The Summoner In The Canterbury Tales

The term character can be applied in several ways. It can mean either a physical being, or to their total pattern of behavior. In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, one is used to complement the other. He often uses certain physical characteristics to dictate exactly how the person is going to act*. This is most evident in the Summoner's Tale. The Summoner is ugly, with a scary face, but also turns out to have a very ugly personality, between his job, attitudes, and values, which come out through his physical descriptions.**.Chaucer's use of physical characteristics is most obvious in the Summoner's Tale.

The Summoner is a scary sight, but not only because he looks so hideous. He also has a hideous job- a summoner is a kind of religious bounty hunter.
He is described as having a "garland set upon his head," leading the reader into believing he is a homosexual. He allows men to commit sins, like adultery, without punishment as long as they paid him. Usually he took his payments in the form of wine, but also accepted cash. "Why he'd allow -just for a quart of wine- / any good lad to keep a concubine/ a twelvemonth!" He was very corrupt, a common theme in Chaucer's clergy. By accepting bribes to keep his mouth shut, he was essentially blackmailing the men of the community, instead of telling someone like he was supposed to. As his description says he "Sang deep seconds to [the Pardoner's] song," a love song. He has a deep voice, and is singing harmony to the Pardoner, suggesting their relationship is more than business related. Homosexuality was almost a sin in the Middle Ages, but for one who was supposed to make other pay for their sins he had a propensity for disregarding them. "As he pleased the man could bring duress/ on any young fellow in the diocese/ he knew their secrets, they did what he said." He held them in fear of being cursed, and leave them no hope for salvation, by dangling their sins over their heads. So they must do as he says. A Medieval man is not supposed to cause others harm, but try to help them. In fact, his job was to try to save them by making sure they atoned for