Friar’s Tale

1. Friar’s Tale Friar’s, Summoner’s, and Pardoner’s Tale deal with hypocrisy and unmasking Hypocrisy? Practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness For Chaucer, hypocrisy was the foremost sin

2. Summoner’s Tale -Summoner is intent on delivering a counterattack -the tale depends on much of its comedy by coarse and open vulgarity -one of Chaucer’s most morally merry tales -the Friar falls into all the sins he so piously condemns

3. Although there is a summoner in the Friar’s Tale and a friar in the Summoner’s Tale, neither is a portrait of the actual pilgrim on the journey. They are portraits of what each pilgrim thinks the other to be.

4. Morality Themes -humankind responsible for his/her own downfall, freely chosen -justice administers precise punishment -wickedness will be discovered -goodness will be rewarded

5. Cleric’s Tale -This story is told as a result of the Wife of Bath’s Tale about women who desire sovereignty over their husbands. The Cleric’s Tale is a story with the opposite view of a woman completely submissive to her husband Griselda is totally submissive to her husband

6. - Walter is totally selfish, behaves sadistically towards Griselda - Griselda’s behavior may be viewed as repugnant; however, when viewed allegorically she becomes representative of the individual soul and its relation to God What does allegory mean? Allegory-story in which characters are used to personify abstract qualities; often used to express generalizations about human existence and teach religious or moral values

7. -Griselda may also allegorically represent Jesus, as the figure of perfect devotion, sacrifice, and love [also maybe Abraham and Isaac – acceptance of God’s will through his father (Genesis 22:1-9)] • Griselda typifies the true Christian in his/her relationship to God, patient and obedient • Possibly, allegorically a tale about the human struggle to reach the divine

8. - Walter allegorically represents God, has control over Griselda and control over his people -the lesson? Patience and obedience will be rewarded (as represented through Griselda) - Question regarding social order?If the social order is seen as divinely ordained then the marriage between Walter (aristocracy) and Griselda (peasantry) would be in defiance to God’s will and would bring confusion and chaos.

9. Questions: - Has Walter broken his covenant with God to “protect and honor” his wife? - Has he broken his duty to his children by exiling them?

10. Pardoner’s Tale -the hypocrisy of the Medieval Church is portrayed in the role of the Pardoner -Pardoner not practicing what he preaches -his work is based on deceit; he sells pardons to sinners by the false authority of the Pope and he sells false relics -at the end of the tale, he again takes the opportunity to make some money (298-299)

11. -it is his vanity that finally makes him the agent of his own unmasking -it is his hubris that motivates him to seduce the pilgrims Hubris? excess pride or self-confidence; arrogance -Chaucer depicts him as probably the most evil of the Pilgrims -the Pardoner is the lowest ranking in the religious group, and also of all the classes, thus his position as last among the pilgrims

12. -Theme? Greed is the root of all evil (287) (can’t covet money without coveting death itself) -the 3 rowdy men (representing the lower classes) go off to kill Death and then kill each other is an example of comic irony

13. Deceit -Friar’s Tale? Summoner deceives the people by extorting money from them based on false accusations and trickery -Summoner’s Tale? Friar deceives Thomas -Cleric’s Tale? Walter deceives Griselda about the children and about impending marriage to other woman -Pardoner’s Tale? Death (old man) deceives the 3 men; they also deceived each other