This Means War

This Means War…..

My favorite characters have been the friar and the summoner, which might sound weird. I think that their interaction is pretty normal and relatable even today.

I can picture them so clearly….

All the pilgrims are sitting around a table at a pub telling stories that entered their heads. I can see the friar and the summoner sitting across the table, unable to conceal the loathing they have for each other (probably because of the differences in their roles in the church), and they just continue to glare at each other.

Then it becomes the Friar’s turn to speak. Unable to hide his hatred, he throws out this store about a summoner who is traveling down to Hell. When the devil says, “it is nat his entente, truste thow me wel” (1556). He is telling the summoner that a person’s intentions matter, and that the summoner should know that the devil can be trusted in determining intentions. The friar gives the devil a human characteristic to be understanding of others, which the summoner in the tale does not have. This is an insult that the friar delivers to the summoner by saying, “even the devil is more human than you”.

At the beginning of the story, I can imagine the Host, warning off the friar from continuing the story, but I can hear the summoner dismiss the host, and let the friar continue, in the back of his mind thinking, “once your story is done, it’s my turn”. In my mind he is getting angry at the story, but is searching for a way to out do the Friar’s tale, and the idea of the summoner’s path into Hell.

Once the Friar, finishes the story, the summoner has a chance to tell his own story about the friar. How does he respond to the friar’s tales about his descent to Hell? He has the friar farted on, and tells the story of how a fart can be equally divided.

I can see the friar in his chair seething with hatred towards the summoner, and over the ridiculous story he told. His story was more serious and eloquently expressed how the summoner was a bad person, while the summoner just made a mockery out of him.

I can picture the tension, but the question that was presented is who won their fight? Or the battle of the Tales?

In my own opinion, the summoner won. The friar told a story that the foundation was built on his hatred for the summoner, and became mean when the friar sent the summoner to Hell. His story seems to be rooted in the hate that he has for summoners. The summoner, on the other hand, seems to have a story that would come across to some as stupid, but really is the smarter of the two. He is making a mockery of the friar. His story is simple, and seems to be making fun of the friar, but not meanly. His tale is deceptively innocent and playful. He made a story, that doesn’t solely express his dislike for the friar, but he made a story where others will laugh at the friar as well. That seems more powerful tool to express dislike, and he comes across as the better of the two by not openly expressing hatred