Comparison/Contrast Essay: the Monk & the Parson

Comparison/Contrast Essay: the Monk & the Parson Geoffrey Chaucer is hailed as the father of English poetry. One of his greatest works is a collection of short stories known as The Canterbury Tales. In The Canterbury Tales a group of people with many different backgrounds and beliefs go on a pilgrimage from London to the shrine of the martyr Thomas a Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. In The “Prologue’’ Chaucer characterizes all the pilgrims that will be going on the pilgrimage. Two of the characters in The Canterbury Tales are the monk and the parson. The monk and the parson can be compared and contrasted; they are alike and different in many ways.

The monk and the parson compare in three ways. They are both members of the church. A monk is a member of a brotherhood that lives in a monastery and is devoted to a life of discipline. A parson is a parish priest authorized to perform the rituals of a religion, and act as mediatory agent between humans and deities. Both of them made vows to god. Monks and parsons made three vows to god: poverty- he had to give up all his worldly goods, obedience he had to promise to obey the church and the rules of the monastery, and chastity. Stay single. The monk and parson are both religious, they devote their lives to god by becoming members of the clergy and making vows.
Although the monk and parson compare in many ways, they are also foils to each other in many other ways. First, the monk is concerned with living like a rich man, ‘’I saw his sleeves were garnished at the hand with fine grey fur, the finest in the land"(Lines 197-198). By having his sleeves garnished at the hand with fine grey fur it shows that the monk is concerned with luxury. The parson in contrast to the monk is poor, ‘’ There was, and poor, the parson to a town.’’(Line 487) He chooses to be poor by not running away to London to earn easy bread. Secondly, the monk is lazy, while the parson is works hard. The monk doesn’t study his books and do manual labor. The parson in contrast does not neglected his people even if he is sick “ Yet he neglected not in rain or thunder ,In sickness or in grief, to pay a call on the remotest, whether great or small, upon his feet, and in his hand a stave.” (Lines 502-505) Third, the monk does not practice what he preaches while the parson does practice what he preaches. The parson gives what little he has to the poor,” Giving to poor parishioners round about/ Both from church offerings and his property; ‘’(Lines 498-499) Fourth, the monk hunts which shows that he was not a holy man because holy men don’t kill animals for entertainment and pleasure. ‘’ hunting was his sport.”(Line 170) The parson is holy in thought and knew the teachings of the Bible and Christ, preaching to whoever was willing to listen, “This noble example to his sheep he gave, that first he wrought, and afterward he taught and it was from the gospel he had caught it.” (Lines 506-508) Sixth, the monk ignored the monastic rules set up by St. Benedict, “The Rule of good St. Benet or St. Maur /As old and strict he tended to ignore;” He was more concerned with things of the modern world than the past. The parson in contrast does not ignore his rules, he followed the Bible in life and he believed that a priest should be trustworthy, “For if a priest be foul in whom we trust / No wonder that common man should rust ;’’( Lines 511-512)
In conclusion the monk and parson have many similarities but they have even more differences. The monk and parson compare in that they are members of the church, made vows to god and are religious. They contrast in that they have traits that go against each other. The ‘’ Prologue” of The Canterbury Tales introduces you to many characters that compare and contrast