The Portrayal Of The Clergy In The Canterbury Tales

The Portrayal of Religion and the Clergy in The Canterbury Tales

Geoffrey Chaucer, in his Canterbury Tales, felt that the Church's turmoil experienced during the fourteenth century contributed to the a declining trust of clergy and left the people spiritually devastated. The repeated epidemics that the European Church experienced weakened the church by highlighting the clergy's inability to face adversity. The clergy's inability to provide relief for the people during a period of suffering did not turn people away from the church, but it did cause the people to question the value of the Church's traditional practices. People looked for ways to gain greater control over their own spiritual destines and altered their perception of the clergy, who were too weak to bring the people complete salvation. (Bisson51-52) "The times are out of joint, the light of faith grows dim; the clergy are mostly ignorant, quarrelsome, idle, and unchaste, and the prelates do not correct them because they themselves are no better." (Coulton 296) In The Canterbury Tales Chaucer makes us highly aware of the clergy's obvious and hidden intensions. Chaucer shows his awareness of the shortcomings of the Church in his portrayal of those who exercise spiritual authority during the pilgrimage. (Bisson 51-52)

Chaucer uses the pilgrimage to balance the possibility of religious devotion against the actuality of the fallen state of humanity. Primary religious motivations for going on a pilgrimage might include seeking cures and favors, eliminating a sense of guilt, or completing a penance, but the religious aspect of Chaucer's pilgrimage is minimized due to the corruptness of his characters. They quarrel, drink to excess, swear, deceive others, and exhibit many other vices. Although the explicit purpose of the pilgrimage is religious, the gathering of the pilgrims, the moment of departure, the association with food and drink establishes humanity's physical dimension. The eagerness to set out on the pilgrimage and the pilgrims acceptance of the competition shows how humanity is easily led and mislead by religion. (Literary Companion Series 79-80)

The characters who are most closely connected to the Church are the most corrupt in Chaucer's tales. The imperfections of the clergy stem from their failures, misrepresentations, and abuses in relation to the Church. The clergy make up about one-third of the pilgrims, the others, although not under religious vows, are also Christian. Chaucer was sending the message that everyone including the clergy and even the lay people were followers of the Church, but do not always follow the Church's laws. The exposure and punishment of evil is a widely conceived religious view. The "worst" among the religious pilgrims, the worst people described in their tales. (Literary Companion Series 82)

In the Pardoner's Tale Chaucer shows corruptness in the Pardoner who is selling fake relics to the people of the Church. The Pardoner is more threatening than the other scoundrels in the pilgrimage because he has subverted man's most spiritual powers and challenged the necessity of the pilgrimage as a framework of the social world. When offering his relics for veneration, the Pardoner is asking the others on the pilgrimage to accept and show reverence to objects that are obviously fake. The sad truth is that the relics which the Pardoner calls the most fair in England, are probably some of the nicer relics being sold throughout the country. Chaucer knows that people although suspicious that the relics are not real continue to purchase them for personal gain. "The Summoner's Tale" raises the issue of confessing sins once a year, when Thomas refuses to confess his sins to a friar, and insists he already confessed to his parish priest. The friar does accept generous contributions as an external sign of the inner contrition that otherwise could have not been attained. "The Shipman's Tale" tells of a story in which falls into the tradition of lechery. Lusty monks either dupe unexpecting husbands or are duped by women. In the tale the monk and his merchant friend's wife conspire to make the merchant pay for his own cuckolding. The monk who is immersing himself in business and pleasure seeking is lacking spiritual resonance. The tale of the monk symbolizes the fall of individuals