David

792 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The church's role in medieval times

People generally see all members of the church, be it priests, clergy men, etc., as holy, kind, and unselfish; basically the perfect role models for human kind. Well those people surely haven’t heard of the Pardoner from Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. This Pardoner goes against all of the rules: he lies to his listeners, cheats them of their money, and even tries to use the bible to justify himself. In the Pardoner’s tale, he tells the story of three young friends from Flanders, and reprimands them for their actions, even though they are not unlike the Pardoner himself: both the three men and the Pardoner are deceitful, cunning, and most of all greedy. One of the notable traits of both the Pardoner and the three young men is their deceitfulness. The Pardoner lies to all who listen to him, telling them things such that they are too “Wash this bone in any well, and the water from that well will cure your cattle of any murrain or blight.” (Chaucer, 307) He claims that the bone is the shoulder bone of one of the sheep that were led by Jacob, but it is no more than a regular bone. However, he manages to sell it off as if the bone had holy powers and that he would let some of his listeners use it, for a price of course. The Pardoner has lied so much and so often, that it probably has become second nature to him, as he even tried to play his trick on the rest of Chaucer’s group after just telling them he was a fake. While the two oldest of the three friends from Flanders decided to try to go behind their friend’s back to split the gold between only the two of them. “We are alone. He has gone into town. You saw him. There is no doubt plenty of gold here to share among the three of us. No doubt about it. But what if I arranged it so tha... ... middle of paper ... ...und Death, in the form of gold coins. They got so obsessed over the wealth that they had completely forgotten about Death, and, ironically, ended up killing each other in order to gain this wealth. The Pardoner, as well as the young friends in his tale, has an ironic background with greed: the Pardoner being a holy man of the church, yet being corrupt and greedy, which greed is one of the worst sins. The young friends went searching for Death, and ended up dying because of their greed. In the end, the men in his tale just turn out to be a reflection of the Pardoner, himself. Greed and deceit are both cardinal sins in the bible. The young friends were punished with Death for these sins. On the contrary, the Pardoner has not yet met with his punishment. No matter if you disguise it with a good, even holy, façade, noting good will come of fulfilling one’s greediness.

Show More
Related

  • Fraudelence Personified

    799 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Pardoner is the best representation of an allegorical character in “The Prologue” of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The Pardoner is the perfect personification of fraudulence. He shows this in three basic ways: his appearance, speech, and actions. If one just glances through the reading of the Pardoner than one will think that he is a good religious man, but if one look further into it than he will find the small double meanings that he is the exact opposite. Chaucer likes to use an allegorical style to add some comedy and sophistication to his writings.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Pardoner And Chucer

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Pardoner, a greedy, corrupt religious official in The Canterbury Tales who swindles people out of their money, represents more than just a character; he represents an archetype that appears in several individuals, both in the past and the present. In the twelfth century, Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales, realized that the religious officials of his time were corrupt, wicked, and selfish, and hoped to satirize that with the Pardoner. In modern times, however, there is a more significant divide between church and state, and church officials do not hold the same amount of power today as they did in the past. Consequently, today’s career path that is most susceptible to corruption appears to be politics, not religion. No man

    Read More

  • Retribution in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

    938 Words  | 2 Pages

    In "The Pardoner's Tale", three drunkards portrayed as obtuse simpletons, ultimately decline penance through their lack of contrition, and thus receive a deathly consequence.  Inebriated, "they started in their drunken rage/ Many and grisly were the oaths they swore,/ Tearing Christ's blessed body to a shred;/ 'If we can only catch him, Death is dead!'"  (Chaucer 251).  Their blasphemy towards Christ further diminishes the characters while their sense of logic is mocked - for the slaying of Death is impossible.  Evident in their actions and declarations, the drunkards lack the mental acuity required to prevent them from retribution.  Additionally, in their search for Death, they fail to recognize gold as the surrogate, and thus bypasses the offer of penance.  Choosing to continue with their immoral subterfuges instead of apportioning the gold, they proceed closer towards retribution.  Furthermore, when the yo...

    Read More

  • The Old Man From 'The Pardoner's Tale'

    433 Words  | 1 Pages

    The old man from “The Pardoner’s Tale” is a key character in the story. The rioters suggest that he is an spy for death, but in the story the old man does not explain on who exactly he is. So it's up for debate on who the old man really is or if he works for death himself. I believe the old man himself is death, I assume he is because he tells the rioters where to find death themselves. How can he know where death lies when death is illusive? He would have to be death himself to know where death is. Death isn’t one certain object, it can take many shapes and sizes.

    Read More

  • The Pardoner's Tale Greed Quotes

    116 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the poem “The Pardoner's Tale”, Geoffrey Chaucer elaborates on how money and greed can potentially ruin lives. Specifically, he claims that money and greed can alter your mind and blur your judgment. Geoffrey Chaucer writes, “Nevertheless, if i could shape things thus so that we shared it out - the two of us - Wouldn’t you take it as a friendly act?” (Line 235-238) This quote is explaining that the two men want to kill the younger friend to gain more riches for themselves. Ultimately, what Geoffrey Chaucer is conveying through his poem is that even the love for your family and friends doesn’t compare to the satisfying feeling you get from riches and money.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Pardoner Vs. Lawyers In The Canterbury Tales

    868 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The Pardoner’s Tale” is a short story in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. In the short story, the Pardoner tells a gruesome, shocking tale, and then offers pardons, or forgiveness, to the aghast audience (Chaucer 132-4). In The Canterbury Tales, the Pardoner does grant pardons, however, he grants them with greed (112). The Pardoner’s morals and characteristics are similar, but also different, than lawyers’ beliefs and personalities. The Pardoner and lawyers work in two very different ways, yet they both are terribly greedy and deceiving.

    Read More

  • Seven Deadly Sins In The Pardoner's Tale

    691 Words  | 2 Pages

    When the men were getting closer to the oak tree the found out something. “Till he came to that tree; there they found, Of florins of fine gold, new-minted, round (Pardoner 441-442). Greed is the following sin that is shown in the tale. Going on with the drunk men, in the tale it shows that the men are really greedy. For example, when the men find the gold all that come across there mind is the thought of killing one another just to stay with the gold. After, one of the three men go into town to get some food and drinks for one another, to what he says. The men believe he is going to get something for them to eat and drink, but he is really going to get poison, to kill the other two men so he can stay with the gold. On his way for the poison he stops and asks “Some poison for his rats, some as well For a polecat that in his yard had lain (Pardoner 526-527). The poison was not for some rats like he told the guy, it were for the other two guys that he was traveling with waiting at the oak tree. Although this man seeks for poison, the other two men don;t stay behind as they plan to get rid of the one seeking the poison. One man told the other, “He knows well that the gold is with us two. What shall we say to him? What shall we do? Shall it be a secret?” (Pardoner 489-491). The two men plan on killing the other men when he arrives back from town. When he arrives back the two men go for it and kill the one with the food, after killing him the two men start to eat and drink the food the other men had brought, seconds later they end up dying because of the poison the man had put into their drinks. “Thus ended these two homicides in woe” (Pardoner 565). Greed had finished off the three men and the three men did not end up finding death or becoming rich as they all ended up killing each

    Read More

  • Vanity In The Crucible

    683 Words  | 2 Pages

    In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, many people's actions are brought under question. After consideration many people were accused of having some tie with the Devil or witchcraft. Some of these people choose the option to opt out of punishment and take the heat of being associated with witchcraft. A few of the others decided to stick with the commandment ‘do not lie’, and gave their own life to obey God’s word. Everyone can get caught up on vanity every once in awhile, but sometimes it can cost them their life. One’s honesty can cause them to lose their life, or it can keep them out of trouble. The weight between these two options is on everybody's shoulders everyday.

    Read More

  • The Foolish Death of John Proctor in The Crucible by Arthur Miller

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    John Proctor is, at first, willing to offer up a false confession that his life may be spared. Inevitably, John Proctor possesses that fateful attribute known to fall fatal to many human beings - pride. While he has, indeed, been ashamed of his many sins throughout his life, Proctor's soul still clings to his pride and his good name, however soiled it may have become. On the morning scheduled for his execution, Proctor wrestles with the realization that one more sin so heaped upon the rest in his life will make precious little difference in the end; "I cannot mount the gibbet like a saint. It is a fraud. I am not that man.... My honesty is broke... I am no good man. Nothing's spoiled by giving them this lie." (126) He attempts to calm his pride by telling himself that the other accused witches who will not give false testimony to save themselves from the gallows have every right to do so; they led lives free of blame. He, however, he tells himself, did no such thing; what right has he to hang among the righteous? "Let them that never lied die now to keep their souls. It is pretense for me, a vanity that will nor blind God nor keep my children out of the wind." (126) Thus the conviction first reached by John Proctor is to save his life rather than to throw it away in mock martyrdom.

    Read More

  • sir gawain

    522 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the Pardoners Prologue, we see the theme of hypocrisy throughout the play. The pardoner knows he is a con artist and liar and freely admits it in both word and action in his tales prologue. The pardoner begins with the tale itself. In his sermon he describes gluttony in detail, and defines it as not only overeating, but the intense pleasure of doing it. He also denounces wine with examples of drunkenness. He also discusses swearing and cursing and concludes with condemning gambling.However, we can see hypocrisy be4 the tale even begin.The pardoner before telling his tale stops off at an inn for food &bear .He also partakes in a bet , whoever tells the best story wins. The pardoner also insults the host, who just before asking the pardoner to speak has been cursing and using bear to mend his broken heart. Furthermore, he is also the owner of the tavern which encourages eating &drinking. We can also assume that the pardoner and the host r drunk.In addition, the pardoner offers his lisnters a chance to redeem themselves, not through relics by acknowledging what they did wrong.However,at the end of his tale is saying his relics are needed for redemption eventhough he knows they are fake. In conclusion we see how through the pardoner the theme of hypocrisy.

    Read More

  • Chaucer's Use Of Satire To Obtain His Intended Audience

    782 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the story, Chaucer acts as a journalist to write down these grotesque and obscene stories he uses to bash these ideas. He doesn’t attack the church as a whole, just the selling of indulgences and paying to look at relics. He comes up with the story, “The Pardoner's Tale,” and starts off with a prologue to introduce themselves. The Pardoner basically says I love women and money, a horrible thing for being a pardoner. In “The Pardoner's Prologue,” on lines 19-20 the pardoner says, “Is all my sermons, for it frees the pelf. Out to come the pence, and specially for myself.” Meaning, he love to take people’s money for himself. This outcome of the Pardoner has a negative impact towards making the church look like robbers. He continues on lines 24-25 in the prologues stating, “Once dead what matter how their souls fare? The can go blackberrying, for all I care!” The Pardoner uses his stories to empty people’s pelfs because of his cupidity or greed for money. The line in simple terms say after they die I don’t care where they go to Hell blackberry picking for all he cares. This is the first iconoclastic idea Chaucer will bash

    Read More

  • Greed and Corruption in The Canterbury Tales

    365 Words  | 1 Pages

    In "The Pardoners Tale," all the characters seek out Death, and the Pardoner describes Death like a person, an evil person. During the fourteenth century death was commonplace. The plague was the biggest killer of all and nobody knew what caused it therefore it was considered a mysterious and evil occurrence. In this particular tale death is personified, and all the characters in the tale who seek him out either die or kill each other when they get close to him. The point Chaucer makes through the words of the Pardoner is that the evil traits like greed, avarice and corruption lead to death. Of course the Pardoner himself is a hypocrite and embodies all of these traits. In the end of the tale he tries to sell his relics to the people to make money which shows that he, as an official of the church, is just as evil and corrupt as the Summoner in "The Friar's Tale."

    Read More

  • The Pardoner's Tale Satire

    1157 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the Prologue, avarice stands out in the character description of the Pardoner and the Doctor. The Doctor is known for taking advantage of his sick patients. The Doctor would charge sick patients, “And kept the gold he won in pestilences./Gold stimulated the heart, or so we’re told./ He therefore had a special love of gold” (Prologue 452-454). When patients need the Doctor’s help, they are willing to pay anything even though the Doctor knows he cannot save them from the Plague. Through characterization, Chaucer satirizes the Doctor’s greed by describing a man who is supposed to care for the sick and needy, not take their money while they are on their deathbed. Also, Chaucer writes about the unethical agreement between the Doctor and the apothecaries. The Doctor would prescribe unnecessary treatments to patients and “All the apothecaries in a tribe/ Were ready with the drugs he would prescribe/ And each made money from the other’s guile’ (Prologue 435-437). Using verbal irony, Chaucer satirizes a mutual greed between a physician and an apothecary. In the description of the Doctor, Chaucer describes him as a perfect practicing physician, yet he takes advantage of his dying patients through sly dealings. In the same fashion, three best friends from the Pardoner’s Tale

    Read More

  • The Pardoner's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer

    1117 Words  | 3 Pages

    Chaucer, Geoffrey, and Nevill Coghill. "The Pardoner's Tale." The Canterbury Tales. London: Penguin, 2003. 103-06. Print.

    Read More

  • Lessons To Be Learned From "The Pardoners Tale"

    479 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the Pardoners Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer, the narrator, the Pardoner, is very greedy an deceitful. His tale is about three rioters who go on a mission to seek death and kill him. Instead of finding death, an old man guided them to a tree which had gold beneath it. The gold symbolizes death because it led the rioters to sin and they became very greedy. The three rioters and the pardoner have a lot in common.

    Read More

More about David

Open Document