The Canterbury Tales is a large collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer The descriptions of the characters give an input on medieval society which helped the understanding of medieval times The General Prologue specifically focuses on the characters They are all different kinds of characters but only a few remain well behaved and innocent The clerk is one of those people The clerk is a very sincere and quiet character who loves learning Geoffrey Chaucer says Although he was a philosopher he still had little gold in his cooers he spent all that he could get from his friends on books and learning and diligently prayed for the souls of those who gave him money to carry on his studies with 31 Chaucer includes throughout his description that the Clerk prays for the souls of anyone who was nice enough or able to give him money He cares for people and is thankful The Prioress is very different from the Clerk The prioress is very elegant and admirable lady She also has the nicest table manners She wiped her upper lip so carefully that no trace of grease could be seen in her cup when she had taken a drink from it she helped herself to food in a very proper way 21 This is an important piece of information Later Geoffrey Chaucer says that she is very absorbed in herself and doesn't really care about other people's lives although she cares about animals very deeply
