Question

Explain how one of the pilgrims from the prologue represents an issue of medieval society

Answer 1

The Pardoner from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales represents the issue of church corruption in medieval society by selling false relics and indulgences, exploiting the religious piety of the people for personal gain.

Step-by-step explanation:

One of the pilgrims from the prologue of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales that represents an issue of medieval society is the Pardoner. The Pardoner is a figure that exemplifies the corruption within the Church during the Middle Ages. He sells papal indulgences—promises of reduced penance for sins—and carries with him what he claims to be holy relics, using them to manipulate people into making donations. The issue illustrated by the Pardoner is the commercialization of faith and the exploitation of the laity's belief in the power of relics and the Church's authority to grant salvation.

Medieval society was deeply religious, and the notion of undertaking a pilgrimage was to pay homage to holy sites and relics with the belief that being closer to God in this life would mean being closer in the afterlife. The Pardoner's character shows how this deep-seated piety could be abused by church officials for personal gain, undermining the spiritual purpose of the pilgrimages and damaging the Church's credibility among the people.

Answer 2

The narrator opens the General Prologue with a description of the return of spring. He describes the April rains, the burgeoning flowers and leaves, and the chirping birds. Around this time of year, the narrator says, people begin to feel the desire to go on a pilgrimage. Many devout English pilgrims set off to visit shrines in distant holy lands, but even more choose to travel to Canterbury to visit the relics of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, where they thank the martyr for having helped them when they were in need. The narrator tells us that as he prepared to go on such a pilgrimage, staying at a tavern in Southwark called the Tabard Inn, a great company of twenty-nine travelers entered. The travelers were a diverse group who, like the narrator, were on their way to Canterbury. They happily agreed to let him join them. That night, the group slept at the Tabard, and woke up early the next morning to set off on their journey. Before continuing the tale, the narrator declares his intent to list and describe each of the members of the group.