THE MONK

Just considering the title, you expect that the text probably will be about a churchman but, reading the firs lines you understand that the monk isn't like the other. In fact he likes hunting, riding and he hates rules. The text begins by "A Monk there was", that belongs to fairy and it creates curiosity in the reader's mind. The writer represents this character by the use of parody. He seems to criticize the Church and his behaviour and rules. For this reason he creates a character that is a Monk but doesn't seem a churchman. He likes living as  other aristocratic men wearing the finest clothes, and eating a lot, having fun hunting and riding instead of studying, working, praying and respecting the strict rule that the Church dictates. The rhetorical interrogative forms call the old values of the religion on questions and invite people to think about the high level of corruption of the Church.

THE WIFE OF BATH

The wife of Bath is one of the most vivid character in Chaucer's work.

Her description starts telling about her social background. In particular she is a business woman that is very strange in medieval time. In fact wives had to stay at home and grow up children. In addition the writer goes on telling about her job and how she works: she always wants to be the better. She is respected by other people. First she is described like a person who is very religious: she goes to the Church every Sundays and she had been three times to Jerusalem. But then Chaucer descried her style: she wears the finest head kerchief, red stockings and new shoes. She married five times and she had a lot of other loves and finally she has gap-toothed, sign of lasciviousness. She is vain and superb, and she always wants to be the best.