The word moot cosyn be to the werkyng.
211 I am a boystous man, right thus seye I
212 Ther nys no difference, trewely
213 Bitwixe a wyf that is of heigh degree,
214 If of hir body dishonest she bee,
215 And a povre wenche, oother than this --
216 If it so be they werke bothe amys -
217 But that the gentile, in estaat above,
218 She shal be cleped his lady, as in love;
219 And for that oother is a povre womman,
220 She shal be cleped his wenche or his lemman.
221 And, God it woot, myn owene deere brother,
222 Men leyn that oon as lowe as lith that oother.
223 Right so bitwixe a titlelees tiraunt
224 And an outlawe or a theef erraunt,
225 The same I seye: ther is no difference.
This is one of the central ideas of the Canterbury Tales that Chaucer has danced around, but has never explicitly expressed. You cannot change the essential nature of a beast or a man, and yet how that person or status is viewed is changed wholly dependent on the shifting sands of society. I believe this speaks directly to the notion of the Canterbury Tales as a commentary on the shifting roles of members of society. A priest is therefore a saint or a thief depending on the paradigm.
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