English

Tristin Cantu

3 May, 11:57

Read the excerpt from The Canterbury Tales.

I can sting with my tongue; and when I preach

I sting so hard, the fellow can't escape

Slander and defamation, if so be

He's wronged my fellow-pardoners, or me,

Even if I don't give his actual name,

Yet everybody knows that he's the one

From hints, and other circumstantialities-

That's how I deal with people who annoy us;

That's how I spit out venom, under guise

Of piety, and seem sincerely pious.

How does the excerpt satirize the clergy?

by revealing the clergy's lack of theological knowledge

by revealing the clergy's disregard for the poor

by revealing the clergy's vindictive abuse of power

by revealing the clergy's lack of loyalty to one another