The Canterbury Tales is a satire of the estates, which highlights not only the gaps and inequalities, but also the inauthenticity, that exist under the code of social stratification of feudalism. Examples of these characterizations of the estates are found extensively throughout the general prologue and the pilgrim narratives. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayThe first example of inequality in The Canterbury Tales that results from social stratification is religious or clerical inequality. The Prioress, the Monk and the Brother are all ecclesiastics of the first estate and are the least authentic characters in the book. Both the Summoner and the Pardoner work for the church and are the worst characters in the book. The clerk, the priest, and the husbandman all belong to the lowest station, both socially and financially, but all practice morality in a way that one would expect of those of the first class. The parallel drawn here is that ecclesiastics were appointed by the king, the most powerful man in England except the pope. Professor Richard Abels states in his article "Medieval Kingship in Late 12th and Early 13th Century England: The Reigns of King Henry II and King John" that "Henry II also wished to restore royal control over the English Church enjoyed by Henry I.” by... having at least a veto over ecclesiastical elections, controlling the appeals of English clerics to Rome, and retaining the right to try clerics in royal courts under common law after they had been tried before an ecclesiastical tribunal under canon law. So, the closer one was to royalty, the less likely they were to have to face the consequences of their misdeeds. Economic inequality between the estates turns out to be just as the characters in the first estate all have financial prosperity for the sake of those they are supposed to serve. For example, the Pardoner says in his prologue: "I want to have money, wool, cheese and wheat/ Even if it was given to me by the poorest boy/ Or by the poorest widow poor girl in the village, even though she had/ A series of starving children, all speechless." This does not contrast with the fact that those who served the Church in the Middle Ages, under feudalism, did not have to pay d The Church received its money in the form of tithes from third parties. These tithes were used to pay clergy appointed by the king. Uncontrolled power and unrestricted access to unearned money led to the secularization of religious officials. An example of such secularism is found in the description of the Prioress in the general prologue “She wore on her arm a coral jewel, / A set of pearls, the gaudies tricked into green, / From which hung a brooch. gold of the most brilliant shine / On which a crowned A was first engraved, / And at the bottom, Amor vincit omnia The pastor, on the other hand, is the most morally honest character in the book and the least rich. “His role was to show righteous behavior/And thus attract men to Heaven and their Savior. » Economic inequality due to unfair distribution of wealth is a common motif in the Canterbury Tales. We can even say that the richer a character is or has a higher social status, the more morally deprived he is. The third type of feudal inequality as expressed in The Canterbury Tales is gender inequality. The Wife of Bath has been closely scrutinized as an overly sensual and immoral character, even though the men in the book, including the Pardoner and the Friar, had their own sexual relationships outside of marriage. In the Middle Ages, women were placed.