Retribution in The Canterbury Tales
Retribution is essential to a balanced humanity, acting as an offset for immoral deeds. Although retribution remains a necessary part of existence, it can be circumvented through penance, as exemplified in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Upon entering the process of penance, the sinner must take the initial step and feel repentance for their immoral actions. However, without contrition, avoidance of punishment can only be achieved through a display cunning maneuvering, which then acts as redemption. Validated by the Miller's, Pardoner's, and Friar's Tales, retribution is administered to all sinners devoid of contrition, unless he possesses an unparalleled canniness.
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...
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...r fate. For the medieval society, it preaches against the sins by exemplifying their consequences, with retribution often taking on the form death. However, it also offers hope after crime, and encourages the redemption of one's actions. This concept remains valid in today's society. Often dramatized in modern television, the cheating boyfriend is granted condonation only after a display of true-felt remorse. With her forgiveness, the penance is complete and retribution of losing his girlfriend is avoided. However, as a natural part of humanity, there must be exceptions. Rarely, a character may come along that possesses a canniness so unmatched that it acts as redemption for his sin, thus allowing him to evade the common fate. Nevertheless, retribution still serves as a warning for potential sinners.
In the Prologue of the tale, the Pardoner clearly admits that he preaches for nothing but for the greed of gain. His sermons revolve around the biblical idea that “the love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). Ironically, however, the Pardoner condemns the very same vice that he lives by, as he proclaims “avarice is the theme that I employ in all my sermons, to make the people free in giving pennies—especially to me”. Thus, covetousness is both the substance of his sermons as well as the mechanism upon which he thrives. He clearly states that repentance is not the central aim of his preaching, by mentioning “my mind is fixed on what I stand to win and not upon correcting sin”. Rather, his foremost intention is to acquire as many shillings as he can in exchange for his meaningless pardons. In this regard, one can argue that although the Pardoner is evil, he is not a dissembler. His psychology is clearly not guided by hypocrisy because he does not conceal his intentions under false pretences.
The pardoner telling a story about greed and saying that if you don’t repent you will get what’s coming to you. A great example of this is in line 289-290, “Thus these murders receive...
Mother Theresa once said, "Loneliness is a man's worst poverty." Without friends and companions, people begin to suffer from loneliness and solitude (Dusenbury 38). Loneliness is an inevitable fact of life and cannot be avoided, as shown prevalent through each of the characters in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Each and every character in this novel exhibits loneliness. Lennie was isolated for being mentally handicapped, Candy was isolated for being old and disabled, Crooks was for being black, Curley's wife for being a woman, and George for having to care for Lennie and being unable to socialize with others because of Lennie's consistency of getting into trouble from town to town.
The similar theme of justice throughout Inferno and King Lear both depict the eventual consequence of ones actions throughout their existence. Often causing more harm than good, the actions in which they preform tends to damage them more than the action itself. In William Shakespeare King Lear, King Lear decides to disown Cordelia, the youngest of three daughters from owning any part of his kingdom due to the fact that Lear wanted to see which daughter loved him more in which Cordelia replied, “Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave, My heart into my mouth: I love your majesty, According to my bond; nor more nor less.” (Shakespeare 9) Although C...
Guilt is a result of sin, and sin is a result of misaction. In the novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, the protagonist, Amir, goes on a journey to redeem himself for his sins. When Amir was 12, he witnessed his best friend, Hassan, get raped in an alley. Instead of standing up for his friend, Amir ran away in selfishness and cowardice. The guilt of his choice plagues Amir for the rest of his life, until one day, he gets a call from an old uncle, who tells him that “there is a way to be good again.” (2) The Kite Runner follows Amir on his odyssey to redeem himself for his hurtful actions. Through this journey, Khaled Hosseini delivers the message that sins and guilt can always be atoned for.
Writer-Director Hank Rogerson, in his documentary, Shakespeare Behind Bars, challenges, the idea that some people are beyond redemption. Rogerson’s purpose is to depict the amazing message of the redemption of these inmates as they struggle with the reality of the horrific natures of the crimes they have committed. He adopts a humorous yet sometimes somber tone to appeal to his audience's sense of mercy and forgiveness.
The collection of stories comprised in both The Decameron By Giovanni Boccaccio and The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer illustrate a frame story where both parties are going on an adventure. In particular the characters in The Decameron are fleeing the city of Florence and the Black Plague, while in The Canterbury Tales the characters are making a pilgrimage. Each collection has one notable story that could be seen to have a common theme. In The Decameron the tale of “Federigo’s Falcon” and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” in The Canterbury Tales both have similar themes of sacrifice. Whether this theme necessarily means the same thing to both tales is questionable. Despite this, it is clear that both do share a theme involving sacrifice, as well as having some subtle differences in what that sacrifice means to the character.
The issue of wearing school uniforms has been subject to debate over a number of years. It is important to note that initially, the concept of students wearing school uniforms was not widely embraced. Initially, the concept of wearing school uniforms was mainly practiced in private schools and public schools begun to apply the concept as recently as 1994 (Chen, “Public School Uniforms: The Pros and Cons for Your Child”). This move was mainly implemented to address safety issues that have been affecting academic institutions. However, there are still different schools of thought that have reservations when it comes to the issue of wearing school uniforms. This boils down to the question of whether school uniforms are beneficial or they have
In the 16th century English morality play “Everyman” who’s author is unknown. Everyman has an encounter with death who reminds him who his maker is and that it is time to make a reckoning of his good and bad deeds. He realizes that salvation lies in his hands, and that it is a personal decision that only he can make. One senses the desperation in the heart of Everyman, having realized that his life was blackened with sin; he strives to change the black he has accumulated in the “book of counts” and change it to a book of white. Everyman feels like he must make atonement for his sin, in order to escape death, for salvation is in the hands of the sinner.
...are confronted with the question of moral absolutes, we are forced to wonder when and to whom justice truly applies. Hopefully, we will look at our world and our ideas of right, wrong and retribution in different ways, ways that will enlighten and enrich our lives, and the those of the an audience of readers 2,000 years from now.
There are seven deadly sins that, once committed, diminish the prospect of eternal life and happiness in heaven. They are referred to as deadly because each sin is closely linked to another, leading to other greater sins. The seven deadly sins are pride, envy, anger, sloth, gluttony, avarice, and lechery. Geoffrey Chaucer's masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, provided an excellent story about the deadly sins. Focusing mainly on the sins of pride, gluttony and greed, the characters found in The Canterbury Tales, particularly The Pardoner's Tale, were so overwhelmed by their earthly desires and ambitions that they failed to see the effects of their sinful actions, therefore depriving themselves of salvation.
Dante Alighieri presents a vivid and awakening view of the depths of Hell in the first book of his Divine Comedy, the Inferno. The reader is allowed to contemplate the state of his own soul as Dante "visits" and views the state of the souls of those eternally assigned to Hell's hallows. While any one of the cantos written in Inferno will offer an excellent description of the suffering and justice of hell, Canto V offers a poignant view of the assignment of punishment based on the committed sin. Through this close reading, we will examine three distinct areas of Dante's hell: the geography and punishment the sinner is restricted to, the character of the sinner, and the "fairness" or justice of the punishment in relation to the sin. Dante's Inferno is an ordered and descriptive journey that allows the reader the chance to see his own shortcomings in the sinners presented in the text.
“They demanded that citizens of non-German or Jewish origin be deprived of German citizenship, and they called for the cancellation of the Treaty of Versailles” (Hoffmann). Soon the NSDAP had tons of members. They attacked the government and stated that they, The Nazi Party, could get Germany’s economy up and moving again and make Germany great again. This attempt became known as the Beer Hall Putsch, it failed and Hitler was sent to prison. “His prison stay was more like a house arrest and became a media event that, incredibly, earned him the sympathy of the masses” (Wein). While Hitler was in prison he wrote his book called Mein Kampf. In his book he wrote about things that he believed and his great plans for Germany. Some of which were: his plan to conquer much of Europe, territories lost in World War I would be recovered, along with Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia, basically wherever Germans lived would be added to the nation of Germany. The growing German nation would seize Lebensraum , a living space, from Poland, the Soviet Union, and other countries to the east. He also wrote about the Jews and all the bad they caused in the world. “He said: "By defending myself against the Jews, I am doing the Lord 's work." Democracy, said Hitler, could lead only to Communism. A dictatorship was the only way to save Germany from
The title of the poem is very significant. The title penetratingly outlines how precious they view the water to be. He does this by titling the poem ''Blessing''. Water is something which most people take for granted, so by making this the title he emphasizes the value they place upon the water. The poet highlights how much value they place upon the water in the fourth stanza when the pipe bursts by using word choice. ''As their blessings sing'' is the quote from the poem and the effect of this is that it gives you a sense of harmony. The words sum up a peaceful ending for the last two stanzas where the mood of the poem changes from desperation to the contrast of greatfulness. The poet has chosen the phrase ''blessings sing'' as when put together it has conitations of bountful amounts of happiness which accuratly shows their joy and relief they would of felt in that moment of time. I think the poet has used this quote to symbolise the end of a struggle which turned into a celebration and the word ''sing'' to create the passion for the villagers in that moment.
Have you ever considered why students should wear a school uniform? For a long time, scholars have debated worldwide, whether students should wear a school uniform or not. After a lot of research, I can evidently see that people still have diverse opinions about this subject as some people think school uniform is essential, some are just fine with its existence, and some think it is useless.