Go Forth and Sin No MoreGo Forth and Sin No MoreGo Forth and Sin No MoreThe consequences of sin have been a long standing theme in world literature. From the serpent’s temptation of gluttony in the Old Testament to the temptation of lust in The Scarlet Letter, the testing of one’s morality has constantly resonated with authors and their readers. In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer presented exemplums of greed in “The Friar’s Tale,” pride in “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale,” and faith in “The Franklin’s Tale” to illustrate the tests of morality his characters and his readers faced on a daily basis.
In “The Friar’s Tale,” the summoner’s character is tempted by greed. Summoners were officials in ecclesiastical courts who summoned people to attend services and worked in a similar way to ushers. Unlike a respectable person, the summoner in the tale has no qualms with using his position of power to take advantage of others, for “Certyn he knew of briberyes mo Than possible is to tell in yeres two” (III 1367-1368). He “Hadde alwey bawds redy to his hond” (1339-1440) who would tell him which people to exploit next. This corruption upsets the narrator, a friar, and he sets out to show the consequences of such vile acts of sin. On a routine day while the summoner was “waityng on his pray” (1376) the devil disguised as a yeoman rode in the forest. The yeoman tests the summoner’s character by tantalizing him with gold and silver. The summoner’s insatiable thirst for monetary gain causes him to heartily attempt to gain that money, only to discover that the yeoman was the devil. Both “rydest for the same entente” (1452) of purchasing people’s souls, however the summoner refuses to join the devil in his literal work of destroying people’s souls. While this could be seen as not giving in to temptation, it is not the evils of Satan he is retreating from. Charles J. Owen Jr. attributes this to “characters…constantly appealing to morality to clothe their betrayals”. He is merely afraid of the pits of hell and uses his profession to shield him from joining such a course, saying “My trouthe wol I holde to my brother, As I am sworn, and ech of us til oother” (1527-1528). However, the lesson the friar is trying to impart on his listeners (and Chaucer to his readers) comes when the summoner attempts to fraudulently collect money from an old widow. The summoner went to her home with plans to take her money and harm her life, but the old lady inadvertently robs the summoner of his soul by cursing him and his intentions, saying “Unto the devel blak and rough of hewe Yeve I thy body and my panne also!” (1622-1623) The devil gladly answers her request and takes the summoner to hell. The summoner was able to pass the devil’s initial test, but failed to repent and cease his harm on innocent people. He was unable to refrain himself from the temptation of greed. As a result, the deadly sin cost him his soul.
In “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale”, pride is the deadly sin that tests Chaunticleer and his tester Russell the fox. The characters in the tale were created to satirize the swelled pride of knights, the notion of courtly love, and to demonstrate just how egocentric these ideals really were. Chaunticleer is an overly perfect rooster with an overly exquisite singing voice:
In al the land, of crowing nas his peer.His voys was murier than the murie orgonOn messe-dayes that in the chirche gon.Wel sikerer was his crowing in his loggeThan is a clokke or an abbey orlogge. (VII 2850-2854)This is the narrator’s description, and also the belief Chaunticleer has about himself. He is well aware of his fine attributes and has no problem displaying them.
In addition to his fine appearance and singing voice, he also has “Sevene hennes for to doon at his plesaunce” (2866), the fairest of which is Pertelote. When he tells her a terrifying dream he had, she calls him a coward and immediately wants nothing to do with him. Chaunticleer, being the self-absorbed rooster he is, refuses to let his pride be destroyed, let alone by a female. He gives numerous examples of people who have given no thought to dreams and the consequences of their inaction. However, when Chaunticleer is done with his rant, it is clear to the reader he only said such things to save his wounded pride, for he says “I diffye bothe sweven and dreem” (3171), completely contradicting his earlier speech. When Russell appears in his home, the reader would assume he would have nothing to do with the fox after his murderous dream. Unfortunately, Chaunticleer’s pride blinds him to Russell’s intentions. Russell knows the rooster has an enormous ego and uses that to
lend his talents to the wolf.
4.2 What is the role of myth and prophecy in mythology?
Rhaegar, the son of Vahre and his mother Tanaem, a maiden, lived on a wide terrace in the south-west region of Kerensa, near the place where his mother was raised. The legend about Kerensa dates back to the Middle Ages, but it could be traced back to a time when mythological and poetic myths were spread and spread about the Middle Ages. Thus in the Middle Ages legends of Kerensa, the most common name for mythological place-names was that of Gorgon, and later that of Cocytus, a hero of the underworld, who was supposed to have been an “old man riding a lion”, to give the image. Gorgon was a famous mythical figure in Greek mythology, a man who gave his life as well in battle, so that the city might become a safe haven and safety haven for its inhabitants.
As for myths, there are several kinds of mythological entities and they serve important purposes in the world, especially for the education of the modern human mind and society. The most important is folklore or legends. It is not unusual to hear the accounts and stories about stories that are really true. Stories that, as one example, are more accurate or accurate can be found in many historical or literary histories.
Mythology provides a very good foundation for the history of mankind’s development and its social, political and economic system.
Mythology has been popular in the European countries for many centuries during the Middle Ages as part of a long tradition of worshiping and interpreting myths. But some of the most influential mythological societies have been those of the Christian Church. The earliest Western mythologies were written by early Christian missionaries in North America and Western Europe, and the first myths were written in English by the missionaries of the Protestant Reformation, who were called prophets of God.
Of these mythologies, myth is probably one of the most influential because it reveals truths that are not possible to obtain from the experience of other cultures. The most important mythology is the Bible.
The Bible is a unique document. The Bible is about six hundred millions of words long. It comprises the entire Bible and also includes the history of men, women, animals, man and animals: the world, the gods and their relations with them, their world and the gods themselves. The Bible is the primary source for the history and the whole religious and philosophical system because it is about the Bible and about the whole history of humankind. The Bible is the story about the creation and the history of humankind.
Mythology gives a tremendous advantage to Christians because it shows that the world and the Gods are in harmony. Mythological stories teach that both groups are alive and full of life and that when there is no life there is no life. The Bible teaches that when there is no life, there is nothing and no soul or body.
Mythologist and historian Albert Barth says in his “The Bible and the History of the World” that the most important mythologist, Dr. William Wilmot, (c.1755-1772), who lived in a monastery in western England called St Peter’s monastery, was the most important figure who had the best understanding of the whole Bible.
The Bible is known in the first century B.C., but it is also known in other languages. In the past, the Bible was translated into one language of different ages.