Religion in Chancer’s Canterbury Tales

Religion in Chancer’s Canterbury Tales

Chaucer was the first English poet and lived during a period of plague, social revolt, war, king murders and religious disagreements. However, the society was active, creative and very educated, during the renewal of the English language as the new medium for literature. Chaucer was a civil servant who successfully served three kings in diverse careers. His greatest accomplishment was establishing the English language as the primary language for writing. His poetry explored themes on humanity with humour, thus gaining a lot of acceptance from the audience. The poetry uses religious elements, for instance, religious language, imagery and figures which help to communicate the intended meaning.

The Man of Law Tale mainly explores the theme of constancy, a term described during medieval times as patience. Patience is a religious element that shows ability to endure adversity and faith in God. Constancy can also refer to one’s allegiance and obeyance to the law. Constance like Griselda upholds the human virtue with the help of divine grace to overcome the temptations of this life (Yunck 245). Similarly, Griselda succeeds by using conformant patience and strength during hard times. On the other hand, Constance surmounts the life’s trials through her total submission to God’s will who ultimately make her triumph: “Lord, ay welcome be thy sonde!”.

The tale stresses the theme of divine providence. Constance submissiveness like Griselda story is a portrayal of the impact of passion rather than action. The tales intends to reflect holy passion which Christians must practice. The Man of Law’s Tale emphasizes the security and powers associated with Christian constancy. In the medieval understanding, Christian endurance implied firm dedication to God and lack of interest in the worldly things (Yunck 246). First, the tale presents a contrast between the worldly wealth, represented by the wealthy Syrian traders of Sultan and prosperity of the spirit referring to Constance character. She is ideal and universal; she is presented in different situations. For instance, in both poor and wealthy conditions, sorrow and happiness, victory and defeat. Constance can endure the trials and tribulations of this world, hardships, rejection, and the ruthlessness of fortune. She manages to overcome the trials of this world because she hopes to get a reward in the next world.

In the entire story, Constance portrays firmness in the Christian virtues among them patience, humility, hope, faith and charity. She is saved miraculously out of impossible situations. Her conduct towards the power of God and how she changes represent the complicacy of the religious and political structures that form the medieval race. Constance submissiveness can involve something that has no meaning by itself but changes the values of those it interacts with. Her submissiveness placing her as a zero-value has a significant impact as a change agent. Symbolically, it means that Christians need to view their losses as the will of God and submit to it. Consequently, Western Europe, which is campaigning about losses, demands that it reconsiders how it treats its eastern others. Agency is about God regardless of whether one will require submission to other agents. Therefore, the Christian world must submit to the will of God through portraying itself as the passive receiver of grace.

The tale General Prologue describes the early church as predominantly comprised of the wealthy and firmly surrounded by politics. The relationship between politics, religion and prosperity and the desire to safeguard rights to live contributed to corruption and secularization of the church which deviated from its moral guide. It led to controversial debate about the role of the church and religion in medieval Europe. In the General Prologue, Chaucer portrays prioress through three main things, her behaviour, appearance and her moral stance. Here, Chaucer uses language figuratively to describe her appearance to emphasize the elements that contradict the entire medieval notion of a weak and cheap church. Eglentyne’s desire for costly clothes, epicurean golden and rosaries made of coral depicts her inclination towards materialistic things which do not conform to the spiritual expectations of monastery life.

Subsequently, this stance is well illustrated in the lines Chaucer utilizes a lot of illustrations to describe her behaviour that all incline towards madame Eglentyne desire to look classy made her speak French, she also wanted to portray the right table manners. (Flock). Arguably, she does not require such things when working as a nun; thus, she tries to emulate the behaviour in the courts, which is majorly secular rather than spiritual want. Figuratively, this is evident in the growing secularization of religion during the late middle age period. Moreover, her emphasis on the table manners compounds the situation as the table manners lure men towards women. As a result, this seems to violate the guidelines of serving in the monastery.

Also, the nun is described in terms of her compassion and charity. The two behaviours are fundamentally essential in the Christian notion of devotion. Chancer describes Eglentyne as a compassionate person to an extent she would shed tears at the sight of a wounded or a rat lilled in the trap or when her favourite dog was killed or hit using a stick (Flock). For the lovers of animals and the fact that she will live in alone, this is an acceptable stance. However, in the medieval context, Eglentyne compassion is directed to the wrong audience. There are no instances of Christian compassion directed towards the living beings; therefore, the nun fails to accomplish her parish obligation

In conclusion, General Prologue describes a sister who is entirely out away from her obligation. She is a greedy and wealthy woman who is more inclined towards worldly fulfilment instead of accomplishing her role in religion. Constance in The Man of Law Tales represent the ideal prioress; she has the right moral conduct, clean heart, compassionate with a royal birth. She upholds the correct religious doctrines and describes the behaviour of an ideal Christian. Chaucer makes spiritual reference through imagery to symbolically represent the situation in medieval Europe. He also explores other competing tradition such as the notion of an ideal church that causes a political, social and religious rift.