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How Is The Parson Different From The Canterbury Tales

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Geoffrey Chaucer’s 489-page anthology book, The Canterbury Tales, describes a tale in which characters of different social classes embark on a pilgrimage to Canterbury to visit the shrine of St. Thomas Becket. The Host proposes that each person tell two tales on the way to and from Canterbury in order to make the journey more pleasant, and the person who tells the best story will receive a free dinner at the Tabard Inn. Geoffrey, one of the pilgrims on the journey, narrates the character descriptions from the prologue and the stories of each person bringing many aspects of late medieval society to life. Among the story-tellers who reveal themselves are the Knight and the Parson. Although both characters live out similar virtues and possess …show more content…
Geoffrey describes the Parson with incredulous awe because the majority of the religious characters in The Canterbury Tales are corrupt. The Parson receives an excellent reputation through his nobility and is a paradigm for other religious figures through his interactions with his fellow parishioners. He is known to practice what he teaches, and his values are exemplary for the people of his parish. Based on these qualities, Geoffrey describes the Parson with the reputation of someone who is “never contemptuous of sinful men,/ Never disdainful, never too pride or fine” (17). Equivalently, the book portrays the Knight as a perfect gentleman, who shows cordiality and humility to everyone he meets. Furthermore, this character is exceedingly courteous by acting according to the chivalric code. Ultimately, the Knight exhibits the ideal reflections of a virtuous warrior in medieval times, as Geoffrey describes him with the reputation as “…true, a perfect gentle-knight” (5). His opinion of both characters most likely represents what others in the medieval period must have …show more content…
The Parson is more of a passive character who preaches rather than fights as “he was a shepherd and no mercenary” (16). He spreads the gospel of Christ by teaching it to his fellow parishioners. Moreover, this character represents God through his actions of charity and love by always helping others instead of fighting. His personality is the epitome of the Catholic faith. On the other hand, the Knight follows the code of chivalry that includes strict obedience to the will of God and merciless war against the infidel. By following the chivalric code, he fought in fifteen different battles ranging from Alexandria to Tramissene (4). Additionally, the Knight is portrayed as a dynamic character who battles for his country and represents God by physically fighting for him as he “…always killed his man” (4). Through the Knight’s physical nature that is contrary to the Parson’s relatively passive nature, this warrior nobly protects the chivalric values of truth, honor, generousness, and courtesy in a different manner (4). While the virtues and reputation of both men are the same, their different roles in life create different lifestyles for each

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