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The Pardoner's Tale Characterization Essay

701 Words3 Pages

Sara Mims
Ms. Morris
English 12- 6th period
5 December 2016
Characterization in The Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer, the author of The Canterbury Tales, is an Englishman that traveled throughout Europe as a poet. Chaucer was considered the “father of English poetry” and was one of the first to use English in a major literally work during the 1300s. The Canterbury Tales is said to be Chaucer’s masterpiece. The poem uses Middle English and a frame story, a plot that includes telling a story within a story. Chaucer uses direct and indirect characterization in The Canterbury Tales to expose the values and the charisma of the characters by their clothing, their occupation, and their habits. In medieval society, clothing was used to distinguish if a person was rich, middle-class, or poor. The Wife of Bath character was a …show more content…

The Pardoner and Summoner are rumored to have a partnership throughout the poem, and they both work for the church. The Pardoner and Summoner’s partnership instigates the tricking and blackmailing people through the church to benefit the pair financially. In The Pardoner’s Tale, the prologue reads, “the Pardoner expounds on the techniques and accoutrements of his profession, including the fake relics and the ecclesiastical bulles that authorize him to dispense indulgences.” (Rory 8). The Pardoner is aware of his actions, but is not willing to admit to them. The Summoner is just as imperfect as the Pardoner, which is shown when the Summoner uses blackmail. Chaucer describes the Summoner with ugly features like “for he had carbuncles with Black, scabby brows” and stating “Garlic he loves, and onions too” detecting that he bad odor (113). The Pardoner and Summoner are taking advantage of their jobs by scaring people into giving them what they want when they are supposed to be granting blessings to others and the

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Geoffrey Chaucer, considered one of the greatest English poets in the Middle Ages, composed The Canterbury Tales in the late fourteenth century. In the novel twenty-nine men and women representing all aspects of Medieval society embark on a religious pilgrimage to the cathedral at Canterbury in southeast England. On their journey their host engages them in a storytelling contest with a free meal as the prize upon their return. Chaucer wrote the tales in Middle English, the vernacular of the Medieval period, making his work accessible to all classes of people.

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The Pardoner berates the people for their sinfulness, so they’ll be more likely to buy what he is selling. Oftentimes this requires him to be swift of tongue so that he can convince others that their money should be given to him. His persuasion usually takes the form of a story, in which he chooses to “preach and tune his honey tongue” (Chaucer 163). The theme of most of his sermons revolves around the love of money as he tries to convince people that their money will only do them harm. Once the Pardoner has his audience hooked, he offers them either pardons for their sins or fake relics so that he can effectively steal their gold.

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“All they needed was a series of impressive looking letters and a confident manner in making the appeal” (Chaucer role of pardoner).The pardoner would go on to using the same tricks on everyone they saw near them. All they did was pull out the papers with the bishop's signature and use a confident manner to impress them. When the people of the villages found out about the scamming they would just ignore the pardoner's when they saw them. The pardoner’s were looked down upon the people all over the villages and all across the land. They would just simply ignore them or just keep on walking if they happened to come across a pardoner.

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