The Canterbury Tales – The Parson’s Tale

Before the sun sets, there is one last tale: the Parson’s tale.

The Parson is poor in terms of material goods, but is rich in holy thoughts and devotion to God. He participated to this pilgrimage to help other people to find salvation.

He decides to not tell a fable but to tell, instead, a sermon.

His sermon explains sin, penitence and afterlife, and it is divided in three parts.

In the first part, the parson examines penitence, which is formed by contrition, confession and satisfaction.

The second part of the sermon focuses on confession, that is seen as the truthful revelation of a sin to a priest, exposing the two typologies of sins: venial sins and deadly sins.

The 7 deadly sins (pride, ire, lust, gluttony, sloth, envy and greed) are the main topic of the third part.

The parson enlightens his listeners explaining what these sins are, followed by their spiritual remedies, starting from pride, the worst of the sins, considered the trunk of a tree which branches are the other deadly sins.

As a conclusion he describes life in heaven, where weak and transient bodies become strong and immortal, in a place where hunger and thirst don’t exist, but are replaced by the perfect knowledge of God.