Death In The Pardoner's Tale

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One of the repeating themes in the “Pardoner’s Tale”-- a portion of The Canterbury Tales written by Chaucer- is the idea that death is inescapable. This is seen as three rioters-people given to unrestrained revelry and debauchery (127) -go to kill death but in turn meet their own deaths. As seen in these lines, death comes for all and often in a secret manor. The three rioters ask a young boy about the death bell they heard. The young boy says, “There came a privy thief, they call him Death, / who kills us all round here, and in a breath” (15-16). The boy literally means that death is secretive and kills everyone no matter who one is. However, these lines can be interrupted as Death being a person who steals others’ lives without a thought