The Monk Essays -- Essays Papers

CHARACTER ANALYSIS The Monk When one thinks of a monk, he may imagine someone who studies, prays, and performs manual labor. The Monk, one of the thirty pilgrims travelling on a pilgrimage to Canterbury in The Canterbury Tales, is nothing like the usual monk many people imagine. He is rebellious, ignores rules, and lives and controls his own life. Chaucer, the narrator and author of The Canterbury Tales, shows these characteristics in the way the Monk looks, the things he says and does, and in the things the host, a character in "The Monk's Prologue," and Chaucer say about him. The Monk is nothing like the usual 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 he says, "He yaf nought of that text a pulled hen"(Norton, p.85) and when he says, "Of priking and of ...