The Impossible Division

I couldn't help by draw a parallel between the events of "The Summoner's Tale" with the issues going on in the Catholic Church at the time. There had been conflict in the early 14th century regarding control of Northern Italy. The Holy Roman Emperor and Pope Boniface VIII were both trying to gain political control of the area. By this time, the Catholic Church had been guilty of things such as simony, and the pope was guilty of trying to gain power and riches for personal gain. Dante was quite familiar with this entire conflict, and it is a major theme of The Divine Comedy. Chaucer was, no doubt, familiar with all of the issues surrounding the corruption of the Church. "The Summoner's Tale" appears to touch on a few of those issues.

First, the friar's behavior could represent the corruption of the Church having filtered down from the leaders of the Church to the lower echelon. The Jubilee of 1300 was a pilgrimage meant for individuals to "buy" time off their stay in Purgatory. Money was pouring in faster than the priests could gather it together. The friar's taking of goods without providing his end of the bargain brought to mind the fact that some of these same issues surrounded the Jubilee.

The issues addressed in the conversation between the friar and the sick man all dealt with the idea that payment was made and services were not rendered, so to speak. So, the old man tricks the friar into thinking the friar will get some kind of payment. Instead, the fart that is to be distributed thirteen ways presents the friar with an unusual problem. Like Jonathan pointed out in class, the friar is unable to see the problem. Could it be the friar's problem is that the corruption has gone so deep that he has literally tricked himself into thinking that he got tricked? Or, is he simply over thinking the situation?

The solution proposed by the squire is, as we discussed, funny and still leaves the friar and his company empty handed. I see this as Chaucer's dig: if the friar gives nothing, then he will get nothing. They then have to divide nothing among the thirteen. Does this mean something more as far as commentary on the current affairs of the Church? Is Chaucer trying to say something larger: the Church is not doing its job as it should (it's too involved in temporal affairs), so the Church needs a taste of its own medicine?

I may be off base here, but I just couldn't get this out of my mind when reading the tale.

The Summoner's Tale Discussion

After reading both the Friar's Tale and the Summoner's Tale, and discussing them in class, I found it extremely interesting to see not just what played out in the stories, but also what everyone else had to say about the tales and the ways in which they relate to one another. While I get my own personal enjoyment from reading Chaucer's stories, I love having the opportunity to hear the thoughts of others as well. Even though I may have one interpretation of a tale, another individual who brings their own set of personal experiences and prior knowledge to their reading will undoubtedly see things a bit differently than I. Having a chance to hear the varying thoughts and ideas of others, especially when discussing something as complex as Chaucer, really makes a huge difference and adds a whole new dimension to the experience of reading The Canterbury Tales.

On that note, I especially liked how we broke away from our normal pattern and discussed things a bit differently today, as I loved having the opportunity to explore one particular element of the tale in depth and then getting to hear what the other groups came up with concerning their area of focus. I also thought this added a personal dimension to the discussion today, as I had the opportunity to work and speak directly with Yasmine and Heather, both of whom I hadn't interacted with before other than in big group discussions. I thought our group worked really well together and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to hear my group member's personal thoughts as we worked through our area of focus together.

I also believe it was a nice break to only have to consider a small section/theme from the Summoner's Tale for a change. When we discuss a tale in its entirety as a class I often find myself not necessarily overwhelmed but having a hard time trying to wrap my head around both the current discussion and the  themes of tale itself at the same time. In other words, I feel like there is so much material and so many things that can be said about Chaucer's tales that I often don't know which areas to focus on or where to take the discussion next.

I like delving deeply when I analyze and in larger group discussion we tend to discuss a lot of the points from the tales but we don't linger on any one point for too long. I loved the way we discussed things today though because we had more of an opportunity to delve deeper. Only having one particular theme/area of the story to focus on and consider really helped me to better understand the Summoner's tale as a whole. Not only was I able to have a more personal discussion about the text but I was also able to hear the thoughts of the other groups who also had this same opportunity. It made for a new dynamic today and in the end I believe that I understand more of the complexities of this tale that I would have if we had perhaps discussed it in class. Instead of trying to wrap my head around all three of our main points today at once I was able to focus all of my attention on my group's particular idea and then re-group with the class at the end to hear what others came up with. I was able to absorb the other group's points much easier than I believe I would have if we had discussed things in a different manner. Although I was a little unsure at first, overall I really enjoyed the way we discussed things today and I would love to have another discussion set up like this before the end of the semester!

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."