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The Pardoner's Tale

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“The Pardoner’s Tale” and the Importance of the Relics One thing everyone can agree on about the pardoner in “The Pardoner’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer is that he is a confusing and complex character. However, a point made by Robyn Malo in his article “The Pardoner’s Relics and Why They Matter The Most” states that during the Pardoner’s introduction in the prologue, it is the relics he carries that the audience should be focused on. Eight lines in the Pardoner’s introduction are dedicated to describing his relics and is even called to attention by the man himself. According to Malo, “the amount of space allocated to relics clearly shows their importance to Chaucer’s conception of the Pardoner.” The author argues that even though the Pardoner’s character qualities are vital to understanding him, so are the relics he sells. The author’s main point is that one must study relics, their devotional practices, and, most importantly, understand occupations associated with them (relic custodians) to enhance the understanding and get a full grip on who the Pardoner is. Malo, and other critical analyzers of this tale, believe …show more content…

They show the reader that this person will sell fake magical healers and bones just to make a profit. He uses people’s weaknesses, the need to be accepted by God, in order to boost his social standing and live comfortably, just like many other members of the church at that time. However, that is as far as the real importance of those relics go. The audience already knows about the Pardoner’s sexuality due to the part where it says he is “geldyng or a mare.” This article is a prime example on how people read too much into literary works and completely butcher the true meaning or find meaning in things where there was not any. It is like when a person is in a pitch dark room. If one looks long enough, their brain is bound to see something, even when there is not anything

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Very few hands in this village are clean of sin, but none have transgressed so greatly as to warrant a noose. While I cannot say that those you have condemned are all of pure and virtuous standing, they are at least guiltless of the transgressions you have placed upon their heads. A great number of clean-handed men and women will hang at your word already, there is no need to increase such a multitude of unlucky souls. If you have quarrel with any, let it be myself; not with Elizabeth, and not with the people of

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A pardoner is a man who sells religious relics of forgiveness to sinners. However, Chaucer’s Pardoner is an untrustworthy character who sells fake tokens for a profit. He boasts of his great ability to preach, and ironically, his favorite topic is greed. “

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In a setting of Salem, Massachusetts 1692, religion is the direct reflection of one's social standing. Reputation is extremely important for the town, as it is your only way to get a fair hearing and respect from the people. The protectiveness of reputation is necessary in The Crucible to justify yourself when presented with fallacious arguments. In this play the importance of reputation is revealed though the uses of ethos, logos and pathos. The protectiveness of reputation is uncovered through various characters such as Reverend Hale, Reverend Parris, and John Proctor.

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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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“Radix malorum est cupiditas” translated from Latin into “Greed is the root of all evil.” (Chaucer 125) Throughout the Pardoner’s Tale, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, this is the story of three men that treat people lower than them and they end up finding a whole pile of gold, but they end up killing each other to get the gold to themselves. The entirety of the three men end up dead and not even one gets the gold. There are many topics involving greed, this essay will involve what it is about, the dangers, and the benefits of controlling the desire to gain.

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This is ironic as the pardoner tries to get the group to give him money after telling them how it was all a scam, “My holy pardon saves you from all this:/ If you will offer nobles, sterlings, rings,/ Soome brooches, spoons or other silver things,”(906-908). While he knows that they know his faulsities he deliberately ignores this in order to try and proceed with his con. Another layer of irony in this is that he promises pureness while he himself is not pure, “If you will give. You’ll be as clean and pure/

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In the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer utilizes the immoral character of the Pardoner to tell the utmost moral tale through satirical devices, presenting the true greed and hypocrisy that runs throughout the Church, regardless of it attempt to cover it. Chaucer introduces the hypocrisy within the Church through the characterization of the Pardoner, as he is explained to be a man with, “flattery and equal japes./He made the parson and the rest his apes” (“General Prologue” 607-608). “Japes” are tricks, alluding to the Pardoner’s relics, as they are fake; yet, the Pardoner still sells these relics to the Church members as genuine treasures. This creates dramatic irony, because the character of the Church body is unaware of the situation bestowed

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“Then I show forth my long glass cases, crammed full of clothes and bones: all the people believe that they are holly relics” (The Pardoner’s Tale, 1). The Pardoner’s avarice and ability to deliver

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During the pilgrimage, the reader starts to realize that, out of all of the pilgrims involved in the church, the Parson is the only one who is honorable. “A holy-minded man of good renown,”

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