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  • Essay / Analysis of the Monk in the Prologue to Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

    In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer portrays several unique personalities, including a conniving, rebellious monk who selfishly rejects Church rule and lives greedily his own world. Throughout the monk's narrative, evidence of his irreverence toward the Church is documented in both obvious and discreet ways; he is shameful, sacrilegious and deceitful, and hides his lack of faith behind the persona of a “modern monk”. Thus, Chaucer engages in a particularly pointed mode of satire, in which the expected code of conduct is completely subverted and subverted. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The monk's lifestyle completely challenges each of the major tasks he has as a member of the monastery. The Rule of Saint Benet clearly sets out the guidelines, regulations and duties of monks and abbots who live in a communal environment and they were created to establish order, preach the minimum needs of monks and understand their religious responsibilities in the company. Chaucer's monk consciously refuses to conform to the conditions of his stature, honestly stating that he considered the rules of St. Benedict to be "ancient and strict" (10). In the Middle Ages, religion and faith were the most essential elements of everyone's daily life; Whether nobles or peasants, the population generally sought to live their lives in service to God. Prayers were customary at several times of the day and spiritual belief had a great influence on the majority of individuals. Those who refused to comply with the rules of Saint-Benet were subject to sanctions. A monk's desires were simply to study and read in the way of God and to serve Him to the best of his ability; they gain this calling because of their true love and dedication to God. To prove that Chaucer's monk is sacrilegious is not a difficult feat; his actions and beliefs should have given him the misfortune of excommunication. Instead of carrying out his monastic tasks, the monk chooses to "travel the country" (2), to spend his money on useless goods such as "a beautiful gray fur, the most beautiful in the country" (30), to engage in high-quality activities. class food and lives as if he pays no attention to religion. In chapter 23 of the Rule of Saint Benet, it is said that “If [the monk] does not modify [in correction], let him be reprimanded in public before all. But if he does not correct himself, let him be subject to excommunication… If he does not lend himself to such correction, let him be subjected to corporal punishment. In the Middle Ages, religion constituted the determining structure for the development of laws, education and the daily life of the people; to neglect religion was to neglect the most important substance of society. According to Saint Benet's diction on monks and abbots, and this monk's inability to cooperate with these conditions, the monk should be rejected by the disciples and completely dismissed from the church. The commandments that monks follow define them as people who live to serve others and, above all, serve God. Upon arrival at the monastery, all participants swore an oath of obedience, chastity and poverty, and agreed to lead a life of kindness. The monk's reliance on hunting is one of his most punishable characteristics; for monks and abbots, according to the disciples of Saint Benedict, hunting was considered immoral and unnecessary. Alongside his strong desire to hunt, he also claims to own "many delicate horses".