Chaucer 's The Canterbury Tales

Throughout history greed has corrupted and destroyed many people plunging them farther into the need for more; in contemporary times this has only strengthened. In 1387, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote “The Canterbury Tales” within this consist of “The Pardoners Tale”. This tale consists of a greedy pardoner preaching sermons only to benefit himself. An English poet, William Blake believes that “The characters of Chaucer’s Pilgrims are the characters which compose all ages and nations…” As Blake states Chaucer’s pilgrims, can be considered a universal theme throughout all ages. The Pardoners greed is universal because of his sermons, his use of relics, and can be related to modern day Ponzi schemes.

Boenig, Robert. "The Pardoner's Hypocrisy and His Subjectivity." Gale Group Databases. Lugoff-Elgin High School Lib., Lugoff, SC. 23 Feb, 2006. .

The Pardoner use deceit and lies to pray on the poor and innocent, his characterization represents the churches misuse of its vast power. Chaucer fortifies this idea when he describes the Pardoner as “And thus I preach against the very vice/I make my

The pardoner does whatever it takes to get money from is listeners, which includes lying, and tricking them into buying “relics” in bottles. He sells these bottles claiming them to be some kind of miracle cure, “Where there is a pox or scab or other sore/all animals that water at that well/are cured at once…And it’s a cure for jealousy as well…” (260). He is never going to see these people again so he says whatever it takes to get their money. “That tricks been worth a hundred marks a year/since I became a pardoner, never fear” (260), he tells the people whatever they want to hear in order for them to buy into his scheme, he has no real care for the people or his job. He refers to his life as a game, because he travels to

Along the pilgrimage of Geoffrey Chaucer’s prologue of The Canterbury Tales, the narrator describes two distinct characters, the Knight and the Pardoner. The characters share somewhat similar lifestyles, but they are undoubtedly different people in temperament, only traveling with the same group to see the Archduke of Canterbury, Thomas à Becket. The Pardoner is a man of the church who sells indulgences, a method of being forgiven by paying money to the church, but this Pardoner greedily takes money and bribes for his personal exploitation. The other character, the Knight, has just finished fighting for the sovereign in holy wars and wishes to give thanks for all he has done and been fortunate to have. Although the Knight and the Pardoner are both experienced in their respective professions, these ultimately contrasting characters reinforce the idea that power does not always lead to corruption.

Both the Pardoner and the Friar are portrayed as quick-thinking charlatans. Chaucer does seem to admire the Pardoner’s skill, and skilled he is, but his actions do not befit a man of the cloth. The Pardoner is spoken of as using bogus relics to con “poor up-country parsons” out of their hard-earned cash. These small hustles netted him “more in a day than the parson in a month or two”. When choosing his occupation, I’m sure the Pardoner did not see the light of the lord but rather, dollar signs. Chaucer goes on to say that yes, the pardoner did preach rather well and his stories were quite splendid, however that might be on account that he could “win money from the crowd”.

The Pardoner is a big liar and act so greedy but at the same time he telling good story and lesson.

In Canterbury Tales, the pardoner vouches for the pardoning of those who come to the church to confess their sins. Specifically in the Pardoner’s Tale, we see how he preaches to the church to repent for their greedy sin. This

The Pardoner and Summoner appear together in “The Prologue.” They further illustrate an example of Chaucer’s awareness of a defiled Church. Chaucer provides humor to his description of the Summoner in that “he’d allow – just for a quart of wine - /Any good lad to keep a concubine” (Chaucer 20.) This means that a person who disobeys the Church without seeking repentance can easily bribe the Summoner, in that he will overlook the situation. Chaucer writes about the Pardoner that “by his flatteries and prevarication/ Made monkey of the priest and congregation” (Chaucer 22.) This is another direct insult to the Church at the time.

The Pardoner is a man who goes to common people and offers promises of pardon, of healing, and forgiveness, all for a price that is. He openly boasts of all of his deceitful way to all around sharing in the pilgrimage to Canterbury. He then proceeds to tell the entire party of sinful things such as greed, drunkenness, swearing, gambling, lechery, purjory, and gluttony, all of which he is a partaker. The Pardoner’s tale and the Pardoner himself are reflections of today’s culture. The Pardoner tells the company of people he is with of his vices and he speaks them with pride as if they are not really vices but virtues. He then proceeds to pronounce them as vices in his story of the three men who band together to find death and kill him. They come

During the medieval times corruption in the Catholic Church was prevalent. As corruption was prevalent during Chaucer’s time so was a Pardoner’s practice of selling indulgences, becoming one of deception and greed. Similar to the upper class focusing their time on becoming the richest and most powerful. In many of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer would use satire to criticize different social classes. For example, the middle class, those people who worked for their possessions. He satirizes religious hypocrisy in such tales as the Pardoner, in which a middle class man, showing the corruption of the Pardoner’s job. Through his description of the Pardoner as being a man who is disitful, greedy, and hypocritical, Chaucer uses

Chaucer's depiction of the Pardoner in "The General Prologue" is unsparing in its effeteness; he has "heer as yelow as wax/ But smoothe it heeng as dooth a strike of flex/ By ounces heenge his lokkes that he hadde...But thinne it

In the prologue, a pardoner is a man of long blonde hair, and hairless face. He is placed at the very bottom of humanity, because he used his religion and holiness to make money, and openly admitting to it. The pardoner using this sinful type of scamming to persuade individuals to buy their forgiveness, and use poor innocent people to his advantage. He would rather take money from a widow and her starving family than to give up his own money. He not only takes people’s money, but takes relics, bones, clothing, and other things given to the departed saints. By doing such evil things to people, he is being a hypocrite. He is acting like he is a Christian and essentially helping people when he is actually doing the exact opposite by cheating

I plan using this article in my paper for two reasons. First, to propose another possible interpretation of the Old Man that contrasts many of the numerous others. Second, the provide deeper insight into the Pardoner. If I continue to follow my theme and proposed idea that Old Man is an aid to help get a deeper understanding of the Pardoner, then I will show the peice of Christian goodness that just might have a small presence in his dark soul. The Old Man and the Pardoner are highly complex characters that have seemingly infinite possibilities when it some t defining and interpreting them. Nonetheless, I think the Pardoner, although mostly evil, does do some good when giving sermons. Although he steals from naïve people, he also gives

“That trick’s been worth a hundred marks a year/ Since I became a Pardoner, never fear…And tell a hundred lying mockeries more”(242). The epilogue of “The Pardoner’s Tale” provides a final view of the teller, who is not concerned with truth or morality. Is there any good at all in the Pardoner? Even though the Pardoner provides his services because of his greed, he knows intuitively that all those around him require spiritual and moral guidance. He is able to turn the villagers he dupes away from their greedy ways by telling them a story of death and destruction.