Essay on The Pardoner’s Tale vs. The Chaucer’s Prologue

Both tales exhibit this idea from different perspectives to relfect the values of their context. The Pardoners Tale reflects a religious society where sin is punished

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a collection of stories by a group of pilgrims who are heading to Canterbury Cathedral. In this book, the pardoner and the reeve show antipodal characters in many ways. The pardoner is beautiful blonde hair man who is being loved by everyone. However he is very corrupted and smart and sells fake religious stuff to people saying very good compliment. On the other hand, the reeve is very serious and honest business man. He is very smart enough to know what criminals think and do. The pardoner story-tells a great example (or tale?) of seven deadly sins and reeve’s story is mocking of the miller. These very different characteristic men tell story telling that human beings are always punished for

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.

904-5). The Pardoner starts out his rehearsed sermon with praying that the pilgrims do not fall to “avarice.” Avarice means to be extremely greedy and lustful of wealth, which is exactly what the Pardoner is. By having the Pardoner act out what he is most well known for, storytelling and then selling off pardons and relics, Chaucer is able to reveal this character without simply writing out an exposition for him. Although he was touched upon in the General Prologue, this speech shows how much of a scoundrel the Pardoner is.

In medieval times, almost all things were under the influence of the church. The church was considered to be the most important aspect of the society at the time and had always told people right from wrong. This is where The Pardoner’s Tale becomes interesting. In Chaucer’s medieval poem, it is clear that the Pardoner is out to make money to fulfil his own greed rather than actually being concerned about the other people’s concerns about life and death. In the poem, the Pardoner is representing to church, it is believed that it was Chaucer’s intent to create this

is suggested, by Chaucer, that he might have an ongoing affair with the Summoner. The

The world is full of hypocrites and in the story “The Pardoner’s Tale”, Chaucer writes about a man who is living a life of sin. The Pardoner’s tale is an epologia of a pardoner who has the power from the church to forgive others for their sins but makes a living out of lying and tricking his audience. Throughout the Pardoner’s Tale he preaches about greed, drinking, blasphemy, and gambling but in the Pardoner’s Prologue he admits to committing these sins himself. The pardoner is really just a 14th century con artist who makes a living by his own hypocrisy.

Chaucer also continues to state that the pardoner has a voice like a goat's and bulging eyeballs. The description of his physical appearance reveals a somewhat grotesque nature. Chaucer goes on to talk about the pardoner's job and also mentions that he owns 'relics' of saints, such as the Virgin Mary's veil, with which he earns a large amount of money. Obviously, these relics are not real so it can be easily concluded that the pardoner is a fraud, and has become rich at the expense of poor people's ignorance and gullibility. He also earns money by preaching to the congregation. By the end of the description one gets the sense that he is the epitome of a corrupt church official.

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

Chaucer seems to have made the satire for these two more serious as they seem more like actual insults than just fun remarks in hopes to make all laugh even the characters if they could do so. Chaucer stated that the summoner and the pardoner were working in cahoots with each other, they were benefiting of each other’s service and profiting off one another. Not only that but he depicted the pardoner as wearing nice clothing and that he would be with many women. This is where the satire seems more of an insult say towards the Catholic Church.

In “The Pardoner’s Tale”, however, Chaucer use of symbolism is less than subtle (perhaps because he was well-known for his dislike of corruption within the church). Superficially, the character of the Pardoner is a clergyman, one who literally sells salvation, yet his tale unambiguously preaches that greed/covetousness is wicked enough to lead to death. It seems more mocking than satirical that his defining characteristic is

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”.

In the story there are many circumstances under which the people in the middle class have been manipulated, by those with evil intent, effortlessly. Chaucer acknowledges the devious deeds of the Pardoner, “On one short day, in money down, he drew more than the parson in a month or two, and by his flatteries and prevarication made monkeys of the priest and congregation.” (Chaucer 115). The Pardoner took advantage of people and robbed them for their last dime with no remorse. Though the Pardoner was wrong for what he did there should never be a scenario when somebody is robbed of their last dime by intellectual manipulation, there should always be a point of return. Next Chaucer displays, “There was no Pardoner of equal grace for in his trunk he had a pillowcase.” (Chaucer 115). Here Chaucer is implying that this is not the

One character Chaucer uses to ridicule hypocrisy is the Pardoner. Throughout the description of the pardoner, it is shown that he is corrupt. He uses lies and

The Knight, for example, is chosen to narrate the first tale. He is in the highest position from a social standpoint and displays the most admiring virtues for a medieval Christian man-at-arms: bravery, prudence, and honor. In contrast, belonging to the clergy, the Pardoner serves the author’s purpose of criticizing the church, as the character is exceptionally good at faking relics and collecting profits in his own benefit. Chaucer portrays in this tale the disagreement with the excess wealth and the spread corruption in Church at that