ipl-logo

The Monk In The Canterbury Tales

1922 Words8 Pages

The Monk is one of the thirty pilgrims travelling to Canterbury. This Monk is not what one would identify as being a monk. He does not adhere to his vows to the Church. He does not study, do manual labour or pray which is what monks were typically known for doing. The Monk in the Canterbury Tales enjoys hunting hares and riding horses. He leaves the monastery, where monks are expected to stay. It appears that he just enjoys the prestige of being a monk but has no interest in living like one and adhering to their rules. His appearance is bald with a shiny head and face which can be a common interpretation for monks and what they looked like. The monk is in good physical shape which is unusual for monks as they are usually thin and frail due to their regular fasting which this monk clearly doesn’t adhere to. The Monk is not a highly-spiritual man, it appears as though he is enjoying the wealth that the Church takes in from the ‘tithes’. From the Monk’s robe it shows that he is not a religious man. The usual robes that monks wear are plain habits with hoods, whereas this Monk has grey fur on his sleeves and a gold pin at the end of his hood, where the rosary should be. In this tale, the Host wants the Monk to tell a ‘myrie of cheere’ thinking it would brighten the mood but instead the Monk speaks about different tales which focus on fortunes in each man’s …show more content…

In the Canterbury tales, the Wife of Bath represented the extravagant and lusty woman. She was not represented the admirable and devoted follower of the church, like the Prioress was. The Wife of Bath represents the "liberal" extreme in regards to female stereotypes of the middle Ages. Unlike most women being ignored during the middle Ages, she has a mind of her own. She voices herself. She intimidates men and women alike due to the power she possesses. Because of her obnoxious attitude Chaucer makes her toothless, fat and large. Doubtlessly, she is very ugly. This to me shows how Chaucer depicts what men don 't

Show More
Related

  • Monty Python And The Holy Grail Analysis

    358 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, mockery is used to poke fun of the medieval society. Throughout the film, King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table: Sir Bedevere, Sir Lancelot, Sir Galahad, and Sir Robin seek for the Holy Grail. The ideas of farce and satire in relation to chivalry, courtly love, and the quest illustrate parody about the legend of King Arthur and the Medieval Society. The movie satirizes the code of chivalry and courtly love.

    Read More

  • The Struggle For Power In Chaucer's The Wife Of Bath

    249 Words  | 1 Pages

    Chaucer characterizes The Wife of Bath as controlling and powerful. The Wife of Bath was a complete contradiction of the typical female, during this time. The average woman was submissive and reserved. Whereas, The Wife of Bath possessed character traits that one would associate with men. Chaucer emphasizes this trait by describing her in such ways one would describe a man.

    Read More

  • Stereotypes Of The Friar

    400 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Friar is a somewhat religious figure. But his sins are all the more reprehensible because friars were giving to a life of poverty. In medieval times friars begged in particular regions around England, and earned money by hearing confessions. Because friars were not allowed to own property, being able to hear confessions and other religious activities were their only way of supporting themselves. But this situation led to many competitions between other friars, who could travel from place to place receiving donations, it was probably because of this rivalry that a strong group of stereotypes about religious figures grew up around friars.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Greed In The Canterbury Tales

    615 Words  | 3 Pages

    When Greed Goes Wrong In the Canterbury Tales the Skipper’s Tale contains Feminism criticism, Historical criticism, and Archetypal criticism. All three tie into the theme of the story which is greed. Greed is well written in many older stories and even newer stories in society.

    Read More

  • Feminist Theory Lens

    1381 Words  | 6 Pages

    In his work, The General Prologue and The Wife of Bath’s Tale, The Wife of Bath is utilized to defy a patriarchal society and ownership, but still reinforces the idea of the male’s reduction to body/appearance in women. When looking at these attributes through a Feminist Theory Lens, there is a lot of material to be interpreted and distinguished. Chaucer’s work was believed to be written in 1386, a time where the world fell into a large patriarchal society. Men were believed to be in control and women were simply seen as subordinates.

    Read More

  • Married Women In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

    1243 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the Wife of Bath’s, she broke all the stereotypes Medieval society thought a wife is. She tells the people that being married intercourse is part of marriage and God has made privates parts to make generations, not to waste in doing nothing. Being categorized or stereotyped in Medieval society was hard for married women in the Medieval era because often they were portrayed as disloyal, uncontrolled sexual beasts because of the lack of marriage

    Read More

  • Chaucer's Portrayal Of The Wife Of Bath

    229 Words  | 1 Pages

    This mockery shows stereotypes in a humorous way in order to attempt to change the way human nature is towards women. The first sentence of the Wife of Bath shows the reader that she relays on experience rather than listening and learning.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Of The Wife Of Bath

    1052 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Wife of Bath: An Analysis of Her Life and Her Tale The Wife of Bath’s Prologue stays consistent with the facts that experience is better than the societal norms, specifically those instilled by the church leadership. Chaucer uses the Wife of Bath to display the insanity of the church, but through switching and amplifying their view of men and chastity onto the opposite gender. The church doctrine at the time held celibacy in an idolized manner, forgetting the inability for humans to ever reach perfection, or live up to this standard. They also did not hold women in a high regard at all, again this is where Chaucer flips the role, as the Wife of Bath describes her five marriages in her prologue, essentially describing each as a conquest, where the result is her having all control.

    Read More

  • Comparing Cantebury Tales 'And' The Pardoner's Tale

    585 Words  | 3 Pages

    But the answer to the old woman’s question proves that he has learned his lesson after all. With this tale, the Wife of Bath is trying to portray a message that women are strong and determined, which goes along with her belief in the equality of the

    Read More

  • Essay On The Pardoner In The Canterbury Tales

    598 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the fourteenth century, cathedrals grew around shrines to saints’ relics and were incredibly expensive to build. The amount of gold that went into the decorations such as candlesticks, and reliquaries, surpassed the riches in the noble’s coffers. In the Canterbury tales it shows how important

    Read More

  • Shallowness In The Wife Of Bath's Tale

    931 Words  | 4 Pages

    At the end of the year of the Knight’s challenge, he met a woman who is, “ A fouler-looking creature I suppose/ Could Scarcely be imagined.” (168) From this description, Chaucer illustrated the shallowness of the Knight’s human nature, in which he naturally has the first impression on a woman base on the person’s outlook. Later, when the woman asked the Knight to marry her in return of saving his life, the Knight shallowly felt miserable to have to marry an “old, poor, ugly woman.”

    Read More

  • The Wife Of Bath Feminist Essay

    1060 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the fourteen century, men were always the superior, head of the household, the breadwinner, but women were always inferior, they would stay at home, do the house work, cook, and never would have a job. Well, times have changed. Women are reaching an equal status to men in political, social and economic matters It’s part of the idea called Feminism. In many ways the Wife of Bath displays many characteristic of women in the 21st century. Instead of being directed by men, she views herself as an independent person.

    Read More

  • Gender Role In Wife Of Bath's Tale By Geoffrey Chaucer

    775 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the book of Wife of Bath’s Tale, Geoffrey Chaucer shows the role of a woman being weak creatures while men are economically powerful and educated. Women are seen as inheritor of eve and thus causes

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Hypocrisy In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

    2469 Words  | 10 Pages

    During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church had a great amount of power because it was the only one at the time. As expressed in The Canterbury Tales, it even oversaw the court, so one could propose that the Church had exponential power. They seemed to rule the economy and hold a lot of land. Kings and queens were even preceded by the Church. Supposedly, in those times, the Catholic Church was a source of great hypocrisy or a good number of its people were.

    Read More

  • Church Corruption In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

    1147 Words  | 5 Pages

    In “The Canterbury Tales” Chaucer illustrates the corruption of the church through the religious characters in both the tales and the prologue and their obsession with money. Illustrating the fact that medieval England, the church had a big impact on the lives of people due to them being able to “read” the bible. In many cases, this was uses to manipulate people into giving their money to church. Throughout the tales, people are shown to stand up to the church and beat them at their own game and this provides the ideal response to church corruption.

    Read More

More about The Monk In The Canterbury Tales

Open Document