The Canterbury Tales is a real estate satire, which not only highlights the deficiencies and inequalities, but also the inauthenticity, that exist under feudalism's code of social stratification. Examples of these characterizations of the estates are found extensively throughout the general prologue and in the pilgrims' tales. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The first example of inequality in The Canterbury Tales that is encountered as a result of social stratification is religious or clerical inequality. The Prioress, the Monk and the Friar are all ecclesiastics of the first estate and are the least authentic characters in the book. The Summoner and the Pardoner both work for the church and are the worst characters in the book. The clerk, the parson, and the farmer all belong to the lowest status both socially and financially, but they all practice morality in a way that would be expected of those of the first estate. The parallel drawn here is that clergymen were appointed by the king, the most powerful man in England, except for the pope. Professor Richard Abels states in his article “Medieval Kingship in Late Twelfth- and Early Thirteenth-Century England: the Reigns of King Henry II and King John” that “Henry II also wished to restore the royal control over the English church that Henry I enjoyed ”. having... at least a veto over ecclesiastical elections, controlling the appeals of English clerics to Rome, and retaining the right to try clerics in royal courts under common law after they have been tried in ecclesiastical courts under canon law. Therefore, the closer one was to the royal family, the less likely they were to ever have to face the consequences of their misdeeds. The economic inequality between the states is revealed just as the characters of the first estate all have financial prosperity for the sake of those they are supposed to serve. For example, the Pardoner says in his prologue: "I intend to have money, wool, cheese and corn / Even if they were given to me by the poorest boy / Or the poorest widow in the village, even if he had / A series of hungry children, all agape." This is not inconsistent with the fact that those who served the church during the Middle Ages under feudalism did not have to pay taxes. The church received its money in the form of tithes from those who belonged to the third estate. Those tithes were used to pay the ecclesiastics, appointed by the king. Unchecked power and unlimited access to unearned money led to the secularization of church officials. An example of such secularism is found in the description of the Prioress in the general prologue: “She wore a coral bauble on her arm,/ A set of beads, the gaudy ones decorated in green,/ From where hung a gold brooch of the brightest luster/ On it where previously a crowned A was carved, / And further down, Amor vincit omnia. Parson, on the other hand, is the most morally upright character in the book and the least wealthy. “His task was to show righteous behavior / and thus draw men to Heaven and their Savior.” Economic inequality shown due to unjust distribution of wealth is a common motif throughout the Canterbury Tales. It can also be argued that the greater the wealth or higher social position a character has, the more morally destitute the character is. The third type of feudal inequality expressed in the Canterbury Tales is gender inequality. The Wife of Bath has been scrutinized as an overly sensual and immoral character, even though the men in the book, including the Pardoner and the Friar, had affairs.