# The Monk — The Canterbury Tales character guide

> The Monk in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0000-the-prologue

## Snapshot

A fat, bald hunter in fine gray fur who keeps greyhounds and swans, and tells a string of tragedies about great men brought low.

## Who they are

The Monk scorns the old rule that monks should stay in cloisters and work with their hands; his pleasure is riding, hunting the hare, and roasting a fat swan. His bridle jingles like a chapel bell, and his boots are supple, his horse sleek. He tells tale after tale of Lucifer, Adam, Samson, and Hercules falling from high estate, a grim catalogue that suits a man who has made his own comfortable fall from monastic discipline.

## In the story

### [The Prologue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/chapters/the-prologue)

Called upon by the Host to tell the next tale, but is preempted by the Miller.

### [The Shipman’s Tale](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/chapters/the-shipman-s-tale)

A monk who borrows money from the merchant and seduces the merchant's wife.

### [The Monk's Tale](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/chapters/the-monk-s-tale)

The narrator of the tale, who recounts a series of tragedies about fallen figures.

### [The Prologue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/chapters/the-prologue)

The Monk is addressed by the Host, who comments on his fine appearance and suggests he would have been a prolific father if not a monk. The Monk responds patiently and offers to tell a tale.

### [The Prologue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/chapters/the-prologue)

Tells a tragic tale that displeases the company; declines to tell another tale.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/characters/monk
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_canterbury_tales_se/characters