What Are The Stereotypes In The Pardoner's Tale

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Money could purchase anything in this universe, except love or truthfulness. Every Sunday, people devote their precious times to go pay their respects to God. Church is a holy haven to worship and devote time and spirituality to God. People who devote and commit their time daily to God are like nuns, monks, and pastors. The usual stereotypes for people who works for the church are honest, caring, and humble human beings. Except, are they as virtuous and graceful as people perceive them to be? In the story, The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, we go on a journey to discover the corrupted church members who are driven by greed, deception, and pleasure. The Friar, who is suppose to dedicate his mind, body, and spirit to praise the almighty …show more content…

This story portray the pardoner to have a greedy, malicious, and deceptive personality. He sells fake, supposedly rare artifacts to the middle class and sings in front of crowds for one purpose: to scam the townspeople of their hard-earned money. In the Pardoner Tale, in which the Pardoner is narrating in first person, describes himself as a greedy person, “Though it were given me by the poorest lad / Or poorest village widow, though she had / A string of starving children, all agape” (p. 21, 45-47). He has no sympathy for the widow or the starving children and has the audacity to take advantage of everything she owns which includes a bit of silver to support the family. This shows the Pardoner can become ruthless when money is involved. Being able purchase wine, we can conclude that he has expensive taste and makes tons of money from saying nonsense to people who does not understand the bible. Likewise, being a greedy and deceptive person, he rather be incomed by poor, who can barely support their own family than become a homeless himself. Honestly, greed and dishonesty has enclose and change the Pardoner’s lifestyle for the …show more content…

Though what separates her from the other members of the church is that she seems to have some humanity left in her. As the narrator describes the Nun attitude towards animal’s cruelty, “She used to weep if she but saw a mouse / Caught in a trap, if it were dead or bleeding. / And she had little dogs she would be feeding / With roasted flesh, or milk, or fine white bread” (p. 124-125, 148-151). This quote shows that she has some morality still left in her. She was able to feel sorrow for the animals, but she could care less about the people who are living on the streets. The nun, who is similar to the other church members, also has a dark side. With the description of delicious food, shows that the Nun eats well. She eats in secret; not leaving any evidence or a piece of bread crumb behind. She may seem innocence on the outside, but she is as cold blooded as the others members of the