friar is the only one to break the vow. He does not obey the things that are supposed to be followed. “Sweetly he heard his penitals at shrift with pleasant absolution for a gift” (Geoffrey Chaucer). The Cleric is the only one that obeys the vow of obedience. He is the smartest student at Oxford. He is a very righteous and faithful person. He follows every vow and promise he has made to the church. “He had found no preferment in the church and he was too unworldly to make search for secular employment” (Chaucer, Geoffrey). He had found no wrongs in the church. He was too godly to look for a job in the secular world. He is the epitome of what the other characters are supposed to be.

The religious people were the most gluttonous people of those times. They would take the money that they said they did not have, and spend it for their personal gain. The Catholic church in the Middle Ages is not the one the congregation would have preferred. Geoffrey Chaucer did a great job in pointing out just how corrupt the leaders of the church could

be.