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The Monk |
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A different kind of monk. |
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A g= roup of monks in their black robes at a religious ceremony. |
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The Hist= orical Monk |
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A typical monk throughout= history has always been a stereotypical religious man who is the exact opp= osite of what you see in the monk from Canterbury Tales. A monk by definiti= on is a person who practices religious asceticism, who lives either by hims= elf or with other monks. A monk is always physically separated from everyon= e around him who does not follow the same path. Throughout history the role= of a monk really hasn't changed though there has been exceptions to the ru= le of course. A monk is never seen in anything but his earth toned robe wit= h the rope belt around it simply because looks are not important to the mon= k at all, they have much bigger things on their mind. Monks pretty much fol= lowed the same schedule every day, they would wake up, pray, go about there= daily chores such as readings they needed to complete or washing their rob= es, or anything else the day called for, then pray and meditate more, then = go to sleep. Monks dedicated their lives to prayer and did hardly anything = else. It is very easy to tell the huge difference between the typical monk = in history, and our monk from The Monks Tale. |
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In the Monks Tale, the mo= nk is describing tragic events form the past that are in no chronological o= rder and of no interest to anyone elves on the journey. Some even admit to = falling asleep while the monk was telling these meaningless stories. Nothin= g really significant comes out of the monks tales, it seems that he only te= lls them to show off his intellect and his ability to recall past events. <= /span> |
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The Monks Tale |
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The Socially and Culturally Different Monk |
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The monk from Canterbury Tales is far from the typical monk in his= tory that I described above. When people imagine a monk they imagine a peac= eful man who prays and follows the rules. The monk I read about is a rebell= ious rule breaker who controls his own life. This monk would rather hunt or= ride a horse than do his normal duties of praying or working, this alone i= s polar opposite from what any other monk would be doing. People become mon= ks to be at peace with themselves and to devote their lives to religion. It= seems to me like this particular monk just wants to be a free man and not = a monk at all. All of these acts that he is committing are against the rule= s of the monastery that he is a part of, as well as being reckless which is= something he is consistently doing. He also doesn't follow the dress codes= that the rest of the monks throughout history have. This monk has fur on t= he sleeves of his robe and a gold pin with a love knot on his hood which re= presents his lack of religion because there should be a rosary there not a = pin. All of these signs point to the fact that this monk isn't a particular= ly good one and perhaps shouldn't be called a monk at all. To see more info= rmation on this different monk see this LINK<= /span>.
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A Monks Tale |
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The Monk riding his horse and disobeying the rules. |
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The prop= er way to live as a monk WATCH. |
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Bibliography |
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"Character Analysis." = Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, Pace Univers= ity. <http:/= /csis.pace.edu/grendel/prjs3c/analysis.htm>.
"Monk." = Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. <http://en.wi= kipedia.org/wiki/Monk>.
"Paris Review - The Monk's Tale, William Dalrymple." = Paris Review – Writers, Quotes, Biography, Interviews, Artists= . Web. <http://= www.theparisreview.org/miscellaneous/6002/the-monks-tale-william-dalrymple&= gt;. |