The Friar In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

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Within Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses each character as a satirical device to point out some of humanity’s many flaws. Out of these characters, the two whose tales contrast each other the most in terms of morality would be the Knight and the Friar. Whereas the Knight fully personifies his esteemed, noble archetype, the Friar is the exact opposite of his. Through the perfect depiction of the Knight, Chaucer praises the profession, and through the immoral, hypocritical Friar, he criticizes the Church and its upper constituents. The Knight and the Friar are complete opposites, and as such, they show both the good and the evil of society during the Middle Ages. From the Knight’s introduction in the General Prologue, Chaucer …show more content…
He is not even technically a friar, as he lies about having a license from the Pope, “For he was qualified to hear confessions/Or so he said, with more than priestly scope;/ He had a special licence from the Pope” (9). Not only that, he doesn’t follow his vows of poverty and chastity, nor does he associate with beggars and lepers. He has also gotten many women pregnant, and has set them all up with marriages to cover this fact up. All of this is described in the general prologue alone, making it extremely clear that the Friar is extremely pious. The Friar’s Tale is used entirely to shame the Summoner by telling a story about a corrupt summoner who meets a devil and is sent to Hell. He makes it plain that he has an extreme prejudice towards all summoners in his prologue, “I’ll talk about a summoner, for a game/.../I’ll tell him all about that job of his” (293). This does not at all match the religious, moral character expected of a Friar. In this manner, Chaucer uses the Friar as a device to attack the Church for its hypocrisy and immorality within its ranks. All in all, the Knight and the Friar provide great insights into society at the time. The Knight is the perfect example of chivalry and morality within the high ranking members of society at the time, whereas the Friar is the perfect example of immorality within the high ranking members
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