The narrator does not hold a favorable view of people in the short stories. He takes time characterizing the members according to their social standpoints. The pilgrims represent the diversity of fourteenth-century society. Medieval social divided society into three groups, the military, the clergy, and the laity. The clergy were represented by the Prioress, the Monk, the Friar, and the Parson. The other characters are wealthy Franklin or poor Plowman and the members of the laity. These characters also subdivided into landowners, professionals, laborers, stewards, and church officers. As we will see, Chaucer’s descriptions of the various characters and their social roles show the influence of the medieval genre of estates satire.
