Corruption In The Pardoner's Tale

In The Canterbury Tales, the Pardoner gives his tale of “some moral thing” to the other pilgrims accompanying him on this holy journey to Canterbury (Chaucer, “Introduction” 324). Through this web of lies, deceit, and mockery, we can see his guide to emptying his pockets of pardons and filling them with people’s hard earned money. Although full of moral corruption, his sermons bring in collections enough to fill his gluttonous gut while he travels from church to church. However, his tale fails to bring in so much as a penny as he tells of the sins of three youths. Once the Pardoner finishes pondering about a fitting tale of for his fellow pilgrims and telling them of his bulls and “patent with the bishop’s seal”, he reveals his tricks of the trade to staying successful in the work of the Lord (“Prologue” 336). After all, if you want to gain someone’s trust you should show them that you trust them and are trustworthy. “I go, I preach as you have heard before And tell a hundred silly stories more. And take pains to get my neck to stretch, To nod both east and west to every wretch” (“Prologue” 393- 396). Now that he has worked so hard to bring the truth of Christ to the poor wretches who hear him, he explains that he

But instead of smoothly continuing on with the narration, the Pardoner speeds through the story so quickly that his climactic ending fizzles into a boring and ironic cliché. In a last attempt to earn some money, he tells his listeners of the logic of buying a pardon now before it is too late. “There may be one (if not two) on the trek Who falls down off his horse and breaks his neck; Look what security it is for all That in your fellowship I chance to fall” (“Tale” 935-938). He makes the other pilgrims feel lucky that they can give him money and be pardoned for their sins before Death comes to take them