Perhaps one of the most known exerts of literature from the medieval England era, Geoffrey Chaucer's "Prologue to the Canterbury Tales" explores many social issues of the time. Written in 1386, it was the only part of the Canterbury Tales that was ever completed. The Prologue provides the reader with a description of the various characters in the collection of tales, all of which seem to reflect Chaucer's personal views on the stereotypical nature of the characters, thus subtly making reference to the flaws in people of his time. The social issues that are explored in Chaucer's "Prologue to the Canterbury Tales" include fraud, greed, and vanity.
A prime example of Chaucer's view on the fraudulence of the people in his era were the men in positions of authority and trust. The Friar is perhaps one of the better known examples of fraud. As a Friar, he was to accept small donations on behalf of the church in return for offering penance for sinful behaviour. However, this was not the case. The sinner would have to "supply the poor Friar with the price of dinner" (line 228) in order to gain audience with the Friar, and if a sinner paid a hefty sum to the Friar, "the Friar would stake his oath he had repented." (line 224). Chaucer goes on to suggest that perhaps the Friar fails to assign what the church would consider appropriate penance, "he was an easy man for absolution," (line 219), and spent too much of his free time in bars, as "he knew the taverns well in every town." (Line 236). The Friar's actions were not only fraudulent, they were scandalous, and this behaviour was also reflected in characters such as the Pardoner. The Pardoner, like the Friar, was a member of the church, further implicating Chaucer's poor opinion of the Catholic church. Chaucer suggests that the Pardoner was not really sent from Rome, "But now come straight from Rome, or so said he," (line 619) and that the facade was just a scheme to make large profits from the people.
