The Pardoner’s Tale

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The Pardoners Tale

• 63 in flaundres whilom was a compaignye 464 Of
  yonge folk that haunteden folye, 465 As riot,
  hasard, stywes, and tavernes, 466 Where as with
  harpes, lutes, and gyternes, 467 They daunce
  and pleyen at dees bothe day and nyght, 468 And
  eten also and drynken over hir myght, 469
  Thurgh which they doon the devel sacrifise

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• 470 Withinne that develes temple, in cursed
  wise, 471 By superfluytee abhomynable. 472
  Hir othes been so grete and so dampnable 473
  That it is grisly for to heere hem swere. 474
  Oure blissed lordes body they totere, -- 475
  Hem thoughte that jewes rente hym noght ynough
  476 And ech of hem at otheres synne lough.

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The Pardoners Tale

• Prologue tells his true nature
• I preach for nothing but for greed of gain
• Line 5 I preach against the very vice /I make
  my living out ofavarice.
• Line 22 never do an honest job of work.

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Reasons

• Cleverness the Pardoner thinks he is sneaky
• Frankness the Pardoner may realize that the
  pilgrims recognize him for what he really is
• Mean he thinks the pilgrims yokel

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The Tale

• Lines 41-53 introduce the theme sin
• Seven deadly sins killed the immortal
  souldamnation

• Avarice
• Lust
• Gluttony
• Sloth
• Melancholy
• Wrath
• Envy
• Vanity

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The Tale

• The three men in this tale are guilty of three
• Gluttony eat and drink far more than they could
  hold
• Lust haunting vice and ribaldry
• Sloth harp, guitar, or lute carouses (the
  youngsters play rather than work)

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Three Sins

• The tale concerns all three of these, with dire
  consequences for our major characters
• Vanity is another sin introduced

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Background

• Death (personification) is in the form of the
  plague
• The youngsters, while drinking heavily (gluttony)
  brag about stopping Death (vanity)
• With this statement we will kill this traitor
  Death (pg 133, 91)

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Symbol

• Line 105 A very poor old man/Who humbly greeted
  them
• The man is Deathhe assigns the fate to the young
  men when he tells them where they may find Death
• The old man is looking for Deathhe cannot die
  (Pontius Pilate?)

10
Disrespect

• The youngsters show the old man disrespect
• Call him Old fool
• Tell him to be quiet
• They say he is the spy for death
• Call him a thieving swine

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Deceit or Fate?

• The old man tells where he left Death
• The youngsters are not very smart (the old man
  said he was looking for death)
• The youngsters find golden florins instead
  (eight bushels worth)

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Fortune?

• The young ruffians claim that the money must
  certainly have been left by Fortune
• This is another personification
• Gold is directly related to avarice

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Ill-gotten Gain

• Line 183 people would call us robbers
• This line is put in to show there is no honor
  among thieve
• The three unscrupulous men know their own kind to
  be greedy, but still fail to see this in
  themselves

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Ill-Gotten Gain

• The three men devise to get the money to town by
  night
• Symbol night is used to cover deceit/treachery
• The men hope to hide their sin with darkness

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The Plan

• Two men stay while the third goes to town to get
  food and drink
• This is the point where Death has been found
  under the tree
• The young mens resolve has now been divided

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The Plan

• The two remaining men purpose to stab the third
  man in the back while he is distracted
• This is a cowards means of dispatching an
  opponent
• This directly contradicts the values of the
  present society

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The Plan

• The third man is unscrupulous himself
• He gets poison which is so strong it will kill
  with just one drop
• He puts poison in two of the wine bottles
• Humor the two men left at the tree are referred
  to as polecats (vermin)

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The Result

• The two men succeed in stabbing the third upon
  his return
• The tow men then drank to their good fortune
  from the poisoned bottles and promptly died

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The Result
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The Devil his Due

• Line 47 Doing thereby the devil sacrifice
• Line 272 And when this rioter, this devils
  clay
• The three men have given their immortal souls to
  the devil with their avarice, lust, and sloth

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As Bold as Brass

• Lines 291-297 Ive some relics in my bale
• The Pardoner wastes no time attempting to make
  money following his sermon
• Absolution is on sale today!

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The Impression

• The Pardoner claims that the host is most
  enveloped in sin (big insult on morality and
  intelligence)
• The host promptly and emphatically refuses
  Nomay the curse of Christ descend upon me if I
  do!

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The Peacemaker

• The Knight shows his chivalrous nature when he
  keeps the host and pardoner from being angry
• He recognizes the need for the pilgrims to get
  along (leadership?)
• They kissed, and we continued on our way.

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Images
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Chaucer
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Chaucer and Text
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Chaucer

• Hoccleves Chaucer Portrait

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Chaucer

• 15th Century Portrait