Analysis Of The Friar In Chaucer's Prologue To The Canterbury Tales
Dave Tagatac English III Dec. 1, 2000 Canterbury Tales Essay #1 In Geoffrey Chaucer's Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, there was a Friar to accompany the party traveling to Canterbury. Hubert, as he was called, embodied the traits from which friars were expected to keep their distance. Chaucer is successful in using this white-necked beggar to bring to the readers mind corruption, wealth, greed, and lechery, all hypocritical and immoral characteristics for a man of the church to possess. Although he is a merry man, full of joy and "wantonness", these are mere irrelevancies when assessing Hubert's value of character as a friar.
Throughout Chaucer's description of the Friar in the Prologue, Hubert's corruption is evident. Probably the Friar's greatest evil is suggested early in his description and mentioned several times more. When Hubert would marry a couple, he would give each "Of his young women what he could afford her." The sexual connotation of this statement is enforced by the fact that "He kept his tippet stuffed with pins for curls, / And pocket-knives, to give to pretty girls." Other evidence of corruption, although not as reprehensible as the defiance of celibacy, includes Hubert's failure to befriend the "lepers, beggars, and that crew," to whom friars were intended to be nearest. The narrator explains that their lack of money makes their friendship simply a waste of the Friar's time.
A friar is supposed to be poor, only taking what they need to survive, and giving the rest to those impoverished souls who need it. Hubert, on the other hand, was quite wealthy. I have never known the imbibing of alcohol to be a necessity of life, and yet this friar "knew the taverns very well in every town / And every innkeeper and barmaid too." The narrator even states outright that "his income came / To more than he laid out." Yet another extraneous possession for a friar was the extravagant dress Hubert wore, as contrasted with the rags friars were expected to don.
Throughout Chaucer's description of the Friar in the Prologue, Hubert's corruption is evident. Probably the Friar's greatest evil is suggested early in his description and mentioned several times more. When Hubert would marry a couple, he would give each "Of his young women what he could afford her." The sexual connotation of this statement is enforced by the fact that "He kept his tippet stuffed with pins for curls, / And pocket-knives, to give to pretty girls." Other evidence of corruption, although not as reprehensible as the defiance of celibacy, includes Hubert's failure to befriend the "lepers, beggars, and that crew," to whom friars were intended to be nearest. The narrator explains that their lack of money makes their friendship simply a waste of the Friar's time.
A friar is supposed to be poor, only taking what they need to survive, and giving the rest to those impoverished souls who need it. Hubert, on the other hand, was quite wealthy. I have never known the imbibing of alcohol to be a necessity of life, and yet this friar "knew the taverns very well in every town / And every innkeeper and barmaid too." The narrator even states outright that "his income came / To more than he laid out." Yet another extraneous possession for a friar was the extravagant dress Hubert wore, as contrasted with the rags friars were expected to don.