Satire and the Oxford Cleric in The Canterbury Tales Essay

The Oxford Cleric

In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer puts particular emphasis on his use of satire. This holds true during his depiction of the Oxford Cleric. The Oxford Cleric is portrayed as a man who may be considered to be quite the underachiever. Although blessed with a brilliant mind and education, he lacks money, food, and shelter, only relying on prayer, books, and charity to help him deal with the encounters of everyday life.

The Oxford Cleric is not your typical successful Oxford student. He struggles to just make it through life. He owns close to nothing, earning and obtaining things from others as favors. He is an extreme version of an underachiever who has potential which he will never fully realize do to lack of interest as well as extreme laziness. He carries himself subtly, with nothing but his books and mind. The Clerics horse, as well as he thinner than rake and he himself was not too fat (Chaucer 11). Other than his slender frame, the Cleric has ragged clothing and owns only the common necessities to make it through each day. The Cleric is intrigued by philosophy. He spends what little money he gets from friends on books and nothing more. He is almost a variation of his own charity. Those who lend to him receive in return prayer, instead of regaining their financial favors. The Cleric is apart productive In his eyes, but to others, may be very lazy.

The Oxford Student withholds hidden brilliance. Philosophy is his passion, what keeps him interested in life. Although he has a higher education, he does nothing with what he has gained in knowledge . He only works for himself. What makes things unfitting is that with his education and brilliance he could be achieving much more, however hed rather just take life slow and keep to himself. Chaucer stresses this by describing him as a simple, lazy figure that does not have much direction in his life.

Chaucer also proves the Clerics contradiction by describing him as being loyal to the church. One would accept a worshiper and servant of the church to be loyal trustworthy, and in reality the Cleric is none of these things. He takes money in which he is not good for, and buys things for himself. This alone in itself would be considered unacceptable in the eyes of God. The Cleric does however keep religion a part of his life by praying for those who have helped him in his studies and financially, which is his best attribute to the church.

As a whole the Oxford Student is a complete and total underachiever. Chaucer depicts him as someone who has the ability but chooses to go about his life in a different and non prototypical way. The Cleric takes a lot and gives a little, and is by no means an example of how a person of the church and such prestigious education should act and go about their individual lives.