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Theme Of Greed In The Pardoner's Tale

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Greed or Wrath?
Greed, greed is in the air, greed greed is everywhere. Geoffrey Chaucer’s story The Canterbury Tales begins with a prologue explaining the main points of the stories that follow the prologue. The two Stories “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Wife of bath’s Tale” are two of the stories in The Canterbury Tales. The two stories have a main focus of explaining morals in a hidden way. Both stories express more than one moral and it gives the reader a sense of what Chaucer is trying to express. “The Pardoners’s Tale” Is a better story because of its relatible moral that focuses on greed, and its multiple uses of figurative language and irony.
The medieval period was mostly about staying true to god and making sure you didn’t commit any of the seven deadly sins. Greed is the most talked about moral in “The Pardoner’s Tale” and seems to be one of the most problematic and relatable moral. In “The Pardoner’s Tale” Three rioters end up begging killed for being so greedy. As the rioters were out on their quest to find death, they find some gold. The youngest goes back to get a few things to help collect the gold and the other two plot to kill him,and the young rioter had poison. Because they all planned to kill each other because they wanted the gold, they found death and death killed them before they could kill him. As living on this Earth for about 18 years I have personally seen/Experienced greed in my life. I am one of 7 children and greed is something that we all
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In the story of “The Pardoner’s Tale” the author, Geoffrey Chaucer, represents that greed is the root of all corruption. In the story Chaucer shows a group of men that were seeking out to find death, but find treasure instead. This inevitably leads to them finding death by fighting and killing each other over the treasure. There is an example of greed when the Pardoner says in 252-255 “And on he ran, he had no thought to tarry, came to the town, found apothecary and said, ‘Sell me some poison if you will, I have a lot of rats I want to kill.’” This leads to him poisoning the other 2 men so he can get all of the treasure to himself.

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Greed, what is greed? “Greed is the inventor of injustice as well as the current enforcer” well said by Julian Casablancas. In the story the Pardoners Tale by Geoffry Chaucer greed is very evident, and it’s shown by different types of irony. “For they were all so thrilled to see the sight,” (Chaucer 129) the rioters were full of joy and exicement at the sight of the gold when running to the tree. Little did they know the florins which “were so beautiful and bright” (Chaucer 129) would become their own death.

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Chaucer wrote the book: The Canterbury Tales, in which a group of men going on a journey all tell a tale. Within each tale is a moral lesson as well as each tale consists of a corrupt action committed within the church and is conveyed by those kind of characters within the story. One of the tales that Chaucer tells in his book is called: The pardoner 's tale. Within this tale the pardoner (who is telling the tale) is a preacher who often gives sermons but admits that he does is solely for money and not to condemn people of their sins. (Greed)

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The temptation of greed ended up killing the three men at the end of the tale. ”The Pardoner's Tale” provides a clear understanding that greed is a sin we all have to battle with in our lives, whereas the moral of the wife of bath's tale applies to people doing bad things. This tale teaches the reader a lesson about greed and how it can overcome people, making them do bad

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Greed is one of the worst things a person can have in his or her characteristics during the Middle Ages. The representation of being greedy made you get looked upon by the people in many bad ways. A good example of this is “The Pardoner's Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer. “The Pardoner's Tale” shows that the idea of not being greedy in order to enhance the characterization of the Pardoner, as he used the church to his advantage to earn money.

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Greed is an “Intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food” (Oxford Dictionary). In The Maltese Falcon, everyone has the aspirations of finding the falcon for themselves. This is the driving force behind the murders, and betrayals many of the characters commit. Brigid, Cairo, Wilmer, and Gutman all seek the falcon for the same reason, the unimaginable wealth it will bring them. Possessing this rare object seems to consume them and they will do anything to get their hands on it.

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The presence of greed utilized by Chaucer in the Pardoner’s tale presents satire as his character is meant to be honorable, yet, behind the scenes is actually the most unethical one. The first example the audience is shown of this fraud is as the pardoner explains his motives, when he states, “Of avarice and of swich cursednesse/ Is al my prechyng, for to make hem free/ To yeven hir pens; and namely, unto me!/ For myn entente is nat but for to wynne,/ And no thyng for correccioun of synne” (114 – 118).

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At the very beginning of the Pardoner’s tale, through one of his sermons, we are told his, “theme is alwey oon, and ever was—/“Radix malorum est Cupiditas” (“Pardoner’s” Tale 5-6). This statement provides an aura of satire, as the Pardoner solely speaks against the practice of greed, as on the side he ironically practices exactly what he preaches against. Continuing on, the Pardoner, himself, clearly states the greedy motives his drive depends upon as he informs us that for his, “intent is only pence to win,/ And not at all for punishment of sin” (“Pardoner’s Prologue” 117-118). The Pardoner states his “only” intent is to win “pence” or profit.

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Pardoner admit over as much story that he knows the correct strategy of extorting cash starting with individuals by preaching against the avarice from claiming cash. His skill lies in singing at the offertory to extract greatest cash starting with the individuals. Greed is those root from claiming shrewdness. “I preach nothing except for gain”(Line 105, Pardoner). Through the whole Pardoner’s tale he displays his love towards money and his greediness.

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Throughout the Pardoner's tale, the Pardoner tells a story about the love of money and its consequences. However, instead of applying these lessons to his life, he completely neglects the morals of the story and continues down a path of

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Death is one of life’s most evil things. The gold coins cause greed, the very sight of the gold changes their perspective. Money caused three deaths in this tale, every one of them was caused by the root of evil. In this tale that is represented by money.

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503 Words | 3 Pages

The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, reveals that religion does not make moral individuals. Chaucer goes on about telling how several of the characters on the pilgrimage had questionable lifestyles yet the characters were taking part in a religious journey. Religion can only influence a moral character but does not make its followers untouchable to the imperfections found on earth. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer’s character, The Pardoner, is a church official who altered the peoples mind by cheating the people into believing any nonsense.

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In the story, both the characters on the pilgrimage and the characters within the stories themselves display elements of church corruption. Out of all the characters on the journey, the Pardoner is the most obvious case of a corrupt member of the church. The prologue of the Pardoner illustrates his obsession with material wealth and the hypocrisy of his job. During this drunken state, he rants to the company that “Covetousness is both the root and stuff of all I preach” (p. 243) this oxymoronic phrase illustrates his corruption. Covetousness refers to one of the ten commandments; You shall not covet your neighbors

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“The Pardoner’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer, the three rioters originally planned to travel to kill Death. After traveling less than half a mile, The three rioters met a poor, old man; the old man told them where they could find Death. The three rioters followed his directions and found not Death but a pot of gold coins under a tree. After, discovering the gold coins, they secretly plotted to kill each other, hoping to keep the treasure to only himself. Because of this, the role of the gold coins acted as the source and main cause of their death.

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1081 Words | 5 Pages

Greed has been reproached since antiquity as a deformity of soul that is reserved to the most depraved and myopic of people, the embracement of which wreaks havoc over society and tears its fabric. This view has been further bolstered by the induction of greed into the list of seven deadly sins. But in my opinion, to condemn greed in this fashion would be to do it a great injustice. Instead, one must opt to look at greed as multifaceted, that is to say whether it’s good or bad depends entirely on the frame of reference through which we view it. If we take one that emphasises the emotional ramifications it has on the individual, then negative results will come back; but if we take one that emphasises its impact, by and large, on the development and prosperity of society, positive results will come back.

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