The
fighting between the Friar and the Summoner
is part of Chaucer's class . The two men are
presented as corrupt
individuals, yet they both hypocritically accuse the other of being as
such.
The tone of their fight is bitter and mean-spirited in the extreme, even childish.
It
takes the Host's intervention to get them to stop insulting one another so
the Wife of Bath
(whoseis interrupted by the Summoner, who complains about
her being too long-winded) can get to
her tale.
The nature
of this fight mocks the dignity of these representatives
of the medieval
church, illustrating how these men are not as holy as they are supposed to
be,
given their professions. Both friars and summoners were known for taking
bribes. So for the two
to fight as they do is comical, given that both are
poor representatives of Christian
morality.
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