Canterbury Tales Social Satire Quotes

He wolde techen him to have noon awe
In swich caas of the ercedekenes curs,
But if a mannes soule were in his purs;
For in his purs he sholde ypunysshed be.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue. The Summoner has created a nice little earner for himself when dealing with people accused of violating Church law before the ecclestiastical court. A person faced with excommunication for some infraction can simply have the threat removed if he offers the Summoner a bribe. What does the Bible say about the wages of sin?

For in his male he hadde a pilwe-beer,
Which that he seyde was Oure Lady veyl:
He seyde he hadde a gobet of the seyl
That Seint Peter hadde, whan that he wente
Upon the see, til Jhesu Crist hym hente.
He hadde a croys of latoun ful of stones,
And in a glas he hadde pigges bones.
But with thise relikes, whan that he fond
A povre person dwellynge upon lond,
Upon a day he gat hym moore moneye
Than that the person gat in monthes tweye;
And thus, with feyned flaterye and japes,
He made the person and the peple his apes.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue. Though representing the Church, the Pardoner is quite simply a conman and hypocrite who exploits other people’s fears and faith for his own profit. In this passage he takes from the poor. He has a pillowcase full of fake relics and crosses that he charges people to view. He fools a poor parson and his parishioners with these, managing to earn more money in a day than the parson earns in a month. If ever there was a sinner in need of a Pardoner, it’s the Pardoner!

He was in chirche a noble ecclesiaste.
Wel koude he rede a lessoun or a storie,
But alderbest he song an offertorie;
For wel he wiste, whan that song was songe,
He moste preche and wel affile his tonge
To wynne silver, as he ful wel koude;
Therefore he song the murierly and loude.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue. In church the Pardoner uses his pleasant voice to tell stories, sing songs and preach, but not to praise and glorify the Lord. He does it for silver! He knows that the better he sings and preaches the more money he will get, so he makes sure he gives the congregation their money’s worth. The corrupt churchman sets out to make money and profit for himself every opportunity he can get.

His walet, biforn hym in his lappe
Bretful of pardoun comen from Rome al hoot.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue. The Pardoner has a knapsack brimful of Church pardons (indulgences) all fresh from Rome. Selling indulgences was big business then for the Church and brought in a lot of income. Pardoners were meant to offer indulgences to contrite penitants in return for a charitable donation to the Church. But pardoners were known throughout history for keeping the "donations" for themselves.

"Shewe forth thyn ers, and lat the frere se
Where is the nest of freres in this place!"
And er that half a furlong wey of space,
Right so as bees out swarmen from an hyve,
Out of the develes ers ther gonne dryve
Twenty thousand freres on a route.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Summoner’s Prologue. In hell the angel asks Satan to lift up his tail and show the friar where the nest of friars is, the Summoner says. Suddenly twenty thousand friars swarm out of Satan’s backside like bees out of a hive, he adds, using a vivid simile. Far from the image of holiness and devotion to God usually associated with friars, here they are savagely satirized and portrayed as mortal sinners destined for hell.

"Now thanne, put in thyn hand doun by my bak,"
Seyde this man, "and grope wel bihynde.
Bynethe my buttok there shaltow fynde
A thyng that I have hyd in pryvetee."

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Summoner’s Tale. Annoyed at the Friar’s hypocrisy and demand for gold at the end of a long sermon against excessive wealth, an exasperated Thomas offers a gift with a sting in the tail. He agrees to give him the gift which he is sitting on, if the Friar promises to divide it equally among the other friars. You can almost sense the money-obsessed Friar’s mouth water, as he follows Thomas’s instructions to reach down beneath his buttocks to find what’s hidden there. When the Friar gropes Thomas he is rewarded with an enormous fart as loud as a horse would let off. Thomas gets his revenge.

"My lord," quod he, "be ye nat yvele apayd,
I koude telle, for a gowne-clooth,
To yow, sire frere, so ye be nat wrooth,
How that this fart sholde evene deled be
Among youre covent, if it lyked me."

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Summoner’s Tale. After his humiliation by Thomas when he farted on him, the Friar goes to lord off the village, annoyed and wondering how he is supposed to divide a fart among the twelve friars. The lord’s squire mockingly proposes an imaginative solution in return for a "gowne-clooth" (cloth for a gown). He says the Friar should sit in the centre of a cartwheel and send the fart down the spokes of the wheel to each of the other friars.

By this gaude have I wonne, yeer by yeer,
An hundred mark sith I was pardoner.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Pardoner’s Prologue. The Pardoner boasts that he makes a good living from his different con tricks, including selling fake relics, sheep bones with miraculous powers and magic mittens. Chaucer pains a very satirical and cynical portrait of the licensed seller of indulgences – ecclesiastical pardons of sins – who himself repeatedly commits the cardinal sin of greed.

I stonde lyk a clerk in my pulpet,
And whan the lewed peple is doun yset,
I preche so as ye han herd bifoore
And telle an hundred false japes moore.
Thanne peyne I me to strecche forth the nekke,
And est and west upon the peple I bekke,
As dooth a dowve sittynge on a berne.
Myne handes and my tonge goon so yerne
That it is joye to se my bisynesse.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Pardoner’s Prologue. The cynical Pardoner prides himself on his theatrical air that he employs to preach his false stories to the uneducated people. Using a simile, he likens himself to a dove sitting atop a barn, stretching forth his neck to peer down at the people, hands and tongue working so quickly that it’s a joy to see him in action. You nearly admire how skilled this conman is at suckering money out of the faithful – in the name of religion! As well as greed, he is guilty of another of the Seven Deadly Sins here – pride!

Of avarice and of swich cursednesse
Is al my prechyng, for to make hem free
To yeven hir pens, and namely unto me.
For myn entente is nat but for to wynne,
And nothyng for correccioun of synne.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Pardoner’s Prologue. The Pardoner confesses that he is in the indulgences business not for the correction of sin, but to make profit for himself. He preaches against avarice so that people will be generous and give money offerings, which he unashamedly pockets to support his lifestyle. This Church representative has found the perfect con – and cover! At least he is honest enough to admit his hypocrisy.

Thus kan I preche agayn that same vice
Which that I use, and that is avarice.
But though myself be gilty in that synne,
Yet kan I maken oother folk to twynne
From avarice and soore to repente.
But that is nat my principal entente;
I preche nothyng but for coveitise.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Pardoner’s Prologue. As avarice is a sin practised by the Pardoner himself, he believes that he is in the ideal position to preach against it to others. Though himself guilty of that sin, he is convinced that he can make other folk turn away from it and repent. Sounds like the perverted logic of a clever hypocrite. However in the final two lines of the passage, the Pardoner reveals the true intention of his preaching – I preach nothing but for greed, he admits. At least he knows he’s a hypocrite.

What, trowe ye, that whiles I may preche,
And wynne gold and silver for I teche,
That I wol lyve in poverte wilfully?
Nay, nay, I thoghte it nevere, trewely!

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Pardoner’s Prologue. The canny Church representative knows that he has a gift for preaching and winning gold and silver from his audiences by teaching. So he asks the pilgrims: why would you think that I would volunteer to live in poverty? And he answers his own question: I never thought it, truly, he says.

His heer, his berd was lyk saffroun,
That to his girdel raughte adoun;
His shoon of cordewane.
Of Brugges were his hosen broun,
His robe was of syklatoun,
That coste many a jane.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Tale of Sir Thopas. The tale is a satirical depiction of the chivalrous knight, focusing more on his looks, appearance and what he wears, than on his valor or prowess in battle. Here we are told about his saffron hair and beard, leather shoes, brown stockings from Bruges, and expensive silk robe woven with gold.

He dide next his white leere
Of cloth of lake fyn and cleere,
A breech and eek a sherte;
And next his sherte an aketoun,
And over that an haubergeoun
For percynge of his herte;
And over that a fyn hawberk,
Was al ywroght of Jewes werk,
Ful strong it was of plate;
And over that his cote-armour
As whit as is a lilye flour,
His sheeld was al of gold so reed,
And therinne was a bores heed.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Tale of Sir Thopas. In a delightful send-up of the popular English romances, Sir Thopas prepares himself for battle with the three-headed giant by putting on layer after layer of fine clothes and armor. He puts on linen trousers and shirt, quilted jacket, chain-mail shirt, fine plate jeweled armor, and white surcoat. And let’s not forget his gold shield. Sir Thopas getting ready for battle is a parody of the battle preparations in the Knight’s Tale.
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