The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer include two complex characters: The Wife of Bath and the Pardoner, each who give important moral tales that reflect on Chaucer’s experiences with society in his time. The Pardoners Tale describes religious corruption and the Wife of Bath’s Tale is a analysis of women and their relationship to men. The Pardoners Tale Prologue and the Wife of Bath’s Tale Prologue are both reflective of the problems in their times and through satire Chaucer hopes to make people aware of these issues and how to solve them. The Pardoners Tale Prologue is an amusing attack on the corruption of the Church and how it gains money and support from poor people through the use of absolution. It focuses on the Pardoner, a intricate character …show more content…
“It's greed alone that makes me sermonize./And so my theme is yet and ever was:/Radix malorum est Cupiditas./Yes, I myself can preach against the vice/Of avarice that is my own device;” (lines 424-28). In this story and characterization, Chaucer wants to draw emphasize to how greedy and bloated the Church is. The Pardoner is basically a representation of the Pope, and Chaucer is saying that the the so called “holy” men are not so holy after all. Through this character Chaucer also implies that rich intelligent people are apt to sin through the use of deceit in order to fulfill their desires. The Wife of Bath’s Tale Prologue focuses on Alison, a lustful woman who desires control over her lovers. She is powerful and vital, having gone through five husbands. Alison is a symbol of opposition to authority because she interprets the Bible in her own way, which is that women can and should be allowed to marry more than once. The Wife of Bath preaches dominance over men in a relationship, and advises women to make the most of marriage “debts”. “ "Look, here's the wise king, lordly Solomon:/I do believe his wives were more than one./Would that the