Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Faults of the Friar

"The Summoner" contains crude, but entertaining humor in his prologue and tale of a friar.
 In one of the last classes we discussed the motive behind tales- satire or spite.  "The Summoner's Tale" is one told out of spite with the intention of making the friar out to be the butt of his joke. However, I also think this is a satiric tale as it criticizes friars who have become dishonest and worldly.
The Summoner begins his tale with an angel showing a friar around Hell. Obviously, Hell is not a place one would normally expect to see clergy. When the friar asks whether or not his kind are sent to Hell, the angel tells him, "Yis...many a milioun" reside in Hell. The angel then reveals the special place in Hell reserved for friars- nesting  in the Devil's "thin ers" (1690). This suggests that since such a great number of friars are deserving of such "tormentz of this sorry place" the lot is spoiled.
The reader is then introduced to a sick, bedridden man that the friar visits and takes advantage of. This is a low act and demonstrates the irredeemable qualities of the friar. However, as shown in the picture above, the friar falls for the invalid's prank and not only becomes the butt of his joke, but that of the Summoner's as well.


P.S. Sorry for the crude, but seemingly accurate image for "The Summoner's Tale."

2 comments:

  1. I love the picture. It is accurate. Sums up the story very well. It is crude, but I can still the humor that is trying to be presented. I know its not soley to be crude but has a purpose behind it.

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  2. I totally agree with Yasmine! In fact, I am very glad that you included this picture, Suzanna, because it actually helped me to get a clearer image in my mind of what was going on - not necessarily the actual situation itself but rather the way each character looked while it was happening. I was able to picture a bed-ridden man and a friar in my mind while reading but I didn't see their expressions in my imagination. I really like this image because as soon as I saw it I felt like I had a complete picture of the scene. When I read the tale I constructed the image of the Thomas' room as if I were facing his bed, standing next to the Friar. However, this image has the viewer looking upon the scene from the back, a very successful viewpoint, in my opinion. Thanks for including the image!!

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