The Pardoner In The Canterbury Tales

The Pardoner in the Canterbury Tales is not a “noble ecclesiast” because of visual suggestions that are given by Chaucer. Chaucer describes the Pardoner as being an odd fellow, having an unnaturally feminine composition. The Pardoner has long golden hair, a high voice, and bulging eyeballs (which suggest a hormonal imbalance, associating him more with a feminine character). The fact that he was feminine also shed light that he might be homosexual, which was contradictory to the Church’s beliefs that he worked for. The Pardoner is described wearing expensive clothing, and many extravagant accessories. The accessories worn by the Pardoner are ironic because most of his accessories are crosses, and he is anything but a holy man. The idea of the irony of the Pardoner is best portrayed in line 705, “He’d sewed a holy

Working for the church, the Pardoner’s spiritual condition should have been fantastic, but in reality, he was one of the most distant pilgrims from God. The weakness of the Pardoner’s spiritual condition is rooted in his love for money, which obviously overpowers his obedience to God. Line 706 describes the Pardoner’s love for money in a subtle way, “His wallet lay before him on his lap,”. By using soft words here, Chaucer showed that money was always on the Pardoner’s mind, as the word “lay” portrays a subtle manner of the wallet, but it still shows that it is there. Not only is the Pardoner crooked in his job, but the job he has is crooked itself. By selling indulgences, the Pardoner again puts his love for money in between himself and God. The Pardoner is not spiritually strong lastly because of his sexual condition. Being gay in the church was frowned upon greatly, and was actually a sin. In the way the that the Pardoner was portrayed, it is almost obvious that he is a sexual pervert, and a homosexual partner with the