When comparing The Canterbury Tales, there are many similarities and differences between the stories. Two good examples of comparing the stories from The Canterbury Tales would be The Nun’s Priest Tale and The Pardoner’s Tale. When comparing these two stories, there are many factors to look at, such as the plot, form, style, word choice, moral, characters, enjoyment, and the overall feeling the reader gets from the story. In The Pardoner’s Tale, the plot is that most people will say anything and everything, so that other people can view them a certain way. For example, The Pardoner pretends to be this all holy man who wants to relieve everyone of their sins so that they may all go to heaven and not perish in hell, but that is not his true …show more content…
In The Pardoner’s Tale, the words are a little more difficult to understand. The story consist of many complex words. Some of these complex words may cause the reader to lose attachment to the story, but most of the words are on the page of the reading, so that the reader can continue with the tale. In The Wife of Bath’s Tale, the word choice is meant to fit the style of romance. Within the tale, much of the words are meant to be less complex, so that the reader is able to connect to the romantic feeling of the tale.
When reading The Pardoner’s Tale, it can be seen that the Pardoner is a very greedy man who wants nothing but money but is telling a story about greed and how it is the root of all evil. This factor may add great interest to the reader so that they’ll stay attached to the story to see what will happen next. In In The Wife of Bath’s Tale, the pardoner is telling the story, so the reader may feel that the tale is bad or very twisted, but as the story continues it is proven that it truly has a happy ending. The reader may value this story more due to the Pardoner telling the story and it having a happy
of Death. When a young boy is asked what happened to a man who had just
...e and foolish people can act while in love; this is something that many stories try to teach their readers. Finally, somehow, Chaucer may have been reaching out to women with The Wife of Bath's Tale, although some believe she is used as an anti-feminist tool, perhaps Chaucer's point was to have that woman teach other women the positives of being in control. No matter what message these women bring, Chaucer clearly appreciates their importance not only to his readers, but also to his tales.
In “The Pardoner’s Tale,” Geoffrey Chaucer masterfully frames an informal homily. Through the use of verbal and situational irony, Chaucer is able to accentuate the moral characteristics of the Pardoner. The essence of the story is exemplified by the blatant discrepancy between the character of the storyteller and the message of his story. By analyzing this contrast, the reader can place himself in the mind of the Pardoner in order to account for his psychology.
This first quote displaying one of the three men's greed is, “This cursed fellow grabbed into his hand the box of poison and away he ran into a neighboring street, and found a man who lent him three large bottles. He withdrew and deftly poured the poison into two.” (Chaucer 178). This second quote also displays just how bad greed affected these three men, “Why make a sermon of it? Why waste breath? Exactly in the way they'd planned his death.” (Chaucer 179). This quote from the wife of bath chaucer writes, “There was a knight who was a lusty liver. One day as he came riding from the river.” (Chaucer 186). The pardoner's tale creates much from a moral aspect from the deadly sin of greed. As you can see the wife of bath does feature the sin lust but does not revolve the tale around it as a whole. While the pardoner's tale does a fantastic job at doing
...rdon people from their sins. Then he tells a story about greed. Next the pardoner asks the audience for money for their sins. He is greedy because he wants their money. The pardoner in the is hypocritical because he tells a story about greed over money then tells people to give him money for their greed for money because he is greedy, and wants their money he could care less if they could afford it or not.
(An in depth analysis into the General Prologue, Pardoner 's Tale, and the Wife of Bath)
...the tale. There is one quote that can best sum up the Pardoner. "The Pardoner's hypocritical behavior is comparable to that of a corrupt evangelist today who, not even believing what he preaches, takes money from the poor to live in wealth (Hallissy, 216)." The Pardoner is a man out only for himself. Preaching a vice that he himself practices does not show example to others. The Pardoner is in a sense one of those bad apples in a bunch. A tale of morals by a man of unknown morals.
Much like how the Wife of Bath was the same as the character of the old woman in her tale, the Pardoner is allegorized by the aged wayfarer in his own tale. The Old Man and the Pardoner are not in the exact same contextual situations; nonetheless, the two situations result in the same feelings of depression, remorse, and longing to be somewhere else as seen in each character. Like the theory of the Wandering Jew suggests, the Old Man is cursed to aimlessly wander the face of the earth until God decides he is allowed to die. In “The Pardoner’s Tale,” the Old Man tells the three revelers, “I must still keep my age / for as long as it is God's will. / Nor, alas will Death take my life; / so I walk like a restless prisoner” (PT 397-400). The
Moving towards the second tale “The Wife of Bath” love and death play a very large toll on the outcome of the story. We begin with a knight who rapes a woman and is given the death penalty. His “love” for her granted him a golden ticket to a death, but miraculously is spared to find the answer to question his life depended on. When introduced to the old woman, he is forced to pledge himself to her in order for help. She helps him and he lives but is now burdened with a woman he does not love. He has no love for her yet is forced to marry and remain miserable.
His Tale is part of the "marriage debate" (the Wife of Bath's Tale, followed by the Clerk, then the Merchant and lastly the Franklin). These stories look at the idea of dominance in marriage ("maistrie"). The Wife of Bath's Tale concerns a totally dominant woman; the Clerk tells of a totally subservient woman; the Merchant of a deceitful woman and a cuckolded man and the Franklin's Tale presents a marriage of harmony and balance - an "ideal" relationship which is...
Throughout literature, relationships can often be found between the author of a story and the story that he writes. In Geoffrey Chaucer's frame story, Canterbury Tales, many of the characters make this idea evident with the tales that they tell. A distinct relationship can be made between the character of the Pardoner and the tale that he tells.
... maiden, the knight is turned into the hero of the tale, with the reader hoping for a happy ending for him. "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale" can be seen as both a legend of women's empowerment as well as a reminder of the struggles women encountered daily.
When we are taken on the pilgrimage to Canterbury by Chaucer in the story “The Canterbury Tales” we are introduced to all classes of characters from every corner of life. The use of satire is used throughout the story and I believe it helps, it shows the stereotypical difference in class at his time of day. While keeping nothing from harm in “The Canterbury Tales” Chaucer takes a huge chance by mocking even the church. But did all the use of raunchy humor and everyday language really help him or did it make the story too much to read?
Olson, Glending. "The Marital Dilemma In The Wife Of Bath's Tale: An Unnoticed Analogue And Its Chaucerian Court Context."English Language Notes 33.(1995): 1-7. Humanities Source. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
The two tales, told by the Wife of Bath and the Clerk in The Canterbury Tales, have parallel plots. “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” begins with a lusty knight standing before his king’s court because of unjust acts he committed with a young maiden. Before the king can execute the knight, the queen objects and offers that the knight’s life is spared if he can find the answer to what women really want. The knight embarks on his journey to discover the answer (“The Wife of Bath’s Tale” 167-68). Similarly, “The Clerk’s Tale” takes place in the kingdom of Saluzzo, Italy under the control of Walter, the marquis. The people of Saluzzo eagerly advised Walter to find a wife to ensure an heir to the throne. Walter finally finds the standard, beautiful woman in poverty named Griselda. She values hard work and humility, and Walter chooses to marry her. However, she must take a vow to Walter never to complain and to be loyal despite whatever the future may bring. Both plots revolve around the noble class and the differences among the social structure of the time because of the variety of characters portrayed in each tale. The two tales’ plots are d...