The Pardoners Tale
The pardoner, in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Pardoner’s Tale,” is a devious character. He is a man with a great knowledge of the Catholic Church and a great love of God. However, despite the fact that he is someone whom is looked at with respect at the time, the pardoner is nothing more than an imposter who makes his living by fooling people into thinking he forgives their sins, and in exchange for pardons, he takes their money. His sermon-like stories and false relics fool the people of the towns he visits and make him seem as a plausible man, which is exactly what the pardoner wants. In fact, the pardoner is an avaricious and deceitful character whose driving force ...
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to them, “By God, I hope I shal yow telle a thyng / That shal by reson been at youre liking,” (457-58). One example of a sermon about his motto is the tale of the three rioters. This tale gives an ironic explanation related to the rioters deaths, due to greed and the pardoners practice of his profession, which is also driven by greed (Rossignol, 267). He tells the people what they would like to hear, so that he may pull them into his trap and later cheat them out of their money. His technique to fooling people is to preach on the subject of “Radix malorum est cupiditas”. Since his living depends on the people’s response to the sermon, the pardoner must make it both convincing and entertaining: “Thanne telle I hem ensamples many oon / Of olde stories longe tyme agoon / For lewed peple loven tales olde; / Swiches thynges kan they wel reporte and holde,” (435-38). When the pardoner is through with his tale, he does not forget to ...
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he receives. Those who buy the pardons, mistake what is material (the relic), for what is nonmaterial, which, in this case, is God’s forgiveness (Rossignol, 270). Due to the people’s ignorance, the pardoner refers to the congregation from which he receives his money, as stupid and describes them as his “apes”, or fools in “The General Prologue.” “The pardoner is not at all ashamed to say that he does not care a fig about the state of their souls, but only about their pocketbooks,” (Rossignol, 268), in “The General Prologue.” His main concern is greed, rather than salvation of those who come to him seeking it. What the ...
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"The Pardoners Tale." Essayworld.com. September 13, 2004. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Pardoners-Tale/14259.
"The Pardoners Tale." Essayworld.com. September 13, 2004. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Pardoners-Tale/14259.
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