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The Canterbury Tales |
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The Summoner<= /p> |
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A= summoner was usually a low class Church= officer, whose job was to bring sinners before the ecclesiastical court fo= r penalties, including excommunication. There were many corrupt summoners w= ho would write false citations to frighten people into bribing the summoner= s. |
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The Summoner’s tale = begin with a Friar who comes to a house where the householder, Thomas= , was sick, but the Friar claims that he has been praying for Thomas. The F= riar goes to speak with Thomas' wife, who mentions her child, who just died= two weeks ago, and the Friar immediately and without hesitation begins to = exploit her grief. The Friar then begins a le= ngthy lecture, starting with how all friars live in poverty, and eventually= asks for money. When Thomas says that he has given much to friars over the= years. The Friar's tactics become more aggressive. He begins to accuse Tho= mas of giving too little to friars, and says that this has caused his illne= ss. Thomas angrily tells the Friar that he will give him something, only if= he swears to divide it equally among all the members of his convent. The F= riar agrees and Thomas lets a fart into his hand. The Friar is too angry to = speak, and goes to the manor's lord to complain. The lord, however, instead= of becoming angry, is engrossed by the intellectual dilemma of dividing an= indivisible thing. However, the Friar is still bound by his promise to sha= re Thomas' fart with the rest of the convent. Thomas' vengeful plan to make= the convent of friars engage in a humiliating activity succeeds. -For a video of a modern portrayal of the S= ummoner’s Tale follow this link: |
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What is a Summoner? |
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The Summoner’s Tale= Synopsis |
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= Throughout the tales, the Friar and the Summoner continually quarrel; why w= ould the Summoner resent the Friar? |
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What about this Summoner = in particular? |
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= Was there anyone who did like the Summoner? |
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Yes, the Pardoner seemed to be the Summoner’s compa= nion on the pilgrimage.
These characters are two of the most corrupt pilgrims in = the Canterbury Tales. Chaucer shows them as both equals and opposites. For = the Summoner harms the body by falsely cursing the innocent to extort money= out of them, the Pardoner falsely pardons the guilty, injuring the soul. <= /span>The Pardoner and the Summoner, roles apply = the church's secular power, are both portrayed as deeply corrupt, greedy, a= nd abusive. A pardoner was a person from whom one bought Church indulgences= for forgiveness of sins, but were often thought guilty of abusing their of= fice for their own gain. |
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Marianne AP English Period 1 |
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The Summoner Chaucer depicts in The Canterbury Tales is especially corrupt. This is shown throug= h his actions, words, and physical attributes. The Summoner arraigns those = accused of violating Church law, he uses this power corruptly for his own g= ain. He is extremely lecherous, and uses his position to dominate the young= women in his jurisdiction. For example, in exchange for a quart of wine, h= e would let another man sleep with his girlfriend for a year and then pardo= n the man completely. And he seems to speak Latin on only two occ= asions, to show off and when he is drunk. Physically, the Summoner is quite ugly. He = has horrible acne, a disease that makes his face constantly a deep red, and= an infection around his eyes that makes his skin scaly. Something that is = probably not helping these conditions is his love for garlic, onions, leeks, and strong wine. It = is mentioned that his horrible face made children run and fear him. = For brief descriptions of all the pilgrims = follow this link: http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/iacd_= 99F/medieval_lit/data/Chaucer.html |
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“The = Complete Critical Guide to Geoffrey Chaucer.” http://books.google.com= /books Google books
“Phil= osophy and Religion.” http://colfa.utsa.edu/chaucer/default.html#anch= or317554 Essential Chaucer 10 Nov. 2010 <http://colfa.utsa.edu/chaucer/ec21.html>
“The = Summoner’s Tale.” Wikipedia.org 2010 Wikipedia the Free Encyclo= pedia 9 Nov. 2010 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Summoner's_Tale>
“The = Canterbury Tales. A Complete Translation into Modern English.” http:/= /www.ronaldecker.com 1993 9 Nov. 2010 <http= ://www.ronaldecker.com/ct.htm>
“The = Summoner’s Tale.” http://www.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/chaucer 13= October 2010 9 Nov. 2010 <http://www.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/chaucer/SumT.html= > |