Earticle

초록

영어

Among the portraits in Chaucer's General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, most members of the portraits are the Catholic clergies. Those would have been a familiar part of the life of the common man and represent a permanent and everyday feature in the lives of the men and women of Chaucer's time. Just as they were aware of the clergy, most educated men and women of Chaucer's time were aware of widespread Church abuses. In his General Prologue Chaucer shows us very unflattering portraits of the greed and hypocrisy of the Friar, the Summoner, and the Pardoner, of his day. The corruption of many members of the clergy was a great reality of Chaucer's day. The legal status of the clergies could almost permit them to be above law in effect, because of the "benefit of clergy" and the fact that the Pope rules the English Catholic Church from Rome. The common believers tolerated the unparalleled greed and corruption of some clergies, due to the low rate of literacy in Chaucer's England and to their deep superstition. His portrait of the Parson shows us the ideal of what a Catholic clergyman should be, for this Parson works for God, not greed. There is no irony or sarcasm in Chaucer's portrayal of the Parson. Chaucer shows us what his religion has become in his portraits of the Friar, the Summoner, and the Pardoner. In his portrait of the Parson we see Chaucer's conception of what his religion can be. Though few clergies were like the exceptional Parson, Chaucer's faith in his Church seems to lie in this exception. In the General Prologue Chaucer shows us the real and the ideal. The reality of the some clergy in Chaucer's England is in the portraits of the Friar, the Summoner, and the Pardoner. Their main motivations are lust and greed, not God. The Parson stands in the face of these corrupt churchmen, a challenge to hypocrisy. Chaucer defines both the abuse that exists in his world, and also the cure.

목차

인용문헌
Abstract

저자

• 유종인 [ Chong-In Yoo | 한양대 ]

참고문헌

발행기관

간행물

표지보기 관심저널 등록

• 간행물명

  영어영문학연구 [Studies on English Language & Literature]

• 간기

  계간

• pISSN

  1226-8682

• 수록기간

  1972~2020

• 십진분류

  KDC 840 DDC 820