To get absolution from the friar, money had to change
hands. In the Nevill Coghill translation, the General Prologue's description of the
friar includes the lines:
He was an easy man in penance-giving / Where he
could hope to make a decent living...Therefore instead of weeping and of prayer / One
should give silver for a poor Friar's
care.
The friar is described
as being the opposite of what a friar should be. He is lascivious, when he should be
abstinent. He is greedy when he should be generous. He knows barkeepers and bar maids
better than he knows the poor and needy. Everything the friar did for another, he did
for pay.
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