Corruption Within the Church The Catholic Church has long been a fixture in society. Throughout the ages, it has withstood wars and gone through many changes. It moved through a period of extreme popularity to a time when people regarded the Church with distrust and suspicion. The corrupt people within the church ruined the ideals Catholicism once stood for and the church lost much of its power. In the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer primarily satirizes the corruptness of the clergy members to show how the Catholic Church was beginning its decline during the Middle Ages. Chaucer aptly creates a picture that exposes how materialistic the clergy is. They all should be concerned with spiritual matters, yet they focus their attention on acquiring more mundane goods. The Monk makes no pretense of being poor and without luxuries. "I saw his sleeves were garnished at the hand with fine gray fur, the finest in the land, and on his hood, to fasten it at his chin he had a wrought-gold, cunningly fashioned pin. . ." (197-200, 110). Not only is this monk fat, and thus quite well fed, he has the money to afford details such as fur on his cloak. He is looking for attention by having such fine things. His station as a monk, however, requires him not only to work with the poor, but to be poor himself. Obviously, he is not following this requirement, much like the Prioress. Madam Eglantyne, appears at first glance to be proper for her station in life. However, a closer examination reveals "she wore a coral trinket on her arm, a set of beads, the gaudies tricked in green, whence hung a golden brooch of brightest sheen" (162-64, 109). A golden brooch serves no other purpose than being decorative. The Prioress has no right to be showing off her wealth by owning such a frivolous piece of jewelry. This shows that the women entering the church are not doing so for holy reasons. Most likely they are escaping an unwanted marriage or cha...
