The Monk

The Monk is one of Geoffrey Chaucer's novels contained in his work The Canterbury Tales. It is written in verse and is mainly contains rhyming couplets. It consists in the description of a monk.

First of all he is described while he is riding his horse and characterized by his favourite sport: hunting.
His bridles make a lot of noise while he is riding: they sound loud as the chapel bell. This is a humoristic way to describe his pride for the important role he has in society and his lack of humility.
In addition, hunting was considered an activity not suitable for holy man, but the monk didn't mind about this. He also had greyhounds to hunt birds, hares and other animals, and he considered this activity funny. This is quite the contrary of what a church man should do.

The monk is than characterized by the statement that he ignores the rules of Saint Benedict and Saint Maur, considering them as old and strict. He tends to ignore yesterday's teachings and embraces modern thoughts. This is the parody of the Church, that was often accused not to keep to its old rules dictated by the Gospels. The monk thinks they worth nothing and his thought is guided by mere convenience: he wants to practice his favourite sport (hunting), go around and to be confined in his cloister; since the old rules of the Church would not allow him to do those things, he considers them as old and too strict.
The narrator ironically accounts him bringing examples of what the monk has decided not to do considering them useless: study, hand work and interest in the world facts. They are all important things, but need a diligence that the monk prefers using in hunting.

In the last lines the monk is described in his exterior aspect. His sleeves are richly garnished with the finest fur of the land and he wears an elaborate gold pin. They are signs of his richness, a quality that does not get along with the stereotype of the monk (a poorly dressed men). His face is so shiny that seems as if it had been greased. It is another signal of well-being and absence of pain. Indeed he was not pale as a tormented soul. His prominent and never-settling eyes seem ready to scan the surroundings and catch every single detail. They are the eyes of an unpredictable person, not to trust. They are dangerous, indeed they glittered like the flames under a kettle.

The last line underlines another time the idea of a man interested only in his well-being and wealth. Therefore, the resulting image of the Church is the one of an institution that was loosing its values and whose components were mostly busy only in keeping their privileges and wealth.