Truthful or Selfish Leadership in the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer

521 Words2 Pages

When the occupation of a religious man is brought into thought, words like honest, humble, forgiving, or righteous are considered to be associated. Words like hard working, truthful, and effective are brought up when talking about a supervisor. These traits are needed in order to become a high-quality leader among men. From time to time though, selfishness corrupts men. Chaucer criticizes the trait of selfishness as a character trait in The Canterbury Tales. The Friar was a member of the clergy. The clergy is a class made up of members of the church, so he was held to a higher standard. His life was supposed to be devoted to God and his works. He selfishly put his greed and plans before the expectations from the church. People expected him to be a humble and a Godly man, but he would make people pay for him to hear their confessions. “Therefore instead of weeping and of prayer one should give silver for a poor Friar’s care,” (page 103 lines 235-235). He could convince the last penny from a woman’s hand into his. He would tell her any lie to get money for “the church” (hims...

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