Summary and Analysis of The Monks Tale :: Canterbury Tales The Monks Tale Essays

Summary and outline of The Monks Tale (The Canterbury Tales)Prologue to the Monks TaleWhen the tale of Melibee ended, the Host utter that hed give up a barrel of ale to have his wife hear the tale of Prudence and her patience, for she is an ill-tempered woman. The Host asks the narrator his name, and attempts to guess his profession maybe a sexton or other such officer, or a wily governor. The Monk will tell the next tale, a series of tragedies. AnalysisChaucer uses the prologue to the Monks Tale as one more opportunity for satiric, self-referential comedy. Within the story he is a necessarily opaque character. Significantly, the Host assumes that Chaucer is, at best, a mid-ranking presidency official and not an artist capable of constructing a landmark piece of literature such as the Canterbury Tales. The Monks TaleThe Monks Tale is not a unappeasable narrative tale as are most of the other Canterbury Tales. Instead, it chronicles various historical characters who experience a fall from grace. The first of these is Lucifer, the fair angel who cut back from heaven to hell. Next is Adam, the one man who was not born of original sin, but lost Paradise for all humanity. Samson fell from grace when he admitted his secret to his wife, who betrayed it to his enemies and then took another lover. Samson slew one thousand men with an asss jawbone, then prayed for God to quench his thirst. From the jawbones tooth sprung a well. He would have conquered the human race if he had not told Delilah that his strength came from his refusal to cut his hair. Without this strength his enemies cut out Samsons eyes and imprisoned him. In the temple where Samson was kept he knocked down two of the pillars, killing himself and everyone else in the temple. The next tale is of Hercules, whose strength was unparalleled. He was finally defeated when Deianera sent Hercules a poisoned shirt made by Nessus. The Monk then tells the tale of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon who had tw ice defeated Israel. The proud king constructed a large gold statue to which all must pray, or else be cast into a pit of flames. Yet when Daniel disobeyed the king, Nebuchadnezzar lost all dignity, acting like a great beast until God relieved him of his insanity. The next, Balthasar, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, excessively worshipped false idols, but fortune cast him down.