Answer: characters who are victorious in battle or accumulate riches meet with great misfortune and power.
"The Monk's Tale" is one of the stories included in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. This particular story is a collection of 17 tales that tell the stories of historical characters. These stories support the theme that even the wealthy and successful are abandoned by fate. This is because even characters that are victorious in battle, or that accumulate riches end up meeting with misfortune.