The Friar's Tale

The friar's tale

by Geoffrey Chaucer

Student: Andrea Sarta Date: 13 May 2021

Index

07. Themes

04. Translation

01. Introduction

08. Bibliography

05. Analysis

02. Plot

06. Main Characters

09. Thanks

03. Composition

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Introduction

This tale is a bitter and satirical attack on the work of summoners; it is included in Chaucer’s Tales as a way of highlighting the animosity between the two professions within the church (as friars could take confession and give absolution which eliminated the need for an ecclesiastical court hearing, which is what summoners helped facilitate).

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Plot

Prologue to the Friar's Tale

The Friar commends the Wife of Bath for her tale, and then says, in line with his promise between the Wife’s Prologue and Tale, that he will tell a tale about a summoner. He does not wish to offend the Summoner who travels with them, but insists that summoners are known for fornication and lewd behavior. The Summoner, on the surface at least, does not take offense, but does indicate that he will “quit” the Friar in turn. The job of a summoner, to which the Friar objects, is to issue summons from the church against sinners who, under penalty of excommunication, pay indulgences for their sins to the church, a sum which illicit summoners often pocket. The Host quiets the argument down, and the Friar’s Tale begins.

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Plot

The Friar's Tale

An avaricious archdeacon has in his employ a sly summoner, a thief and pimp. This summoner, out to serve a false summons on a poor widow, meets a gay yeoman, clad all in green. The summoner (ashamed of his true occupation) claims to be a bailiff; the yeoman says that he too is a bailiff. They swear to be brothers and share all that they get. The yeoman, the summoner learns, is a devil. They come upon a carter who curses his horses. Take them, says the summoner; they are ours. No, says the devil, the curse did not come from the heart. Then they come upon a poor old woman on whom the summoner tries to serve a false summons. She curses him; it comes from the heart, and the devil carries him off.

Composition

Once on a time there dwelt in my country An archdeacon, a man of high degree, Who boldly executed the Church's frown In punishment of fornication known, And of witchcraft and of all known bawdry, And defamation and adultery Of church-wardens, and of fake testaments And contracts, and the lack of sacraments, And still of many another kind of crime Which need not be recounted at this time, And usury and simony also. But unto lechers gave he greatest woe; They should lament if they were apprehended;

And payers of short tithes to shame descended.If anyone informed of such, 'twas plainHe'd not escape pecuniary pain. For all short tithes and for small offering He made folk pitifully to howl and sing. For ere the bishop caught them with his crook, They were already in the archdeacon's book. Then had he, by his competent jurisdiction, Power to punish them by such infliction. He had a summoner ready to his hand, A slyer rogue was not in all England; For cunningly he'd espionage to trail And bring reports of all that might avail.

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Translation

Un tempo abitava nel mio paeseun arcidiacono, un uomo di alto grado che eseguiva audacemente il cipiglio della Chiesa per punire la fornicazione conosciuta, E della stregoneria e di tutte le baldorie conosciute, e la diffamazione e l'adulterio degli amministratori di chiesa e dei falsi testamenti e dei contratti, e della mancanza di sacramenti, e ancora di molti altri tipi di crimini che non è necessario raccontare in questo momento, e di usura e simonia. Ma ai leccapiedi diede la più grande sventura; si lamentassero se fossero arrestati;

E i pagatori di decime brevi a vergogna scesero. Se alcuno informava di ciò, era chiaro non sfuggirebbe a pena pecuniaria. Per tutte le decime brevi e per le piccole offerte faceva pietosamente ululare e cantare la gente. Perché prima che il vescovo li prendesse con il suo bastone erano già nel libro dell'arcidiacono. Allora egli aveva, per sua competente giurisdizione ...il potere di punirli con una tale inflizione. Aveva un convocatore pronto alla sua mano, Non c'era in tutta l'Inghilterra una canaglia piu' scaltra; poiche' con astuzia aveva seguito una pista di spionaggio e portava notizie di tutto ciò che poteva servire.

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Analysis

Once on a time there dwelt in my country An archdeacon, a man of high degree, Who boldly executed the Church's frown In punishment of fornication known, And of witchcraft and of all known bawdry, And defamation and adultery Of church-wardens, and of fake testaments And contracts, and the lack of sacraments, And still of many another kind of crime Which need not be recounted at this time, And usury and simony also. But unto lechers gave he greatest woe; They should lament if they were apprehended;

• Rhymes scheme: AA-BB-CC-DD

(rhyming couplets)

• There is a polysindetum in and

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Analysis

And payers of short tithes to shame descended.If anyone informed of such, 'twas plainHe'd not escape pecuniary pain. For all short tithes and for small offering He made folk pitifully to howl and sing. For ere the bishop caught them with his crook, They were already in the archdeacon's book. Then had he, by his competent jurisdiction, Power to punish them by such infliction. He had a summoner ready to his hand, A slyer rogue was not in all England; For cunningly he'd espionage to trail And bring reports of all that might avail.

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Main Characters

The Friar

The Summoner

This boorish friar is rude and presumptuous, oblivious to the conditions of Thomas and his wife, who take him in as a boarder. Although ostensibly polite and refined, the friar callously begs Thomas for money.

The profession of the summoner is to issue summons for people to appear in front of the Church court, and in this the Summoner is quite unfair. He tells a tale in response to the Friar's diatribe against summoners that parodies the Friar's profession.

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Main Characters

Symkyn

The Host

A vulgar, dishonest and foolish miller, Symkyn repeatedly cheats his customers out of grain. He receives his comeuppance when two Cambridge students that he has cheated seduce his wife and daughter then steal their grain back from him.

or "Harry Bailly": The proprietor of the Tabard Inn where the pilgrims to Canterbury stay before beginning their journey. He accompanies the pilgrims on their journey. It is the Host who devised the scheme of the tales, proposing that each tell two tales on the way to Canterbury, and he frequently mediates arguments between pilgrims and suggests who shall tell the next story. He has a bit of a class complex, and can be seen regularly toadying up to the upper-class and higher-status characters.

Satan

Introducing himself as a yeoman, he and the summoner become compatriots until he finally casts the summoner into hell.

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Themes

In medieval times, the Catholic Church was a powerful structure in society. Church corruption, a recurring theme in Canterbury Tales, is also depicted in “The Friar’s Tale”. The Church extracts money from members with the excuse of money being for the church, when it wasn’t and members began to lose their trust in the system. The corruption of the church in “The Friar’s Tale” teaches the punishment of greed, lies, and manipulation, and how one should repent for those sins. It also emphasizes the importance of sincerity in everything spoken.

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Bibliography

• Harvard University
• Wikipedia.com
• Performer Heritage 1

• Britannica.com
• Gradesaver.com

• Youtube

Thanks for your attention

Any questions?