The Nature Of Evil In The Pardoner's Tale

Human nature is defined as the general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioural traits of humankind, regarded as shared by all humans. Numerous characters from The Storyteller and Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales” possess qualities synonymous with the sins of greed and gluttony, as well as others who are virtuous in nature. In the Middle Ages, the idea of the seven deadly sins and seven heavenly virtues was implemented to instruct and guide the behaviour of Christians. Sins are essentially unavoidable urges of mankind that were created to ensure that all of humankind will inevitably sin, as all people will give in to these instinctual urges. Dependence on the Church was assured during this time period as people believed

Greed is an avid desire for wealth or gain in favour of oneself. The Pardoner is likely the best example of all the characters presented. In the prologue to the Pardoner's Tale, the Pardoner himself admits that the only reason he does this job is to profit greatly (L. 105-109). Worse than being only greedy, the Pardoner is also heavily criticised by Chaucer for his hipocrisy (L. 687-688 General Prologue). The Pardoner preaches to the “yokels” (L. 66 Pardoner's Prologue) that “Avarice is the root of all evil”. Synonymous with greed, avarice is the very thing that the Pardoner preaches against while he himself is using modern psychology and gulit tactics to profit at the expense of others. He admits that what he does is simply a game to him and that he knows he is a fraud. It truly shows a lack of morality in that he is so willing to continue his business when he is aware that he is a con artist. The Wife of Bath is another character within “The Canterbury Tales” that has major character flaws. She must be first to the altar to give an offering or she would be “...put out of charity.” (L. 462 General Prologue). This means that she would only give offerings for attention instead of wishing to actually give away some of her wealth to the church on the premise of being charitible. She considered herself an expert on love and had had five husbands as well as

Greed is the starting point and if allowed to accumulate, progresses into gluttony. The Prioress, though she does not realize it, is gluttonous. As churches were the main source of charity in the Middle Ages, it wouls be sensible to think that most of the clergy and other ecclesiastics would be charitible. This is not the case however in that the Prioress overindulges in a time of great need. She feeds her dogs “...with roasted flesh, or milk, or fine white bread...” (L. 151 General Prologue). The things that she used to feed her dogs could have potentially saved the life of someone dying of starvation, for there were many. Her rosary beads were made of fine stone and were “gaudy” (L. 163 General Prologue). In order for her to posess such a fine rosary, she would have to be wealthy which was not common of nuns as any of their wealth was usually poured back into the church. It seems as though the Prioress is simply a woman attempting to play the role of a nun instead of actively participating in the guidelines set by the church and society. The Wife of Bath mentioned as being greedy, is also gluttonous in that she actively seeks out the attention of those around her. She, like the Prioress , would rather focus on herself, her personal belongings and relationships than the church. She used the church to fulfil her need for attention and to be legally married. Other than that, she was not overly keen to give any money to the church as she