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Unit 12: The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales (Non-detailed Study): Discussion and Analysis-IV

relationship. Regardless of whether this reading is accepted, the prologue begins with a journey Notes
into the devil’s arse, and the tale finds its resolution with the division of a fart, first from Thomas’
arse, and then from the friar’s.
This journey from arse to arse is only one of several ways in which the Summoner’s Tale mechanically
closes in on itself, in precisely the way that the friar within it manages to bring about his own
humiliation. There is a neat irony in the way that the friar, after a lengthy lecture about anger
management and doing away with “ire” (anger) then becomes absolutely furious, looking as if he
were “a wilde boor”.

The structure of the tale has a “quitting”-like circularity to it.

This circularity also features in individual words: The Summoner’s Tale operates on a series of
clever puns. At the end of the tale, the division of the fart is a challenge, the lord remarks, in “ars-
metrike”–in the art of measurement, but, as Seth Lerer, points out, a challenge too in the metrics of
the arse. Moreover, Jankin’s vision of the friars gathered at the spokes of a huge wheel is actually a
parody of the Pentecost: the day where the twelve apostles receive the Holy Spirit as Christ ascends
to heaven. It is, one might suggest, a reworking of religion entirely appropriate to the piety of the
friar (and even the Summoner!) in question.

Self Assessment

Short Answer Type Questions:
6. What is the reaction of the Summoner to the Friar’s Tale?
7. What happened to the prayers that were supposed to be offered for all who donated to the
Friars?
8. What new donation does Thomas make by way of response to the Friar’s sermon?
9. To whom does the Friar take his case against Thomas?
10. Who finally solves the problem of dividing the “gift”?
The most significant pun, however, is the most interesting. The friar in the tale berates Thomas,
telling him that a “ferthyng” (a farthing coin) is not worth anything split into twelve; and, then, of
course, he is paid for the tales he then tells with a farting, which he must split into twelve. The two
words were likely homonyms in Middle English, and the punning extends the idea of quitting–
which structures this tale and the Friar’s as a pair–down into the fabric of the tale itself.
Yet there is another question, which raises a serious point. Is religious advice actually worth people’s
money? Is the Summoner (or the Friar, or any of the pilgrims) actually telling the company anything
which could be valued more highly than a fart? Perhaps Chaucer, aware of the level of potential
offense contained within his tale, poses its key question deliberately to those inclined to take it too
seriously: isn’t tale telling, like farting, just a lot of hot air?

12.3 Summary
• The Friar’s Tale tells of an archdeacon who boldly carried out the Church’s laws against for-
nication, witchcraft and lechery.
• The summoner suggests that they visit the widow he was originally visiting.
• The Friar’s Tale, like the Reeve’s Tale, seems to exist for a single purpose: the humiliation and
degradation of members of a certain profession.
• The Summoner was enraged by the tale that the Friar told, quaking in anger.
• Thomas claimed that he had indeed given “ful many a pound” to various friars, but never
fared the better for it.

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