Sample Essay on The Canterbury Tales

Edgar Herrera

Period 6

            In the poem The Canterbury Tales the author Geoffrey Chancer portrays his beliefs in corruption within and out of the church through his characters. Placing them on a journey from London to Shrine of St. Thomas a Becket in Canterbury, he makes it clear to the reader that they are on a holy pilgrimage to find a moral significance in their lives Chaucer explains through several of his characters how not only corruption but hirpocracy affect each of them, yet there are still those characters in which the author still tried to capture the good virtue of man. The pardoner, the parson, and the sergeant of law are perfect examples of how Chaucer was trying to show human immorality.

            In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer gives us an impression of the church that is opposite of how society would see it today. Instead it is dishonest and the people who work for it are also. On this journey we have the pardoner.  His job is to forgive peoples sins for money. This man who only cares for himself lies, cheats, and steals.

            He said he had a gobbet of the sail

            Saint Peter had the time when he made bad

            For in his trunk he had a pillow case

            Which he asserted was our lady’s veil

            And with these veils any time he found

            Some poor up country parson to astound (p 38)

 He uses the weak that rely on God’s good grace to help him become and stay wealthy. The quote shows how people who were starving and poor thought they were buying holy relics to give them luck and show faith in God, when they were really buying trash!

            Although the vast majority of the church was corrupt he knew there were a few just men, one of these was the Parson. “Rich in holy thought and work” (32). The Parson worked for the church but he did not charge a fee, no offerings did he take. In fact he gave to the poor parishioners. This money was not only from the church but out of his pocket. He knew the gospel well and he would preach and teach it. “Wide with his parish, with houses for asunder” (32). This quote illustrates how money or materials were of no matter to him he just wanted his people to be safe from evil. The parson shameful of priest who tool a fee for their doings, he never looked down on any sinners, “He sought no pomp or glory in his dealings” (33). This explains how he never saw himself to be better than anyone.

            The Canterbury Tales really gives a sense of human immorality. He does so in the description of the sergeant of law.  Although he does not belong to the church he is still corrupt. The sergeant of law is the town lawyer. A good one at that. “He knew of every judgment case and crime ever recorded. This meant he read a lot about the law and was always in the courtroom. “For clients at St. Paul’s, Discreet he was a man to reverence or so he seemed” (27). This explains how his job wasn’t just, he usually defended big crime offenders and because he was so good got them with out charge of crime. But he did not do this with out a fee. “Won him many a robe and many a fee” (28). This shows how his clients were of wealth.

            Chaucer sends us on this journey in The Canterbury Tales with many a men and woman. Some good but for the most part bad. He explains how money can corrupt humans, for evening the house of God we are dishonest. From the pardoner who’s job is to forgive but not with out a fee, he sells fake holy crafts. And for the parson who was rich with love, shows that there is always good. Even out side the church there is human morality expresses by the sergeant of law. His job is to defend the innocent but instead he defends murderers and whores. Chaucer had has own views of how the church was and he expressed this in his poem The Canterbury Tales.