The Canterbury Tales: The Summoner's tale

Hypocrisy In The World

Narrow eyes and black scabby eyebrows

Thin Beard

Smelled like garlic and onion

Drunken Immoral Man

Pimples and sores sitting on his cheeks

Children were afraid of him

disliked by other pilgrims

Spoke a few words of latin just to show of his intellectual ability

Implied to seduce Young Girls

Corrupt

Lecherous, Dishonest & Unethical

Part of the clergy, but one of the most immoral persons in the group

Summoner: Someone a church hires to call people before the ecclesical church for spiritual crimes

Spiritual crimes include adultery and heresy which could result in excommunication from the church

Historians say that summoners weren't paid enough by the church so they relied on bribery from people to keep them from being excomunicated

Judges or agencies that are part of the government do a summoner's job when they issue summons of CANs(Court Attendance Notices)

Prologue begins with a friar being brought to hell by an angel. As he saw no friars he asked the angel, "are friars so graceful that they do not come to hell?"

The angel tells friar that millions of friars come to hell

The angel takes the friar directly to satan. Thousands of friars swarm out of his arse.

The Actual story begins with a mendicant

The mendicant is a scam. Writes names of people who give him money, but erases them as soon as he leaves

The friar goes to his friend Thomas, who is sick and bed ridden.

The Friar demands a meal from Thomas' wife who tells him about her son dying 2 weeks before.

Friar has revelation claiming that other friars did as well.

Tells Thomas about Friars being most impoverish and therefore closest to God. He tells Thomas that sickness continues because of how little he has given to the church

Thomas tells that he has given a lot to the church over the years and that he is still sick. He becomes annoyed because he figures that Thomas' contributions were not given solely to him

The friar angrily tells Thomas three tales about the dangers of greed

1st Tale: King sentenced Knight to death because he returned without his partner.

A third knight followed the knight to serve his sentence and found the first knight and figured that he wasn't murdered.

They returned to the king to try and reverse the sentence, but the king sentenced all three to death for not following orders

Second Tale: An ireful king, Cambisses, was a drunk.

A Knight claimed that drunkenness leads to loss of coordination

King proves knight wrong by drawing his bow and arrow

and shooting the knight's son in the head to prove that

he still had his reflexes

Third Tale: King Cyrus of Persia had the river

destroyed because all of his horses drowned in it

The Friar asks Thomas for money (hypocrite)

Annoyed Thomas tells the friar to reach his butt for a gift that he had to divide with all friars

Thomas then let's out a huge fart

The friar angrily threatens Thomas that he will be repaid for what he's done, but is chased out by the servants of the house

Friar goes to the lord to complain angrily wondering how he is to split a fart

A squire suggests that he uses a cartwheel and to put the noses of the friars on the spoke and the friar could fart at the center, thus sending the smell of the fart along the rim to all of the friars.

Short Passage Or Quote

"'Now, sir,' said he, 'have friars such a grace

That none of them shall come into this place?'

"'Nay,' said the angel, 'millions here are thrown!'

And unto Sathanas he led him down.

"'And now has Sathanas,' said he, 'a tail

Broader than of a galleon is the sail.

Hold up thy tail, thou Sathanas!' said he,

"'Show forth thine arse and let the friar see

Where is the nest of friars in this place!'

And ere one might go half a furlong's space,

Just as the bees come swarming from a hive,

Out of the Devil's arse-hole there did drive

Full twenty thousand friars in a rout,

And through all Hell they swarmed and ran about.

Foreshadows the Summoner's tale

Hatred for the Friar

Clerical corruption and immorality

The whole tale satirizes friars

The Canterbury Tales

The Summoner's Tale

Job Description

The Summoner's Tale

Characterization