The Pardoner's Canterbury Tales

This is simply an easy way for the Pardoner to trick others into feeding his infinite appetite for greed (Boenig 4). Another example of this shows that the Pardoner "ha[s] a cross of metal set with stones/ And, in a glass, a rubble of pigs' bones." (Chaucer 695-66). These were more so-called "relics" which the Pardoner defrauds others into obtaining. Virtues of honesty and godliness are never displayed in the Pardoner's persona. The absence of such qualities makes Chaucer's ambition of showing hypocrisy amongst society easily attainable.

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

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 was one of the classman who made people feel very unwelcome when he comes to town. In the text, it stated that. “…As towns emerged, new social classes-such as merchants and artisans-disrupted the established social patterns of medieval society.” That quote explains The Pardoner’s characters in this nonfiction text.

“The Pardoner’s Tale”, included in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, is a story of greed, deception, and selfishness that destroys a friendship. The tale takes place in two different locations, one being the tavern, where the story begins and the other being under a tree, where the reader is introduced to the conflict. The main characters in “The Pardoner’s Tale” are the three rioters, who share a friendship, the young tavern-knave and the innkeeper, who try to warn the rioters, the old man, who the rioters come across on their journey, and Death. In the story the rioters come across a complication, Death has been taking lives, therefore they decide to search for Death and kill him.

The Pardoner must give out the pardons and give out words of wisdom and prayers for hope. Pardoners are looked upon as the most holy and extremely close to God so many people tend to believe them. The Pardoner in the Canterbury Tales is far from holy and honest. Chaucer describes him to look like an animal.

In Canterbury Tales the Host constructs a contest for a free meal. For the contest you have to tell a tale that is morally sound. After all is done, the Host will pick a winner. After the Pardoner’s Tale, the Pardoner insults the Host by calling him “The most sinful of them all” ( ). Is pretty obvious he won't be winning the contest after insulting the judge of it all. Between a conventional religious biography, told by the Second Nun, and a short tale, told by the Physician, it becomes clear that the Host would pick the Second Nun’s Tale. Due to the fact the Physician tale shocked the Host and was not morally sound he would lose against the Second Nun.

Indeed, he has carved out a niche for himself in which he can scam those who would persecute him, profiting off of their religious beliefs. Those who come to hear him preach, whom he disdainfully calls “the lewed peple,” deserve it when he “telle[s] an hundred false japes moore” (392, 394). His credentials offer protection against any repercussions: “That shewe I first, my body to warente,/That no man be so boold, ne preest ne clerk,/Me to destourbe of Cristes hooly werk” (PardPro 338-340). The Pardoner feels no shame, and openly tells the pilgrims, “What, trowe ye, that whiles I may preche,/And wynne gold and silver for I teche,/That I wol lyve in poverte willfully?” (439-441). He is an amoral creature because society has “othered” him, and he exorcises his anger by taking advantage of those who reject him. His hatred of ordinary society is apparent when he says, “Thus quyte I folk that doon us displesances;/Thus spitte I out my venym under hewe/Of hoolynesse” (420-421). The Pardoner is fully an outsider, not only because of his gender performance and identity, but also because he exempts himself from any moral constraints as a

Pardoner had a dubious profession. He was paid by the Church to offer and sell

The Pardoner consistently brings up the redemption of Christ and God throughout his tale. He polarizes original sin and Christ: "O glotonye, ful of cursednesse!/ O cause first of oure confusion!/ O original of oure dampnacioun,/ Til Christ hadde brought us with his blood again!" (210-3) He moves on to gluttony, and his nuanced technique of delivering subconscious critique becomes more apparent: "'They been enemies of Cristes crois,/ Of which the ende is deeth‹wombe is hir god!/ O wombe, O bely, O stinking cod,/ Fulfilled of dong and of corrupcioun!'" (244-7) His tale takes place while the Pilgrims (and the Pardoner) are drinking at an inn, and his further attacks on alcohol reveal his blatant hypocritical values: "A lecherous thing is win, and dronkenesse/ Is ful of striving and of wrecchednesse./ O dronke man, disfigured is thy face!/ Sour is thy breeth, foul artou to embrace!" (261-3) The Pardoner's moralistic statement condemns himself more than his audience, as he is the "dronke man" of the group; he is the lecherous drunk who "wil drinke licour of the vine/ And have a joly wenche in every town"

The pardoner’s physicalities and character are described in great detail in the General Prologue by Chaucer the pilgrim.The pardoner is described as having blonde stringy hair that “Thinly they fell, like rat-tails, one-by-one” (pg #). The pardoner is also described as having a high voice and no beard, due to his inability to grow one (Bender 127-128). The significance of his appearance is that he is supposed to be a very simple and modest man of the Church, yet this is not the case. Also, the pardoner’s goat like voice is annoying to many, as demonstrated when “. . . the enraged Host threatens to take his gonads in his hand and squeeze them”

“The Pardoner’s Tale” suggests a profile of the Pardoner as a moral man, a man of God. The narrator is viewed as a wise, gentle, and truthful man who wants to share his story in a respectful tone. His story reveals his message, which is that greed leads to destruction and the corruption of all things good. The Pardoner

Chaucer’s description of the Miller as deceitful and thieving through his appearance and actions criticizes the upper-class’ tendency to underestimate the ability of the lower-class. The upper class is so consumed with maintaining their image of affluence and looking down on the lower-class, they fail to recognize that peasants can learn to imitate their habits of corruption that lead to immense wealth. The Miller is depicted as a well-built, muscular man who wears “a whit cote and a blew hood” and has a red beard “as any sowe or fox” that would steal from his customers by selling his grain for three times its worth, “yit he hadde a thombe of gold”(554,565-566). The Miller

The Root of Evil Exposed in The Pardoner's Tale   "The root of all evil is money."   Because this phrase has been repeated so many times throughout history, one can fail to realize the truth in this timeless statement.   Whether applied to the corrupt clergy of Geoffrey Chaucer's time, selling indulgences, or the corrupt televangelists of today, auctioning off salvation to those who can afford it, this truth never seems to lose its validity.   In Chaucer's famous work The Canterbury Tales, he points out many inherent flaws of human nature, all of which still apply today.

All three articles have several things in common but also have several thing which distincts them from the others. Lawrence, Pratt, and Meyer-Lee all share a different idea of how the tales in the canterbury tales were written. They all have different arguments on how the ordering and the editing of the tales were. Some of them Along with that they also argue about the manuscripts and the order that the manuscripts can be in due not knowing dates on when it was written. Furthermore, they also introduce the idea of having discussions of the tales because they don’t just want their audience to read the tales, but they also want hear assumptions and open more discussion.