The Pardoner's Tale

Federigo’s Falcon was written by Boccaccio during the plague and The Wife of Bath’s Tale written by Chaucer. Both authors reveal by indirect characterization that different people value different things and sacrificing what they value most proves their devotion

In the story, “The Pardoner’s Tales”, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the character the Pardoner in descriptive way. He describe the Pardoner’s corruption teaching and the way the Pardoner act in the tale. The religious that the Pardoner teaching is corrupted and very selfish, greediness, and gluttony. This thing are all opposite to what the real church religious is teaching. In the story, he tricks the people to buy his fake relics and other things by using the church’s believe. The Pardoner act and his teaching are all corrupted because of the church. It shows the side of greediness, gluttony and selfishness which highly reflect into himself and his believe.

The Pardoner clearly does not have moral fibers. It does not concern him that one day he could become destitute and no one would help him because they are greedy. Even though greed can be a good thing if shared with everyone, Greed and the desire for riches are traps that bring ruin and destruction. Because no one will share with in your time of need, it causes you to not be concerned with other people's needs, and it is a moral sin against God.

The prologue of the pardoner presumably reveals the pardoner is a pastor or preacher. The Pardoner is a very greedy man that does not live by the word of God and is driven by his desires to obtain wealth. Although the pardoner is dealing with his own sins, he teaches others how they can repent and eliminate their sinful desires. The pardoner preaches on his passions for wealth, possessions, and gives examples of how he wrestles with his aspiration for riches. His main intentions for teaching is to receive money from his spectators.

The Pardoner’s Tale is a story very relatable to many Americans in this day and age. This story tells of greed, pride, and malice. A theme as old as time, “money is the root of all evil” speaks volumes in this poem. The Pardoner’s Tale highlights an old saying that many use in everyday conversation.

The pardoner's tale is an ironic story narrated by a greedy church pardoner; this story is filled with subtle criticisms of the church. The pardoner claims “I make my living out of-avarice,” which means that he makes a living from his greed. The author, Geoffrey Chaucer, used this story to criticize what he saw as corruption in the church. To put it simply, this work was created on sheet of blue paper, with pencil and a limited, but tasteful color pallet.

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

The Pardoner comes along after a drink or two and tells of a great worldly salvation that could save any man and his family, yet a dark secret lies beneath the surface. It takes a simple man to see the Pardoner’s true colors and still uneducated serfdom of this time of feudalism fall for his simple and greedy tricks. The impact it has on the tale itself is forward and literal. We can see the death of all 3 characters directly related to greed.

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

“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.

Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Pardoner's Tale," a relatively straightforward satirical and anti-capitalist view of the church, contrasts motifs of sin with the salvational properties of religion to draw out the complex self-loathing of the emasculated Pardoner. In particular, Chaucer concentrates on the Pardoner's references to the evils of alcohol, gambling, blasphemy, and money, which aim not only to condemn his listeners and unbuckle their purses, but to elicit their wrath and expose his eunuchism.

“Federigo's Falcon” from The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio and “The Pardoner's Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer. Both written during the 1300’s “Federigo's Falcon” was written in Italy. Whereas “The Pardoner's Tale” was written in England. “The Pardoner's Tale” highlights men trying to gain wealth while “Federigo's Falcon” highlights a man sacrificing everything to get love and both, imply greed results from evil intentions.

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”.

When the three friends set out to avenge their friend they find gold, and it blinds them. It makes them forget about their friend and the avenging they only care for the wealth and power this gold can give them. Not only does the gold set them off track, it causes their death, in fact, greed is what causes their death. Although the gold was a lot and it was plenty enough for each when they divide it, their greed forced them to want more. Their desire for wealth forced to want to kill each other. In the end they all end up dead, victims of their greed. Chaucer shows the reader that mans greed and desire for power and wealth will have disastrous consequences, in this case death. The irony in the pardoners tale is that the men set out to find Death and they indeed find it, but have they found Death, the person. Although he is of unclear identity, the old man can be interpreted as Death, or his form on earth. A lot of mystery and unanswered questions concern the old man, however, from the text the reader can hint that he is some form of Death. The old man is the one who directed the men right to the gold and most likely knew what the men’s fait was. In general, the message Chaucer is trying to convey through his story is that greed is a sin, and it causes horrible