Chaucers Canterbury Tales - The Character of the Parson Essay

The Character of the Parson of Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer is considered by many critics as the tiro of English literature. His literary masterpiece was The Canterbury Tales. In these tales, Chaucer writes about pilgrims who are on a journey to Canterbury. Each pilgrim has a tale that they tell on this journey. Chaucer expresses themes and messages through the characterization of each pilgrim. Through the Parson, one of the pilgrims, Chaucer is able to portray the life of a true Christian through the cosmopolitan prologue, prologue to the Parsons tale, and the Parsons tale itself. In the common prologue, Chaucer introduces the reader to the Parson. He is a holy-minded man of good renown (475). The reader soon gets to know him as a devout, educated, altruistic, caring, gentle, humble, giving, and brotherly man through the general descriptions of who the Parson is and what he does. The parson is benign and diligent (481) as well as being holy and virtuous (511). Chaucer portrays this pious Christian through his awful and venerable t...