The overall prologue to Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales sets the stage for the story, introducing us to all 30 pilgrims who travel together to Canterbury, England. Chaucer is both the author and narrator of The Canterbury Tales, who is also one of the pilgrims, he describes the 30 characters in good detail in the prologue. Among them is a Monk who seems to be everything a Monk shouldn't be. One who also takes pride in the fact that he is not the model of the old monastic ways to which monks also typically dedicate their lives. Monks would usually be a religious figure identified as a member of the "Clergy" or "Church" estate in this estate's satire, but Chaucer is depicted more as an aristocrat than a churchman. The irony and contrasting viewpoint of Chaucer's monk brings to light the moral, aristocratic, and religious corruption of society during this time period. We are introduced to the monk at the beginning of the prologue, Chaucer paints the picture of a manly man. who loves to go hunting with his numerous horses and greyhounds, sparing no expense for the sport he loved. He begins by saying, “There was ONE MONK, one of the best, / An outrider; hunting was his sport; /A virile man, capable of being an abbot. / He had many excellent horses in his stable” (165 – 168). And later he dives further into the pride of the hunt when he describes his glorious greyhounds: “He had greyhounds, as fast as a bird in flight. / Since riding and hare hunting / Were all his love, he spared nothing (190 - 192). A monk must be a religious man who dedicates his life to the service of all other living beings, chooses to live outside the mainstream of modern society and lives his life... in the middle of paper... in this case ( 193 – 200). The lasting portrait of the monk is the result of Chaucer's satire, which illustrates the hypocrisy of the religious figures in the tale. He leads an easy and luxurious life, close to that of a nobleman, ignoring the monastic guidelines established by Saint Benedict which defines a life full of prayer, hard work and depravity. He who defends his way of life by claiming to be a modern man who intends to leave behind the ways of the past and define a new way of life for the monks is almost majestic. He appears to have chosen to become a monk to get closer to the lifestyle of the nobles so that he could reap the benefits of being closely associated with their aristocratic practices. This has allowed him to live the life he truly wants to live, a luxury that perhaps would not have been afforded to him had he chosen to be associated with the peasant estate in this tale..