Geoffery Chaucer's Ideal Man of God

In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffery Chaucer uses several characters to illustrate flaws within the organized church. However, he utilizes the Parson to contrast with those hypocritical and exploitive individuals and show how a true clergyman of the Middle Ages should live and behave. This poor man of the gospel serves as possibly the most important character, in the General Prologue at least, because he gives us a window into Chaucer's thoughts on true Christian spirituality, showing that he feels there is value in religion. Without the Parson to counteract the descriptions of the Monk, Pardoner, etc., one might assume that Chaucer was completely anti-religion, when he was really just speaking out against the atrocities commited by church officials.

When he first introduces the Parson to readers, Chaucer establishes his function in the story as a model clergyman in the first line of his description. "A good man was ther of religioun." (General Prologue, line 479). By using the words and phrasing the line the way he did, Chaucer tells the reader that there was only one good ecclesiastic on the voyage to a holy Christian shrine, further enhancing the Parson's role within the Tales.

In terms of a physical description, the General Prologue is fairly vague, focusing mainly on the Parson's devotion to teaching the word of Christ and his church. It does say that he is "poore" (line 480), and with the emphasis that he puts on serving the underprivileged and living his life in harmony with the gospel, it is probably meant to be assumed that the Parson has a very simple appearance, wearing the same ragged clothes and worn garments that his parishioners dress themselves in. These outward qualities are meant to progress the idea that the Parson lives the life of an apostle, serving others before his own materialistic desires. It states later "Wid was his parish, and houses fer asunder, But he ne lafte nought for rain ne thunder." (lines 493-494). This is additional proof that the Parson must not give extra care to his appearance. If he is willing to travel to any lengths to serve his congregation, even in harsh weather, his looks are presumably not that high on his priorities list.

In a way, the reader is meant to feel sympathy for the Parson while yet still being inspired by his devotion and lifestyle. It is presumably a desired effect of Chaucer's to generate sorrow for the humble man of the Gospel. After all, he is going on a pilgrimage to the most holy religious shrine in England, the grave of the "The holy blisful martyr" (line 17) with heretics and hypocrites posing as honest clergymen. He is traveling with fellow clerics that are interested in promotion through the ranks of the church, whereas he rejected the idea of moving up in the hierarchy, as demonstrated in lines 509-515. This almost has to make the Parson feel isolated and discouraged deep inside, if not in outward emotions.
Conversely, there is little doubt that Chaucer intended for the qualities of the Parson to inspire medieval Christians to lead better, more Jesuit lives. He uses the General Prologue to showcase his opinion of how a true priest should act. Since poor lay people of the time were connected to God solely through the clergy, these lines could easily be read by the common citizen as a view on how they should conduct themselves as well.

In sort of combining these two feelings, the Parson is meant to garner admiration from a wide audience. Even if sympathy or motivation is not achieved, one has to admire the Parson's enthusiasm for teaching the Gospel and aiding his parishioners, sometimes even with his last dime. "But rather wolde he yiven, out of doute, Unto his poore parisshens aboute Of his offring and eek of his substaunce: He coude in litel thing have suffisaunce." (lines 489-492). Who could not find at least a small amount of respect deep in their heart for a man willing to give so much yet live on so little?
Chaucer also reaches out to the arrogant few who might view the Parson as an ignorant man unworthy of their attention by describing him as "a learned man, a clerk." (line 482). By making the Parson educated, he somewhat bridges gaps between the rich and poor, learned and uneducated that would have existed in England's feudal system. This is very important, seeing as this village priest functions as the positive model for spirituality. If the Parson was merely a poor slob that could not relate to upper class citizens, he would fail to inspire them in making changes in their own lives and thus fail as Chaucer's model for ideal spirituality.

Later in The Canterbury Tales, we see the accurate description of the Parson come to life as he talks and interacts with the characters. In the prologue to his tale, he refuses to tell a work of fiction because it goes against a biblical conviction (Parson's Tale Intro lines 30-34).

The Parson is certainly a unique character that stands out in The Canterbury Tales. He is not reducible to any stereotype within the work because he cannot be accurately grouped with the religious characters or the poor, blue-collar ones. Outside the context of the story, he also repels stereotypes due to his educated status. The common archetypal medieval town parson no doubt cared for his parishioners and preached the word of God with fervor and grace, but rarely is he an educated man of clerk status. This fact alone prevents the reader from writing off the Parson with prejudice and forces them to think about his role as the ideal spiritualist in the Tales.

At least part of the goal of Chaucer's masterpiece was to show the corruption within the church of his time. The Parson serves a vital function in this objective by providing an image of perfection to compare with the fraudulent Pardoner, the deceitful Prioress, and the other models of dishonesty inside the ranks of the church. He remains today a commendable, honorable, and very important character in medieval English Literature.