A Review of The Canterbury Tales: The Friar's Tale

                               

                 

                                                       

                                                         The Prologue to The Friar's Tale: 

The friar looked upon the summoner with a scowl without coming out and criticizing him. The friar says that he will tell a story about a summoner. The summoner acts as if he does not care about the Friar telling a critical story of a summoner. In fact, he says that he will get even with the friar. The host puts an end to the squabble and tells the friar to tell his tale. 

                                                                           The Tale:

The tale opens about an Archdeacon that vigorously punished people for their sins. In fact, the Archdeacon even punished those who did not tithe faithfully. Well, it turns out that this Archdeacon also had a crooked summoner that assisted him. Indeed, Chaucer seems to allude to the summoner being worse than his master. The summoner is essentially a thief. 

In the tale, the summoner consults with the devil. He does this while planning on when he will prey on an old widow. He and the devil converse for a while and the devil speaks of his dark magician work. The devil describes how he makes use of other bodies, even dead ones, for him to enter and deceive. After playing a trick on a man in town with the devil's help, the summoner turns his attention again on the old woman. 

Chaucer describes the old woman through the words of the summoner as one that would rather die than giver money. The summoner threatens the woman with excommunication if she does not come out of her house. The old woman cries for charity as he demands her money or her excommunication. Despite lies from the summoner and the devil to coerce her into answering the door to them, the old woman never lets them in. Afterwards, the devil says he will take the summoner down with him into hell. Even the crooked friar that tells the tale, feels pity on what came for the summoner in his eternal damnation. The friar ends the tale invoking all of us to pray that God deliver us from the great torments of hell: 

Thogh that I mighte a thousand winter telle, 

The peyne of thilke cursed hous of helle. 

                                                                     Final Thoughts: 

The Friar's Tale may not be the most fascinating of The Canterbury Tales but it leaves us with one of the most important messages of all of them: the devil is out for our souls. This story also reflects the high abuse of power that was growing at an alarming rate in the Medieval Roman Catholic Church. All Christians, even Protestants, should recognize though how easy it is for any false teachers to arise in any church and coerce others into false doctrine. Ultimately, The Friar's Tale is a reminder that the wicked will pay for their evil in the pit that awaits them (Isaiah 24: 17). 

Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. -Proverbs 11: 21