Who Is The Friar In The Canterbury Tales

In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, he uses irony to describe the friar. This is saying that the Friar is the exact opposite of how he is suppose to be. In Medieval times, a friar was supposed to hang with the poor, beg for money, also would travel place to place delivering sermons. Chaucer demonstrated this to show how corrupt the church is. The Gradsaver summary attacks the Summoners story and how corrupt he is. Chaucer illustrated the corruption throughout the church through the Friars examples. The Friar is described as a conman, pimp, and womanizer. The Friar heard confessions for money, but the pope is the only person who can hear them at the Church, "He was an easy man in penance-giving where he could hope to make a decent living" (Chaucer 227). " For he was qualified to hear confessions, or so he said

The Friar has another name "mendicant order" because it means he would be a beggar, and that is a quality the friar is supposed to have. The friars were meant to go into the world and preach the word of God. A typical friar is supposed to make his money by begging for money, and this is why he should be living in poverty. The Friar is supposed to be just like a monk. "They are simply another kind of monk" (Roberts). Even though the Friars were only begging for money they would sometimes grow wealthy because of the nobles giving them money and gifts. The friar also took preaching the word of God as a big task and he would move around place to place delivering sermons and begging alms. A friar loved the hierarchy he got in the church world. The only thing is that the friar didn't receive possessions unlike the other high officials in the church. Even though he was poor and in poverty he still received respect from the church. "A medieval friar was trained in the Apostolic Colleges and some of them came from renowned educational institutions of the time"