The Monk Essays -- Essays Papers

CHARACTER ANALYSISThe MonkWhen one thinks of a monk, he may imagine someone who studies, prays, and answers manual labor. The Monk, one of the thirty pilgrims traveling on a pilgrimage to Canterbury in The Canterbury Tales, is nothing like the normal monk many people imagine. He is rebellious, ignores rules, and lives and controls his own life. Chaucer, the narrator and precedent of The Canterbury Tales, shows these theatrical roleistics in the way the Monk looks, the things he says and does, and in the things the host, a character in The Monks Prologue, and Chaucer say about him. The Monk is nothing like the common monk many people imagine. He hunts hares and rides horses instead of studying, praying, and working. He does not follow the rules of the monastery which say that monks should not hunt, be reckless, nor leave the monastery. Instead,they should study and perform manual labor. The Monk ignores these rules. Chaucer shows that the Monk does not care about the rules when h e says, He yaf nought of that text a pulled hen(Norton, p.85) and when he says, Of priking and of ...