Anticlerical Satire as Theological Essay: Chaucer's 'Summoner's Tale'

Author / Editor
Fleming, John V.

Title
Anticlerical Satire as Theological Essay: Chaucer's 'Summoner's Tale'

Published
Thalia 6:1 (1983): 5-22.

Description
In SumT, anticlerical polemic serves the religious argument of Chaucer's conservative faith. The caricature of the Friar is purposeful and schematic: the tale mocks his carnality and literalness and calls into question the administration of penance by "vessels of mercy" who are really "vessels of wrath," informed by iconography.

Chaucer Subjects
Summoner and His Tale.