Critique of Chaucer’s Attack on Church Hypocrisy
(An Understanding of Chaucer’s Attack on Church Hypocrisy) Within Geoffrey Chaucer’s stories of, “Canterbury Tales,” he clearly explicates the negativity brought about by the hypocrisy of the church. While he proves, distinctly, that he is not against the church itself, he does show, on many occasions, how disgusted and furious he is about the greed and selfishness of the church. Before going into details about the story of the pardoner, the reader must fully understand some of the necessary tenses and speaking forms. Chaucer uses an ample amount of irony and satire, both Juvenalian and Horatian, along with various samples of word pictures. Also, Geoffrey Chaucer shows an intriguing amount …show more content…
While the pardoner and the summoner have their scheme brewing, the pardoner sturrs his own pot during mass, where he uses certain sermon’s to get more yokels to pay more money for a service he provides less than half-heartedly. He is quoted by Chaucer as stating, “I preach for nothing but for greed of gain, and use the same old text, as bold as brass, Radix malorum est cupiditas (the root of evil is greed) ….. And yet however guilty of that sin myself with others I have the power to win them from it, I can bring them to repent; but that is not my principal intent. Covetousness is both the root and the stuff of all I preach.” (Lines 42-52) Diving into this quotation from the pardoner, we realize that he is a double-sided coin, in the way that he preaches that greed is the most intolerable sin, while he himself is succumbed to it. Chaucer paints a very interesting picture to the readers of this story by making the pardoner both a holy man, but also a vile, mischievous, and evil man. While doing this, he shows to the people of the time that there are many people who claim to be holy and righteous, but, who are in turn, frauds. In doing this, Chaucer, whether knowingly or unknowingly, created a sense of skepticism among the attendees of the …show more content…
The members of the church are dependant on the officials to absolve their sins, and when there becomes a toll to become absolved, then the greed within the church becomes more and more prevalent. When a man comes into the church to seek forgiveness, he puts his trust within the hands of the people of the church, such as the parson, or the pardoner, or the priests. However, what they might not realize, is that while they are more willing to pay the immense amount of money to be absolved, their money could be getting stolen by the pardoner, who doesn’t give any sort of mind to what the beggar is asking for. As stated by the pardoner, “Now as I’ve drunk a draught of corn-ripe ale, by God it stands to reason I can strike on some good story that you all will like, for though I am a wholly vicious man don’t think I can’t tell moral tales. I can! Here’s one I often preach when out for winning…” (Line 74-79) To understand this quote, the reader must realize what the pardoner is speaking about. As stated above, the pardoner exclaims proudly that while he is an evil man, he still has the ability to tell a moral tale. However, while he teaches this tale, it is meant to be turned towards the greedy, while he himself should be taking the lesson from his own preachings. This is another example of
(An Understanding of Chaucer’s Attack on Church Hypocrisy) Within Geoffrey Chaucer’s stories of, “Canterbury Tales,” he clearly explicates the negativity brought about by the hypocrisy of the church. While he proves, distinctly, that he is not against the church itself, he does show, on many occasions, how disgusted and furious he is about the greed and selfishness of the church. Before going into details about the story of the pardoner, the reader must fully understand some of the necessary tenses and speaking forms. Chaucer uses an ample amount of irony and satire, both Juvenalian and Horatian, along with various samples of word pictures. Also, Geoffrey Chaucer shows an intriguing amount …show more content…
While the pardoner and the summoner have their scheme brewing, the pardoner sturrs his own pot during mass, where he uses certain sermon’s to get more yokels to pay more money for a service he provides less than half-heartedly. He is quoted by Chaucer as stating, “I preach for nothing but for greed of gain, and use the same old text, as bold as brass, Radix malorum est cupiditas (the root of evil is greed) ….. And yet however guilty of that sin myself with others I have the power to win them from it, I can bring them to repent; but that is not my principal intent. Covetousness is both the root and the stuff of all I preach.” (Lines 42-52) Diving into this quotation from the pardoner, we realize that he is a double-sided coin, in the way that he preaches that greed is the most intolerable sin, while he himself is succumbed to it. Chaucer paints a very interesting picture to the readers of this story by making the pardoner both a holy man, but also a vile, mischievous, and evil man. While doing this, he shows to the people of the time that there are many people who claim to be holy and righteous, but, who are in turn, frauds. In doing this, Chaucer, whether knowingly or unknowingly, created a sense of skepticism among the attendees of the …show more content…
The members of the church are dependant on the officials to absolve their sins, and when there becomes a toll to become absolved, then the greed within the church becomes more and more prevalent. When a man comes into the church to seek forgiveness, he puts his trust within the hands of the people of the church, such as the parson, or the pardoner, or the priests. However, what they might not realize, is that while they are more willing to pay the immense amount of money to be absolved, their money could be getting stolen by the pardoner, who doesn’t give any sort of mind to what the beggar is asking for. As stated by the pardoner, “Now as I’ve drunk a draught of corn-ripe ale, by God it stands to reason I can strike on some good story that you all will like, for though I am a wholly vicious man don’t think I can’t tell moral tales. I can! Here’s one I often preach when out for winning…” (Line 74-79) To understand this quote, the reader must realize what the pardoner is speaking about. As stated above, the pardoner exclaims proudly that while he is an evil man, he still has the ability to tell a moral tale. However, while he teaches this tale, it is meant to be turned towards the greedy, while he himself should be taking the lesson from his own preachings. This is another example of