The Religious Group of the Prologue
According to the well-accepted and well-acknowledged
definitions of Poet, a poet should be impartial and disinterested like a guide
in the presentation of truth. Chaucer is such a poet who come up perfectly to
the standard of a poet. He keenly observed the social, moral and religious
atmosphere and brought out the incongruities and the foibles in social, moral
and religious sector. Being a humanist he did not love any personal prejudice
or enmity against anyone. He always targeted the corruption. In this concern
ecclesiastical authorities and religious people become the target of his satire
and humor. He was not against the religion, he was not against even the sinner
but he was against the sin itself. He was greatly tolerant towards religion,
Church and ecclesiastical figures.
In the age of Chaucer the Church had become a hotbed of
profligacy, corruption and materialism. Even the overlord of the Church, the
Pope himself had got worldly ambitions. In the words of W. H. Hudson; “the
greater prelates heaped up the wealth and lived in godless way. There was no
modesty in their words, no temperance in their food nor even charity in their
deeds. If this was the condition of priests we can well-imagine that of laity.”
Well does Chaucer say while describing the Poor Parson of the Town “If gold
rusts what shall iron do?”
Though Chaucer was not a satirist nor a reformer yet he
could not help describing sympathetically and tolerantly the wide-spread
corruption which had clept into the religious order and ecclesiastical rail and
life. The Monk, The Friar, The Summoner, The Prioress and The Pardoner all were
corrupt, materialist and pleasure loving. All these characters signify the all
prevailing decadence that had made inroads into the Christian Church in the 14th
century.
Chaucer has drawn the picture of Clergy which though tinged
with tolerance and good humor is far from flattering. His description smacks off
healthy and kind human attitude rather than better or prejudiced one on the
contrary. Chaucer amused by the character and the behavior of those religious
figures. This is so because he was a catholic having tolerant and accepting
attitude towards humanity with all its imperfections, weaknesses and
limitations. He only laughs at their lapses mostly realistically but sometimes
indulging into a little kindly exaggeration.
Thus all the portraits are steeped in all pervasive genuine
humor and delicate irony. Consequently the Clergymen were enjoined upon to live
a simple life of religious purity. They were required to a simple life of
study, meditation and prayer. There was a time when religious order maintained
strict religion, Christian purity and spirituality. But over the centuries
things landed to become slack. The Monasteries came to have materialistic and
mundane attitude and atmosphere. But all was not lost there were some priest
who still exercised religious restraints and acted upon the Christianity in
latter and spirit. The Poor Parson of the Town represents this small minority
exercising Christianity in all its pristine beauty.
To begin with the picture of the Prioress is ironical and a
delicate satire runs underneath her portrayal. She is well bred but was
over-sophisticated. Although she should not swear yet she does so by St. Loy
(The very saint who prohibited swearing). Thus she is individualized as Madam
Eglantine. Her life is same tinged with affection. She takes pains to imitate
the manners of the Court and aristocrats. She speaks French though not fresh
and natural. Paris is yet aristocratic according to the fashion of the French
of Stratford-le-Bow. Although she shows fake shyness by keeping herself all
covered yet her over-formality and over-delicacy is more than evident. Nuns
were prohibited to keep pets but Madam Eglantine keeps hounds, cares them in a
luxurious way and feeds them with roasted meat, milk and bread of fine sour.
Moreover Nuns are required to live life of simplicity but Chaucer’s Prioress
shows love for jewelry by wearing the brooch of gold. Even her singing is
artificial and formal. She sings her services in the Church “entuned in hir
noseful semely”. Moreover she was very tender hearted and wept of when she saw
a mouse caught in a trap in the word of Bandon “She is the nun who remembers
life beyond the convent walls and who longs for some of the more innocent yet
forbidden pleasures of the life. Yet she typifies the traits of contemporary
prioress”
The character of The Monk is also ironical and elaborates
and shows a strong tilt towards secular, liberal and materialistic side. According
to the monastic established by St. Maurus and St. Benedict, The Monk was
required to live a life of obedience, poverty, celibacy and labor. Moreover he
is supposed to confine himself to his cloister for spiritual studies. However
those monks forget their religious duties because they enjoined great riches
and powers on account of huge grants from crown given to the monasteries and
convents. Thus they left their cloisters and went out hunting. Again the Monk
violating the principles by wearing costly clothes, eating dishes and indulging
in worldly pleasures. In fact he looks more like a gentle man than a monk. The
Monk is not what he should, he is what he should not.
The Friar presents the direct contrast to the Monk. Although
the Monk had some serious mawkish voices yet he commanded respect. But the time
seems to have no respect anywhere. He is condemned as licentious and dishonest.
According to Chaucer the friars were hypocrite. They had license for begging in
a particular area but due to cleverness they grabbed a lot of money from
people. The general public began to give silver to the poor friars. They also
got other opportunities to make money by unfair means. They would even fetch a
penny from a widows who even not had shoes to wear. They could be employed as
tax-gathers and hear confessions. On love days they acted like a Master or a Pope
Chaucer’s Friar has all these opportunities. He is a limiter and makes much
more money than his expenses. He has a fine figure and attracts both married
and unmarried women specially the rich women of the area.
Another important ecclesiastical character of the Middle
Ages was the Pardoner. According to the Bandon; Pardoner in Chaucer’s days were
employed in selling pardons, relics and preaching. Chaucer’s Pardoner is expert
in selling pardons. He made a lot of money in one day. Chaucer says that the
Pardoner’s income of one day was more than that of a Poor Parson’s in two
months.
The Summoner is another important character in Chaucer’s
Prologue among officials connected with religious courts. His duty was to call
offenders to ecclesiastical courts. Summoner were notorious in harassing the
poor and ignorant and thus they made great amount of money. They were also
sexually immoral and morally corrupted. Chaucer’s Summoner and the Pardoner are
the corrupt ecclesiastics but that is not the whole thing. There is a good
ecclesiastical character who presents an antithesis to the corrupt clergy. He
is the Poor Parson of the Town. Though materially poor, he is “rich in his
hooly thoughts and werk”. He is kind to his parishioners. He does not
ex-communicate those poor people who cannot pay the tithe. He rather pays out
of his own pocket. Moreover like a true priest he is loyal in his religious
duties. He visits even during his sickness those Parishioners who live in the
farthest parts of the Parish. He always cares about his sheep like a good
pastor. He is living model of poverty, austerity and chastity. He lives a
simple life and practices what he preaches. Chaucer has idealized Poor Parson
as a scholar, a man of true virtue and of true humanitarianism. In fact he is a
symbol of hope telling mankind that although vice leans large in the world yet
the world has not wholly become bankrupt of true virtue and such ideal
character. Although they are one in ten thousand yet they do exist, here and
there to remind mankind that all is not lost
Another significant aspect of Chaucer is that he has painted
without any line or color. As pointed out by Prof. Dereck Brenner in his book
“An introduction to Chaucer” there were three Medieval estates which has been
idealized by Chaucer, The Knight, The Parson and The Ploughman and they have not
been satirized. The Parson and the Ploughman are the most idealized of all and
the least individualized. In fact they are theories rather that persons. The
second significant thing is that the trilogy represents secular personalities
(secular characters – figures out of monastery or cloister)
Composed By; Malik Muhammad Asad Hussain
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