The Friar's Tale

Characters

The Friar

The main characters in The Friar's Tale are the summoner and the devil. We are told that the summoner is an untrustworthy person who steals and cheats his boss out of half of the money that he is supposed to be receiving. The devil first presents himself as a yeoman, but eventually presents himself as unethical as well.

A friar is a member of any of certain religious orders of men (or of the church). The Friar in The Canterbury Tales tells us a story about what a summoner, or a person who is similar to a bailiff, is really like. The friar himself is a gossip, he will be humble and courteous if there is something for him to gain, and he is also a virtuous person. The Friar's Tale seems to exist for a single purpose: the humiliation and degradation of members of a certain profession. The friar is telling this story with the sole purpose of exposing the summoner that is in their group and all other summoners as the crooked and corrupt people that they really are. However, the friar is not a very respectable man himself.

Summary of The Friar's Tale

Poetic literary terms

Purpose

By: Natalie Moore,

Colleen Horstman,

and Heather Cain

The Friar

End Rhyme:

This false thief, then, this summoner, said the friar

75 Had always panders ready to his hand,

For any hawk to lure in all England,

Who told him all the scandal that they knew;

For their acquaintances were nothing new.

They were all his informers privily;

80 And he took to himself great gain thereby;

His master knew not how his profits ran.

Without an order, and an ignorant man,

Yet would he summon, on pain of Christ's curse,

Those who were glad enough to fill his purse

85 And feast him greatly at the taverns all.

And just as Judas had his purses small

And was a thief, just such a thief was he.

His master got but half of every fee.

Imagery:

"Nay," said he, "there of figure we have none;

But when it pleases us we can take one,

Or else we make you think we have a shape,

200 Sometimes like man, or sometimes like an ape;

Or like an angel can I seem, you know.

It is no wondrous thing that this is so;

A lousy juggler can deceive, you see,

And by gad, I have yet more craft than he."

The point of this story is to teach us a life lesson. Simply put, the Friar's tale is a reminder to us to watch out for what you wish for, and not to speak without thinking. The devil, it seems, takes words literally. Whether you mean them or not, he can decide to act upon them as he wishes, as long as they have been uttered.

The Friar begins his tale by telling of his approval for The Wife of Bath's Tale and says he can tell a humorous tale about a summoner. The summoner doesn't object, but says that in return he will tell a tale about the Friar as well. The Friar tells us about an archdeacon who carries out the law without mercy. There is a summoner who works for him and is extorting money from him by charging people more than he should be and pocketing the extra. He meets a man who claims to be a yeoman. They travel together for a short period of time. They soon discover that they are both bailiffs, and the two men swear to be brothers to their dying day. They each reveal the underhanded means they use to extort money from their victims and agree to enter into a partnership. After exchanging further information, the summoner inquires about the yeoman's name. The yeoman reveals that he is "a fiend, my dwelling is in hell." The summoner tries to extort money from an old woman who says that he should be sent to hell, and the devil takes him there.

Placement of the story

Types of tales

The form of medieval literature that is represented by The Friar's Tale is a fablibaux and an exemplum. A fabliaux is a poetic tale, typically a bawdily humorous one, and an exemplum is an example or model, especially a moralizing or illustrative story.

The Friar's Tale is preceded by The Wife of Bath's Tale and comes before The Summoner's Tale. Chaucer uses The Friar's Tale and The Summoner's Tale, as back-to-back humorous commentary on the Church and its officials. He lightens the tales by having the two characters insult each other's positions in the Church, adding comic relief to the harsh view of the corruption in the church and its officials. Chaucer writes a tale, and has things in that tale that lead on to the next one.

The Canterbury Tales: The Friar's Tale