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Theme Of Corruption In The Pardoner's Tale

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What moves your world? Corruption moved Europe in the Middle Age. “The Pardoner’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer demonstrates the corruption of the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages in an effort to illustrate the irony of paying to get saved which portrays their religious culture during this time.
During the Middle Ages after the black death people feared God was mad at them. Those who did not acknowledge the pope as God’s representative and the Roman Catholic Church as the only true church was doomed. The Catholic Church used this as an advancement to raise money. The church would sell indulgences who would get you saved and less time in purgatory. Clergy were to promise to remain abstinence, but often fathered children. They were to …show more content…

As they sat in a tavern for a drink, they heard the hand-bell clink, before a coffin going to the grave. One of the friends, later on, learned that the person that died was a friend in his old days. Listen, friends, we three are all one in this; let each of us hold up his hand and become the others' brother, and slay this false traitor Death. He shall be slain before the night that slays so many, by God's dignity!" (Chaucer 42-67). These three pledged their word together, each to live and die for the rest as if he were their sworn brother, and up they all started in this drunken fury, and forth they went toward that village of which the tavern-keeper had spoken; and they swore many grisly oaths, and Christ's blessed body they rent to pieces--Death shall be dead if they can catch him(Arnold.) "If you are so glad to find Death, turn up this crooked path; for by my faith I left him in that grove under a tree, and there he will wait, and for all your boasting will he hide. Do you see that oak? There you shall find him. May God, Who redeemed mankind, save you and amend you!" Thus spoke this old creature. And each of these revelers ran until he came to that tree, and there they found nearly eight bushels, as it seemed to them, of florins coined of fine round gold. They no longer sought then after Death, but each was so glad at the sight, for the florins were so beautiful and bright, that they

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“Could you reach this flask if I threw it over to you?” asked Ulrich suddenly; “There is good wine in it, and one may as well be as comfortable as one can. Let us drink, even if tonight one of us dies.” “No, I can scarcely see anything; “there is so much blood caked around my eyes” said Georg, “and in any case I don’t drink wine with an enemy.” Both of the men knew their fate that evening when time kept passing while they waited for their men to rescue them.

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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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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.

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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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“Aye, Scholar try this one for size for educational purposes,” said the Miller scratching his beard, recalling his story. The night was cold as the fire drove the darkness away as all were encircled in a joyous heap of foretold stories. The Scholar whom did not look up from his book uttered “I have no time for this circus.” The Miller, looking around the fire, paused for a moment, only to reveal his rock-like teeth glaring through his beard, “Don’t get ye panties in a twist, it involves all the virtues man wants: a lady, a successful profession, and excitement; all within the bounds of law of course.” The Pardoner, who was counting his money, jerked up in expression of his own delight, upsetting the cart horse, “The bounds of law?

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