Charity in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

In the 'General Prologue,' Chaucer presents an array of characters from the 1400's in order to paint portraits of human dishonesty and stupidity as well as virtue. Out of these twenty-nine character portraits three of them are especially interesting because they deal with charity. Charity during the 1400's, was a virtue of both religious and human traits. One character, the Parson, exemplifies Chaucer's idea of charity, and two characters, Prioress, and Friar, to satirize …

…class and not to the order of nuns. Chaucer shows that she follows the denotative meaning of charity. She knows what charity means intellectually and religiously but has not experienced it spiritually. Ironically, around her neck she wears a brooch that declares 'Love Conquers All,' (p.7) without having slightest indication of what this statement truly means.         By presenting us with these characters, Chaucer describes an overview of what life was during the Middle Ages.