Chaucer\'s Canterbury Tales the Raucous

Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

The raucous tales of the thirty-odd travelers to Canterbury disguise powerful social commentary as well as commentary on the medieval mindset. Each of the tales in Chaucer's work refers to a meaningful issue such as social justice, gender, economic imbalance, political corruption, and corruption within the Church. Chaucer divulges his views on feudalism and the role of the Catholic Church in medieval England especially through the tales told by the Friar and the Summoner. As Schwartz notes, "Chaucer is highly conscious of the social divisions" manifest during the Middle Ages, and especially of the "three estates" social class division. Chaucer clearly points out through the Canterbury Tales that the clergy occupies the upper echelon of the society, keeping its stronghold on the people through a feudal economic and social model. It is through the Friar and the Summoner's tales that readers can glean a wealth of information about the Church's role in a feudalistic society and as a result, Chaucer's fiction becomes an important source of historical information. Moreover, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales reveals much about the philosophies, values, and norms of Medieval England. In addition to social commentary, Chaucer also reveals the underlying notions of good and evil, of justice and injustice, and of right vs. wrong in medieval society. The depiction of good and evil in The Canterbury Tales explains the impetus behind social changes discussed by Chaucer in his narrative. Chaucer frames good and evil as concepts that are only meaningful from a humanitarian and social perspective rather than from a religious or spiritual perspective. In other words, good and evil matter primarily because of their impact on social justice, something about which Chaucer was clearly concerned.

Chaucer used a healthy dose of humor, satire, and paradox to convey his central ideas. The Friar's Tale and the Summoner's Tale are no exceptions. The Prologue to the Friar's Tale sets the stage for the philosophical and personal conflict between the Friar and the Summoner. Though both are instruments of the Church, each will disparage the other through the examples in their stories. The antagonism between characters like the Friar and the Summoner add spice and vibrancy to all of the Canterbury Tales, and allow Chaucer to discuss weighty matters like good and evil without becoming preachy. In lines 15 through 20 of the Friar's prologue, he states outright, "of a somonour may no good be sayd...A somonour is a rennere up and doun / With mandementz for fornicacioun, / And is ybet at every townes ende." The Friar pokes fun of the Summoner's promiscuity, his unscrupulous work, and to his being beaten at every town he visits. As with other tales in the collection, the Friar is using his narrative to compete for the prize of best storyteller; however, his story is a thin disguise for the underlying social commentary. According to the Friar, evil is manifest in the corrupt collection and tithing practices supported by the Church. Evil is also manifest in the hypocrisy that is all-too-common among Church lackeys like the Summoners.

According to the Friar, the summoner embodies social, religious, and political evils because of his complicity with corrupt Church practices and his hypocrisy. For example, the Friar tells a story about a summoner who has it in for lechers in particular: "lecchours dide he grettest wo," ("Friar's Tale" line 46). However, the Friar notes that it is the Summoner who is the ultimate lecher: "To telle his harlotrye I wol nat spare," ("Friar's Tale" line 64). Using the word "harlotrye" insinuates that the Summoner has, as the Friar said during the prologue, a penchant for fornication. The Friar alludes to evil deeds that are expressly related to sexual promiscuity as a means to lambaste the Summoner's character and set the stage for the greater evil of extortion.

As the Friar continues his tale, it becomes apparent that sexuality is of less concern to his sense of morality than social justice. He calls the Summoner a "false theef" because of his seedy use of informants ("Friar's Tale" line 74). Moreover, the Summoner betrays his authority: "His maister knew nat alwey what he wan," ("Friar's Tale" line 81). The Summoner's use of informants to gather information about known lechers is clearly a violation of Christian ideals and Catholic principles and is therefore portrayed by the Friar as a form of evil. The Summoner's corrupt method of conducting business also insults the true nature of Christian spirituality, which is why the Friar compares the Summoner to Judas in line 86 of his tale: "And right as Judas hadde purses smale, / And was a theef, right swich a theef was he," ("Friar's Tale" lines 86-87). Chaucer refers to Scripture as a way of showing that it is through such evil acts as hypocrisy, corruption, and extortion that Church doctrine becomes distorted. At the same time as the Summoner hunts for people he calls evil: the lechers, the fornicators, and the adulterers, he is committing even greater crimes by committing dishonest collections practices. The Friar clearly distinguishes between the evils of sexual promiscuity and the evils of hypocrisy. Moreover, Chaucer is not insulting Christian doctrine, but he is insulting the clergy's methods of exploiting people for financial gain.

Chaucer's diction and his use of imagery create a compelling commentary on good and evil in the Friar's Tale. For example, the Friar describes the Summoner as an animal: "This somnour, evere waityng on his pray," ("Friar's Tale" line 112). Furthermore, the Summoner selects the weakest person to pray on: "an old wydwe, a ribibe," ("The Friar's Tale," line 113). Chaucer also creates powerful tension through the insertion of the yeoman/devil into the Friar's Tale, especially when the two compare notes on their evil ways. The Friar conveys the Summoner's ironic admiration for the demon through such lines as "My trouthe wol I holde to my brother," ("Friar's Tale" line 263). Referring to the devil as his brother underscores the connection between the Summoner's actions and the Friar's perception of pure evil.

The Summoner's evil ways, including extorting money from innocent church-goers and basically robbing others, ultimately backfire. Chaucer portrays the Summoner's acts as more evil than the lechery the Summoner condemns: because the Summoner exploited the widow, the devil takes him directly to hell: "Thou shalt with me to helle yet to-nyght, / Where thou shalt knowen of oure privetee / Moore than a maister of dyvynytee," ("Friar's Tale" lines 372-374). Thus, through the Friar's tale, Chaucer claims that true evil is not necessarily in the black-and-white moral mandates of acts condemned by the Church. Rather, Chaucer asserts that the true nature of evil is the abuse of power, corruption, and hypocrisy that often runs rampant in the Church. Chaucer offers support of Christian spiritual beliefs through references to scripture and sincere prayer: "Waketh, and preyeth Jhesu for his grace," ("Friar's Tale" line 390). The Friar concludes his tale on an optimistic note, claiming that God did indeed make mankind in His own image and as a result, even Summoners have the potential to be good.

The Summoner's response to the Friar's tale is more lewd in its diction and imagery. However, the Summoner's Tale offers poignant and complex social and political commentary just as the Friar's Tale does. The Summoner's Tale therefore supports Chaucer's argument that men who claim to represent moral righteousness and spiritual salvation can represent the true manifestation of evil in society.

Rather than offer defensive rebuttals for the Friar's accusations, the Summoner first offers a puerile explanation of the Friar's place in hell: "Right so as bees out swarmen from an hyve, / Out of the develes ers ther gonne dryve / Twenty thousand freres on a route, / And thurghout helle swarmed al aboute," ("Summoner's Tale" lines 29-32). The Summoner's crude language continues later in the passage in his attempt to criticize the Friar: "So was the develes ers ay in his mynde, / That is his heritage of verray kynde," ("Summoner's Tale" lines 41-42). The Summoner's crude diction and imagery also adds humor to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Humor helps to lighten the tone while still conveying themes related to the nature of evil. The Summoner's Tale differs significantly from the Friar's tale because of the Summoner's more liberal use of humor, satire, and toilet humor.

The Summoner reverses the charges on the Friar, accusing all Friars of corruption through the financial exploitation of innocent church-goers. Therefore, the Summoner's perception of evil closely resembles that of the Friar's. The Summoner describes a Friar who attempts to garner money in the name of the Church. He tries to cajole a man named Thomas: "Yif me thanne of thy gold, to make oure cloystre... Now Thomas, help, for seinte charitee!" ("Summoner's Tale" lines 435; 455).

Thomas agrees to help the Friar but, just as the yeoman/devil tricked the Summoner in the Friar's Tale, so too does Thomas trick the Friar in the Summoner's tale. For example, Thomas tells the Friar that he will help the Church: "Now wel," quod he, "and somwhat shal I yive / Unto you're hooly covent whil I lyve; / And in thyn hand thou shalt it have anon," ("Summoner's Tale" lines 465-467). Thomas's gift turns out to be a giant fart, which Chaucer describes using richly comedic imagery: "Ther nys no capul, drawynge in a cart, / That myghte have lete a fart of swich a soun," ("Summoner's Tale," lines 486-487). The humor continues to enliven the Summoner's tale; toward the end the characters seriously debate how to divide up a fart.