The Friar In The Canterbury Tales Essay

In the prologue of The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, the Friar is the most corrupt pilgrim among all of the travelers. The travelers are all members of the English society. The narrator of the prologue, Chaucer, along with the other travelers are on a pilgrimage to the shrine at Canterbury. While on this pilgrimage each traveler is to tell two stories going and two stories coming back, to keep everyone entertained. Before the travelers began telling their stories, the narrator describes and introduces them to the reader. Chaucer’s purpose of introducing the pilgrims is to show how most of them are as opposed to how they should be. Among the pilgrims introduced by Chaucer is a very corrupt Friar. A Friar’s job is to live among the poor, beg for alms on behalf of the poor, listen to confessions, and administer penances. Many Friars took advantage of their jobs and disregarded their vows. This Friar is nothing like how he supposed to be. The selling of forgiveness, breaking the vow of poverty, and seducing of women are all reasons why the Friar is the most corrupt out of all of the pilgrims. …show more content…
The Friar said that “he was qualified to hear confessions” (1.222), and that “he had special license from the Pope” (1.224). When the people confess to the Friar an easy penance is given, but only when “he could hope to make a decent living” (1.228). This means that in order to receive forgiveness by the Friar the confessor will have to give the Friar a nice gift, or a gift of money. By receiving nice gifts and money is the only way the Friar can live the decent lifestyle he wants to live. Friars are not supposed to live decent lifestyles and enjoy lavish gifts, but this Friar did. Along with the wrongful selling of forgiveness the Friar also broke many of his