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The Prioress
The Monk is another religious character who is corrupt. Instead of reading in his cell, the Monk prefers to go hunting, even though this is against the rules of the order of St. Benedict. The Monk also wears richly decorated clothing rather than the simple robes that one might expect a monk to wear.
The Monk Quotes in The Canterbury Tales
The The Canterbury Tales quotes below are all either spoken by The Monk or refer to The Monk. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The General Prologue
Quotes
He yaf nat of that text a pulled hen,
That seith that hunters ben nat hooly men,
Ne that a monk, whan he is recchelees,
Is likned to a fissh that is waterlees––
This is to seyn, a monk out of his cloystre.
But thilke text heeld he nat worth an oyster.
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The Monk Character Timeline in The Canterbury Tales
The timeline below shows where the character The Monk appears in The Canterbury Tales. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The General Prologue
Next there comes a handsome Monk who conducts business outside the monastery. When he rides through the country, men can hear...
(full context)
The Monk is a good horseman and rides along with a pack of swift greyhounds. His sleeves...
(full context)
The Miller’s Prologue
...agree that the Knight has told an excellent, noble story. The Host turns to the Monk for the next tale, but the Miller, who is drunk, interrupts and declares that he...
(full context)
The Nun’s Priest’s Prologue
After the depressing Monk’s Tale, the Knight begs that no more tragedies be told, saying that they need some...
(full context)
