Chaucers Revelation of Corruption in the Medieval...

Corrupt and deceitful practices run among the Church’s clergy. Selfish acts such as the selling of indulgences occur all over. Many ignorant people buy into these lies and become the victims of the corrupt clergy of the Church. Author Geoffrey Chaucer shows how he views the Church in his acclaimed work The Canterbury Tales. In the book, Chaucer mentions how many people who are associated to the church take advantage of common people. Such exemplar characters of the book are The Pardoner and The Summoner. Both men are men of god and they use that to cheat others out of their money. With this in mind, Chaucer’s negative view of the Church is shown from the influence it had in medieval society. Likewise, one such example of the†¦show more content†¦As a result of this, many other innocent people are influenced by the corrupt power of the church and lose a lot of their money to relics which turn out to be of no use in the long run. Furthermore, another charact er that depicts Chaucer’s view towards the Church is the friar. He represents the opposite of what a good friar should represent. Which should be a humble and caring man. He is a very corrupt limiter and is very good at doing so. Instead of dealing with the poor, common folk, or other humble people he hangs out with the rich: â€Å"But anywhere where profit might accrue† (253). He loves to live the good life by cheating others out their money. And since the rich have the most money he likes to hang out with that crowd. The friar is not a man of god at all and this is self explanatory since: â€Å"He knew the taverns well in every town / And every innkeeper and barmaid too† (244-245). He is pretty much an alcoholic who likes to live off of others. All in all, the friar is an excellent example of Chaucer’s negative view towards the Church since he is just as corrupt as the other clergy. In addition, the influence the Church has is tremendous through out the people. Those who are associated with the Church have a lot of power since they influence many. No matter what they do, many believe them. That is why many are corrupt since they know that no one questions the Church’s authority. Questioning the Church isShow MoreRelatedA Picatrix Miscellany52019 Words   |  209 PagesZiel des Weisen von Pseudo-Magriti, Translated into German from the Arabic by Hellmut Ritter and Martin Plessner, London, The Warburg Institute, University of London, 1962 French B. Bakhouche, F. Fauquier, B. Pà ©rez-Jean: Picatrix Un traità © de magie mà ©dià ©val. 388 p., 130 x 210 mm, 2003, Paperback ISBN 2-503-51068-X, EUR 37.91. Newest critical edition. French S. Matton, La magie arabe traditionelle, Paris, 1977 (incomplete) Latin Picatrix: The Latin Version of the Ghà ¢yat Al-Hakà ®m, ed. David Pingree