Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

When Chaucer finishes telling his tale of Melibee, the Host states that he wishes his wife could hear the tale of Prudence and her patience. He goes on to conclude that she is hot tempered by stating “By God’s bones, when I have to beat my knaves She goes and fetches great club-headed staves to me, and cries out, slay the dogs! Lay on and break them up, their backs and every bone” (1897-1900). Turning to address the Monk, he wishes him to be of good encouragement, and asks whether his name is John, Thomas, or Albon. This is determined by his father's kin. The host then addresses the Monk's appearance, which he says to be “very fair of skin; The pasture must be fertile you frequent, You don't look like some ghost or penitent. You are, upon my faith, some officer, Some worthy sacristan or cellarer, For, by my father's soul,
Everyone thought his strength was invincible, and that he could not be defeated. However, the hero met his defeat when Dejanira sent Hercules a poisoned shirt made by Nessus. The Monk tells several more of these tragedies, which are not as well known as the ones I have already stated. All of these tales can be described as repeats of well known stories: all focus on the same theme where people of great degree fall into torment or death. These tragedies all came from either biblical, classical, or historical references.
At the end of the Monk’s tale, the Knight stops the Monk as he is telling a tale. There are several reasons as to why the Knight sees it as fit to interrupt the Monk and his tale. As a whole, the Monk’s tales all describe the fall of someone from high status. The most prominent reason he interrupts the monk is because the Knight fits the description of a high status person, and he does not want to hear anymore about the fall of these types of people. The Monk told seventeen tales that all followed the same format: a person with superior strength or capability is subject to defeat and torment at any