Examples Of Allegory In The Pardoner's Tale

The short moral allegory, The Pardoner’s Tale, is only a small portion of the greater frame story, The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer writes this story in an ironic tone in every sense, including the fact that the story teller, the pardoner, is greedy himself. The pardoner’s tale primarily focuses on three rioters, whom are described as brothers. In the very beginning of the tale, these rioters are found drinking in a tavern, when they hear the ringing of a funeral knell. The rioters are informed that an old friend of theirs has been slain by a figure named Death. At once they set foot to take revenge on Death, and on their path they encounter an old, sorrowful man who tells them Death was last seen in a grove under

Greed instantly blinded the rioters from their original mission of justice, and “no longer was it Death those fellows sought.” (Chaucer 253) The fellows individually began to seek their own gain and larger share of the gold. One pardoner leaves, and the other two plots against the one. However, the one returns with cups of poisoned wine, and after the two attacked him, they drank the wine and died. Ultimately, each of the rioters truly did meet death. Each of the pardoners sought to kill another in order to get all the gold to himself, when even a third was ample. Ultimately this begins to show the overall theme of the pardoner’s tale, Radix malorum est Cupiditas. (Greed is the root of all evil) The rioters never would have considered killing another, and this is enforced by their vow “to live and die for one another.” (Chaucer 251) However, greed overpowered these men, and they each individually became evil. This was not just a principle of medieval romance; it very much still exists today. Greed will always spark evil, as seen by the fact that many corrupt political and world leaders are also the