The Canterbury Tales: Summary and Analysis of the Canon's Yeoman's Prologue and Tale

Thirteenth century England was a period when society and the Church were riddled with corruption. Law and order were mismanaged. Canterbury's Tales is basically a satire on the prevalent conditions of his society of that time. Chaucer brings together different sections of the society under the guise of a pilgrimage to Thomas Beckett's shrine in Canterbury and uses these characters to write his telling commentary of the England he lives in. He satirizes the religious leaders taunting them for their greed and their custom of selling pardons, calls them hypocrites. He makes the common man look more intelligent and morally upright in comparison to the so-called upper classes and religious leaders of the society.

Yeoman means assistant or server. Chaucer's Yeoman is an assistant to a Canon or a church official who is also an alchemist. They are not a part of the original group of pilgrims but join this group later. The Yeoman seems to be witty and intelligent. He cleverly exposes his Master's failings while praising him. The Canon tries to shut him up, but fails. Embarrassed, he leaves the group of pilgrims and rides away. Once his master leaves the group, the yeoman tells a tale of a confidence trick played by an alchemist. In spite of his assurance that this tale is not about his master and him, we are left to draw our own conclusions.

The Yeoman's tale is about a Canon who practices alchemy, but is short of money. He borrows one mark from a wealthy priest. The priest thinks of this as a bad debt and was ready to write it off, but is both astonished and pleased when the Canon returns the borrowed money in three days time. To show his gratitude to the Priest, the Canon offers to reveal some of his discoveries, and shows a few tricks. For example he burns a piece of wood which is actually a hollow branch filled with silver, but sealed at both ends. The gullible Priest offers to pay a substantial amount of money for the secret of turning wood into silver. Once the Canon gets the money, he disappears.

This tale is a telling commentary on the English society of that time. Priests were supposed to have taken a vow of poverty but this priest was rich and greedy. Canons were supposed to be hard working, God fearing and principled. This Canon was a confidence trickster.

Chaucer was a path breaker. Writers in his day and age did not write about the real England. They wrote romances and adventures featuring the Kings and the nobility. Canterbury Tales represents the only literary work which gives an insight into 13th century England