The Clergy In The Canterbury Tales

In the Canterbury Tales Prologue, Chaucer felt that the Church’s chaos experienced during the medieval era contributed to the declining trust of the clergy and left people spiritually demolished. The repeated outbreaks that the church experienced weakened the church by emphasizing the clergy’s inability to face obstacles. The clergy’s inability to provide help for people during a period of suffering caused people to question the values of the church. People looked for ways to gain control over their own spiritual values and changed their view of the clergy. There were characters in the Canterbury Tales who lived by the right practices and then there were characters that just ignored the moral values of the church. These characters were the
The Monk is a character within the clergy who has a religious vow of being monk, but he doesn’t even do any of the practices or follows the values of a monk. The Monk “rode the country; hunting was his sport” (170), showing that the Monk hunted and was living lavish on the country side instead of doing his religious duty. The Monk “did not rate that text that a plucked hen/ which Says that hunters are not holy men” (181-182), illustrating that the Monk was not into being religious and studying the gospel, but he was just interested in living life as a ordinary person with no religious duties. The Monk even tried dressing himself in the finest clothing and this is very ironic. This shown when Chaucer says, “I saw his sleeves were garnished at the hand/ With fine gray fur, the finest in the land,/ And on his hood, to fasten it at his chin” (197-199), showing that the Monk just wants to have good appearance and live life in luxury, which is not a value of a actual monk. The Monk is a character who is neither bad or good because he is just living a good life not hurting anyone, but when it comes down to it the Monk should actually be living in poverty with the poor as one of his duties. The Monk just ignores his Church
The Pardoner was a fraud and immoral person who sold fake relics to people through persuasion. This is shown when Chaucer says, “For in his trunk he had a pillowcase/ Which he asserted was Our Lady’s veil” (714-715), expressing the Pardoner’s immoral act of trying to give people fake objects by telling them it’s very holy or holds power. The Pardoner was a scammer who “by his flatteries and prevarication/ Made monkeys of the priest and congregation” (725-726). The Pardoner manipulated people out of their money. The Pardoner was a ironic character also. This is shown when Chaucer says, “How well he read a lesson or told a story!/ But best of all he sang an Offertory./ And (well he could) win silver from the crowd” (729-733), showing the irony in the Pardoner because he preaches about how greed is wrong, but he is a very greedy man, who scams and wants money all the time. The Pardoner is a guy who is throwing the church’s morals away and using his power in the clergy in the wrong way by getting money from people and not helping them in the end.
Chaucer through his tales gave the message that the laity who thought the clergy were striving for spiritual perfection came to a realization that they needed to head their own way in striving for their faith. Chaucer uses the clergy to show the corruption of the church and the amount of which the clergy does act wrong. Within the church there are characters that also show that church