The Parson's Prologue and Tale
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"The Parson's Prologue and Tale" make up the final section of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
The longest of all the tales, the Parson's Prologue and Tale is a sermon on virtuous living. The Parson is considered by some to be the only good member of the Clergy in Canterbury Tales. Harry Bailly, the host, first asks the Parson for a fable but the Parson refuses and says he will tell an improving tale in prose as he cannot rhyme. The subject of the sermon is penitence and he describe it split into three parts; contrition of the heart, confession of the mouth and satisfaction. The second part about confession is illustrated by referring to the Seven Deadly Sins and offering remedies against them. The Seven Deadly Sins are 1. Pride 2. Envy 3. Wrath 4. Sloth 5. Greed 6. Gluttony 7. Lust. They are "healed" by 1. Humility 2. Contentment 3. Patience 4. Fortitude 5. Mercy 6. Moderation 7. Chastity
The tale seems, for the most part, to be a combination of the texts of two works on penitence popular at this time: the Summa casuum poenitentiae of Raymond of Peñafort, and the Summa vitiorum of William Perault; these mingle with fragments from other texts. It is not known whether Chaucer was the first to combine these particular sources, or whether he translated an existing combined edition, possibly from French; in the latter case, any direct source has been lost.
None of the explicit criticism of clergy that marks many of the other tales and character sketches is obvious here. The Parson is throughout depicted as a sensible and intelligent person. However he is not uncritical of the clergy, for example describing flatterers – those who continuously sing placebo – as "the Devil’s Chaplains".
Although the Canterbury Tales appears to be unfinished with some pilgrims not telling any tales and the four tales each, described in the General Prologue, far from complete, the Parson's tale seems to be designed to round up the work. There are many references to the end in the Parson's prologue and the tale itself has many subtle criticisms of the behaviour and character of many of the other pilgrims. Chaucer himself seems swayed by the plea for penitence as the final part of the Tales follows, Chaucer's Retraction where he asks forgiveness for any offence he might have caused.
