Examples Of Corruption In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

In the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer utilizes the immoral character of the Pardoner to tell the utmost moral tale through satirical devices, presenting the true greed and hypocrisy that runs throughout the Church, regardless of it attempt to cover it. Chaucer introduces the hypocrisy within the Church through the characterization of the Pardoner, as he is explained to be a man with, “flattery and equal japes./He made the parson and the rest his apes” (“General Prologue” 607-608). “Japes” are tricks, alluding to the Pardoner’s relics, as they are fake; yet, the Pardoner still sells these relics to the Church members as genuine treasures. This creates dramatic irony, because the character of the Church body is unaware of the situation bestowed

The dialogue between the friar and the summoner represents Chaucer’s reaction to the abuses of clergy in the church and the stereotypes about them. Also questioned is the role of authority. Higher clergy were relentless in acquiring money, using a summoner as the brute force in order to collect it. The summoner is compared to the devil and ironically has less “honor.” This is because the summoner appears to be more relentless in his methods of extortion and does not pay attention to people’s word.

The criminal behaviour of Robin Hood doesn’t just deal with the corruption of the law and justice system but also religious corruption. The anti-monastic tone of the rhymes is largely a result of the feelings of resentment towards the corruption of clergy. This is illustrated through the juxtaposition of Robin Hood’s personal piety and the ignorance and wealth of members of the clergy. In Robin Hood and the Monk, Robin risks his life to hear Mass in Nottingham, but is betrayed by the monk. The monk alerts the sheriff of his whereabouts and thus appears as the villain in the story.

Canto XXXIII was very sad and tragic. Some of the themes were revenge, betrayal, and food. Ruggieri, an archbishop was betrayed by Count Ugolino. Ugolino betrayed his country and was forced out. To get revenge, Ruggieri persuaded the Pisans to go against Ugolino and lead him to a trap.

The church gave structure to Europe however, the church was a fraudulent place. They would tax lower class citizens and exploit them. Supposedly, the

Despite their deeply religious values, the members of the Puritan Society in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible are equally as sinful as the rest of the world. The Puritans, known for turning to God when given any matter at hand, lay blame on the Devil, regardless of their contradictory values. By blaming on him for their wrongdoings, the Devil earns power through the Puritans restoring to involve him whenever any one thing goes wrong. Power is defined by one’s reputation, status, wealth, gender, and age; although the natural deciding factor of one’s power in the Puritan society is land, the Devil himself holds ultimate power. Despite the fact that he does not appear as a human figure, he controls the thoughts and actions of the Puritan society, serving as the ultimate threat.

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and in Herman Melvilles”s Moby Dick, the main antagonists are Roger Chillinworth and Captain Ahab. Both of these characters act in a way that is portrayed as evil and can be compared because of their similarity. Roger Chillingworth’s actions can be considered evil because of the effect it has on the main characters in The Scarlet Letter. One particular even where he is obviously portrayed as evil is when he tricks the townspeople into thinking he is merely a physician caring for an ill priest, Arthur Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale had recently committed adultery with Chillingworth’s wife and he was looking for revenge.

In The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, one of the many characters, the Pardoner, takes advantage of people’s vices and ignorance, preaching against avarice, a sin which he does not feel guilty of committing. The Pardoner in The Canterbury Tales speaks of greed as “the root of all sin” and of himself as doing “Christ’s holy work”; although, he “practices” avarice himself he has no guilt of his thievery. The Pardoner deceives the towns people by falsifying professionalism by “speak[ing] a few works in Latin” and displaying his “bishop’s seal” on his “license” disguising himself as a trustworthy person.

The nouns ‘fiend’ and ‘Satan’ fit in the semantic field of Hell, in direct contrast to the Puritan belief and innocence he believes he has. The evocative use of plosive ‘B’ and fricative ‘S’ emphasises Sir Topas’ anger over Malvolio being an enemy to God, showing Feste’s power and elevated status over the now weakened Malvolio not only because he’s a ‘priest’ but also his newfound ability to criticise him. This depicts that Malvolio’s madness is caused by a possessed demon according to Sir Topas but the sudden comedic interjection of Sir Toby ‘Well said, Master Parson’ reminds the audience that this is all a prank (deception) and the main aim is humiliation. Secondly, the aggressive torment of Malvolio continues with Feste’s

Chaucer manages to expose the Church in the most humorous and negative way possible for the right

Option D With the incline of Hysteria throughout the village of salem the so called “Virtuous Puritans” became backstabbing in some cases greedy folk who were only in it for themselves. From Putnam to Parris they were profiting trying to gain something or save themselves from trial. Putnam himself would just outlandishly accuse many villagers most likely them all innocent just to gain land for his own greed gains. As a side note to keep himself from the danger of the trials.

1517, Martin Luther posted a document directly striking the Catholic Church. Corrupt practice, selling “indulgences” to absolve sin, were something Mr. Luther thought was detrimental to the Bibles teachings. His “95 Theses” sparked a religious movement, the Protestant Reformation. I feel that Martin Luther was the main reason of this reform.

Corruption “I shall destroy your happiness if it's the last thing I do” -Evil Queen. In the popular tv show “Once Upon a Time” there is a evil queen whose action are very Medieval. What do I mean by medieval you ask? Well, the definition of medieval according to the Oxford English Dictionary is of or relating to a period of time. There are many different types of connotations of the word medieval

Feudalism refers to the social structure during the Medieval time period, under which serfs were subjected to back-breaking labor and tyrannical ruling with little to no compensation. Along with the oppressive and constraining dictates of Feudalism, the common man was subjected to the whims and wishes of the Catholic Church. The papacy was, in a sense, absolute dictator during this era; wielding unrestricted power in most areas of life. The effect of this power can best be summed in a quote by Lord Acton, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. The Catholic Church was rife with fraudulence and misconduct.

The Medieval ages were a time of drastic social and cultural changes in Europe, this change was due to Christianity becoming an extremely dominant religion. Christianity dominated the lives of many and this is why The Canterbury Tales revolved mainly around religion. During the time of The Canterbury Tales, Christians were expected to follow in Christ’s footsteps by being noble, humble, loyal, and selfless among other things. Through the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer showed the new Christian values and how different they were from the Anglo-Saxon time period.