oincides with her strong character. Not only does the tone conjure up pleasure; it also expresses mental thoughtfulness. It questions the churchs foundation of St. Peters ideas about virginity. Chaucer uses the Wife of Bath to indirectly express the churchs inconsistency in regards to the natural propagation of the human race and virginity. The Wife of Bath is honest. She feels no shame in dancing the old dance of love. Chaucers tone seems sympathetic to her yet realistic. She is not perfect. She is gapped toothed and can cause her husband strife. Yet he is saying with his vivid imagery; this is reality, not hypocrisy.On the other hand, the vivid description of the Summoner is disgusting. His skin is full of pimples and boils. He smells of garlic and wine. Chaucer writes, No borax, ceruse, tartar, could discharge, Nor ointment that could cleanse enough. The tone is vivid as to how unclean the Summoner was. He was unclean in body and mind. He lied and was sanctimonious. He was suppose to be a man of God and he was very much full of pride and of the purse. The Summoners bad nature could bring harm to others as illustrated by Chaucers statement, he brought duress on any young fellow in the diocese. Chaucers writes vividly about the Summoner, who had a fiery-red, cherubic face. In other words he is not what he seems. Fiery-red is incongruent with a cherub. The impact on the reader is heightened by the dissonance of terms. The hypocrisy is highlighted by the tone of the language.The tone of Chaucers writings used vivid descriptions to heighten the impact of the themes and messages he was expressing. The contrast between The Summoner and The Wife of Bath is striking. The disgust for hypocrisy could be seen, smelled and understood vividly in the characterization of the Summoner. Whereas, the attraction to the Wife of Bath was a tribute to honest thinking....
