Chaucer was a major satirist. In the beginning of Canterbury Tales Chaucer uses satire in every description of his character.

To name some examples, the Prioress, she was a woman of the church, she was supposed to be humbled yet when she ate she ate like a courtier, very daintily using her finger tips to eat her meat and being very careful not to spill a drop of broth on herself. Her rosary was extremely gaudy, and she was said to be beautiful but Chaucer describes her forehead to be "a span" that's a nine inch forehead. Through the prioress and other members of the church Chaucer is portraying the Churches character and how the people in it are more engrossed with themselves then they are focused and humbled before God like their vows had them promise to be. Another person is the cook, he's a good cook and good at what he does but he has an open sore on his leg. That's gross, you don't want a cook that has a sore to be cooking your food. There's a scholar in the beginning as well i don't remember exactly what he's called but he's really skinny and has no money to eat and that's because he spends all his money educating himself. Education you would think would be something that would help bring in money and provide him with food yet his education is the reason for hunger. Those are just funny satirical examples from the very beginning of the book their are other ones throughout the whole of his stories though not all the stories are finished because he died before he could finish the book. NOT TRUE TO THEIR OFFICE

he also criticized some members of the clergy position, because of their abusing of their position and doing things that they were not supposed to do, or not doing something they were supposed to do in their position. Among those people whom Chaucer criticized very much were the Friar and the Pardoner. In the medieval society, where people were very religious, illiterate and superstitious, the Friar was respected as God himself. The Friars job in the church was to help people, who committed crime, by giving them a guide to pray for a certain time so that they can receive absolution. But the Friar in the Canterbury Tales was not honest and dedicated in doing his job. He abused his position by taking money from people who came to confess. He told them that they would get absolution if they pay him and thus broke the vow of obedience because it is against the Catholic Church. He broke the vow of chastity by having adulterous relationships with other women. By wearing expensive clothes, spending his time with wealthy people rather than helping beggars or sick lepers, he broke the vow of poverty. The Pardoner is a person who says prayer for dead people so that the sins they had committed in life would be forgiven. The Pardoner of The Canterbury Tales abused his position by selling some papers which he claimed if people bought, their time in purgatory would be shortened after death; he sold them for very high price. He also claimed that he had Virgin Marys veil, which would have been 1330