# The Parson — The Canterbury Tales character guide

> The Parson in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.

**Role:** supporting

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

## Snapshot

A poor country priest who would rather give his flock a sermon on penance than a fable, and does so when his turn comes.

## Who they are

The Parson is the one pilgrim who rebukes the Host's swearing and refuses to tell a fictional tale, offering instead a long prose treatise on penitence. Where the Monk, Friar, and Pardoner trade in flattery, relics, and appetite, he lives on little and visits the sick on foot in rain and thunder. His plain sermon closes the pilgrimage, reframing the whole game of storytelling as a matter of the soul.

## In the story

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

Rebukes the Host for swearing and is accused of being a Lollard.

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

Delivers the final tale, a sermon on penitence and the seven deadly sins.

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

The Parson refuses to tell a fable, insisting on a moral prose tale to conclude the pilgrimage.

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

The Parson delivers the final tale, a sermon on penitence and the seven deadly sins.

## Links

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