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

Summary and Analysis of The Monks Tale (The Canterbury Tales)Prologue to the Monks TaleWhen the tale of Melibee ended, the Host said that hed give up a barrel of ale to subscribe 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 perhaps a sexton or other much(prenominal) officer, or a wily governor. The Monk will tell the following(a) tale, a series of tragedies. AnalysisChaucer uses the prologue to the Monks Tale as one more chance 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 government official and non an artist capable of constructing a landmark piece of literature such as the Canterbury Tales. The Monks TaleThe Monks Tale is not a strict narrative tale as are to the highest degree of the other Canterbury Tales. Instead, it chronicles various hist orical characters who experience a fall from grace. The first of these is Lucifer, the fair angel who fell from heaven to hell. Next is Adam, the one man who was not born of original sin, but preoccupied 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 disregard 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 world if he had not told Delilah that his strength came from his refusal to glow 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 Nebucha dnezzar, the king of Babylon who had twice defeated Israel. The proud king constructed a large gold statue to which all must pray, or else be browse 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, also worshipped false idols, but fortune cast him down.