How Can Power Corrupted In The Pardoner's Tale

Power can be corrupted in various ways. Those with authority can abuse their power to hurt citizens. Others can use it for their own personal gain such as for riches and to become notorious. Although, the process of having power be corrupted can vary. Geoffrey Chaucer portrays the multiple ways of the corruption of power throughout The Canterbury Tales. With each tale, there are different events that occur in order to reach the main topic of these tales. Within the Knight’s Tale, the Wife of Bath’s Tale, and the Pardoner's Tale, Chaucer does a phenomenal job in having these tales represent the societal problems of his era. Geoffrey Chaucer uses the Knight’s Tale to explains how love can corrupt the trust between two cousins. The knight is telling the story of Palamon and Arcita, two prisoners of wars that are locked up in a prison in the city of Athens. One day, the two look outside the prison window and see a fair young lady called, Emily. “ Down to my heart, and that my bane will be. The beauty of the lady I see”(p.41, lines 240-241). They were both captivated and fell completely in love with her at first glance. Palamon and Arcita would do anything in order

The Pardener was a person who religious people would come to and confess their sins in order to be forgiven. He began to abused his religious duty to obtain more money from the poor people of the church. These so-called “charitable donations.” “Think you that because I am good at preaching and win me gold and silver by my teaching. Ill live my life tree in poverty? No,no, that’s never been my policy”(p,152, lines 100-114)! The Pardoner looks down upon peasants and gluttony. To which he is being hypocritical because he is greedy with gaining money. The misuse of trust is greatly displayed on how the Pardoner practically takes the earnings of people who are being tricked into believing they are