The Monk | Character Analysis | Prologue to Canterbury Tales| Urdu | Hindi | Explanation

• Chaucer presents a corrupt Monk who loves the good
life and finds more pleasure in hunting than studying
in the cloister.
• The Monk's weakness for good food and expensive
clothing and his love for hunting violate the monastic
vows of poverty and simplicity.
•He is riding a sleek berry brown horse on his way to
Canterbury.
• The bells attached to his horse's bridle tinkle
pleasantly with the wind.
• Chaucer ironically pronounces that the Monk is
perfectly suitable for the office of abbot.
•He does not care at all about the rules laid down by
St. Benedict and bears no guilt about the fact that he
rides out instead of devoting himself to his monastic
duties.
• Chaucer ironically agrees with the Monk's point of
view and innocently asks why should the Monk make
himself mad by pouring over a book in a cloister. • The Monk's pleasure in hunting is a fitting object of
satire.
• In the Middle Ages Monks who took delight in
hunting were severely condemned by the reformers.
• In fact hunting itself was considered an immoral
activity
• Chaucer's Monk is a perfect hunter and one who
takes extreme interest and pleasure in tracking and
hunting wild rabbits.
• He thus keeps fine horses and well bred hunting
hounds in his stable.
• The Monk is a worshipper of materialism. • The sleeves of his coat are trimmed with the finest
gray fur in the land.
• His hood is fastened under his chin with an exquisite
gold love knot.
• His boots are supple and expensive. His bald head and face shine radiantly as if anointed
with oil.
• His large eyes roll in his head and gleam like a furnace
under a cauldron.
• He is healthy and well fed and loves to eat a plump
roasted swan.
• Chaucer ironically concludes that the Monk is
certainly a "fair prelat".
• Chaucer's subtle ironic portraiture of the 'manly'
Monk and repeated approbation of the Monk's
abilities only arouses the reader's derision.