Chaucer's Monk example essay topic

The Canterbury Tales It may be difficult to imagine that people who lived in this world over six hundred years ago share very close similarities with modern day people. It is hard to believe that six hundred years from now lawyers and doctors will act the same, or share surprisingly similar characteristics. Time may change an abundance of things in our world, but people are people throughout the ages. Sure, some types of people change completely over the course of time. The characteristics of certain types of people may be warped after time has tampered with them, but there will always be types of people with character traits resilient enough to stand the test of time. These ideas may seem incredible, but they are very plausible.

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales in England towards the end of the fourteenth century. It is a satirical story of a group of pilgrims who are on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas Ab becket in Canterbury. The pilgrims, who are mostly subliminally mocked by Chaucer, consist of almost every member of the social class in England at the time. The class, which Chaucer seems to intentionally spare of his sarcasm, is the royalty of England. Chaucer probably did this to spare his own life. This piece of literature is so amazingly timeless that many of the characters depicted bare striking similar characteristics of their modern day counterparts.

A few of these characters are The Sergeant of the Lawe, The Doctour of Phisik, and The Monk. Firstly, The Sergeant of The Lawe can be compared in many ways to a modern day Judge. According to Chaucer, his Sergeant of The Lawe was a wary, and wise man. He practiced law often, and was often appointed by royalty to give his jurisdiction.

He was held in very high regards because of his superior knowledge and respected reputation. This characterization can be seen in some of Chaucer's quotes such as; "Justice he was ful often in assist, by patent, and by pleyn commission". Which suggests how often he practiced law, and that royalty appointed him usually. A modern day judge often practices in a similar way.

For instance, royalty appoints the Sergeant of The Lawe. This is similar to a modern day Supreme Court Justice because they are appointed by the U.S. President, and then are approved by the U.S. Senate". The rto he koude end ite and make a thing, There koude no wight pynche at his writing; and every status koude he pleyn by rote". That quote means that nobody could find any faults in The Sergeant of The Lawe's writings, and he knew every law off the top of his head. Being very precise and mindful of the laws can definitely be a characteristic found in a well-practiced modern judge.

Another Character that Chaucer characterized in a timeless fashion is The Doctour of Phisik. Chaucer's Doctour is very materialistic, similar to many prosperous doctors today. We see this characteristic when Chaucer says"; In san gwyn and in pers he clad was al, Lined with taffeta and with sendal; and yet he was of easy of dispense; He kept that he wan in pestilence. For gold in phisik is a cordial, therefore he loved gold in special". This description refers to the valuable quality of the Doctour's clothes. It also refers to the way he cherishes and loves gold.

Altogether, Chaucer implies that The Doctour is not a very bad person, although he is materialistic. Most doctors today hopefully are not bad people either. Most doctors today are also materialistic, but they are saving lives so a little materialism can't really hurt. As long as doctors today know their medicine as good as Chaucer's Doctour they should be allowed to own a few luxury cars. When Chaucer says"; In al this world ne was ther noon hym lik, to spoke of phisik and of surg eyre". or"; He knew the cause of ever ich malady e", he means that The Doctour knew the cause, and cure of every sickness. When a reader in our modern society reads the description of The Doctour of Phisik, the preverbal "light bulb" should go off in their head when they realize how similar he is to a modern doctor.

Some main similarities being keen knowledge of medicinal practices, and how often they treat their patients. Unfortunately, then there is materialism and love for money, or gold, but those characteristics should be excused if the physician is successful in his duties. Last but not least, we have Chaucer's Monk. Overall, Chaucer's Monk is the opposite of an ideal clergyman. Every character trait that a modern reader would assume he should convey he does not.

In the Monk's society, it should be expected that he would be a trustworthy, religious, and altogether honest person. However, the Monk lives far from those expectations. He is the quintessential poster-boy for corruptness in the church. In Chaucer's time, it was forbidden for a monk to hunt. Chaucer's monk however is an avid hunter. A monk is supposed to live in a cloystre, where he should study the bible and work.

Chaucer's Monk is never seen in his cloystre cell, and is never working with his fellow monks. According to Chaucer "Ne that a monk, whan he is reechelees, Is liked til a fish that is water lees, This is to a seen, a monk out of his cloystre". After having read that quote, one can assume that Chaucer meant a monk out of his cloystre is like a fish out of water. Soon enough a modern day reader should start to catch on to the religious figure of our modern society that is The Monk's predecessor.

Of course, it would be the catholic priest. Many Catholic priests today have become somewhat of a disgrace to their religion. The priests today may be corrupt in different aspects and situations, but their corruptness reflects back to six hundred years ago. The similarities between the two are clear after analyzing the description of The Monk. He hunts when he is forbidden to.

Many modern Priests engage in forbidden, and illegal sexual activities. Thus, the corrupt character traits of the clergy according to Chaucer have spanned from the thirteenth century to the present day. For a piece of literature to be considered timeless, certain details within the composition should succeed in being relevant throughout the ages. Some of these details should be character traits, situations, and emotions.

The Canterbury Tales succeeds to incorporate all of these details, but is most successful in Geoffrey Chaucer's characterization techniques. Chaucer may not have been aware that the characteristics of his satirical pilgrims would be so resilient. He may not have known how hard of a protective shell he was mending to the character traits of the Monk, or The Doctour of Phisik. It is certainly difficult to fathom that Chaucer could have been so clairvoyant to realize that his pilgrims would hold numerous similarities to people seven centuries from when he wrote The Canterbury Tales. The fact is that it doesn't necessarily matter whether Chaucer knew or not, nobody will ever know that. It matters that Chaucer actually did succeed in creating a piece of literature that is be internationally analyzed by people around the world.

The reason that it is still being analyzed is because of the timelessness of the components within the story. If The Canterbury Tales held no relevance to our modern day society, it may not have been as successful.