The Pardoner’s TaleMarybeth Woollen

Who was the Pardoner

Pardoner’s are hired by the church to grant indulgences (forgiveness of sins) in exchange for a monetary donation made to the church. In Chaucer’s time it was common for Pardoner’s to be corrupt and it was thought that they had counterfeit signatures from the Pope on indulgences that they would sell for their own profit. The Pardoner in this tale is highly skilled at deception. He carries relics, and even claims to have a veil from the Virgin Mary. He is described to have long greasy yellow hair, and is beardless. A physical description like this during Mid Evil times was associated with gender ambiguity and shiftiness.

Summary of the Prologue

Radix malorum est cupiditas

The love of money is the root of all evil!

The pardoner explains to the pilgrims his usual methods of preaching. He is very much like an actor in that it is very crucial for him to come across as sounding important and giving a good performance. He explains to the pilgrims how he sells relics and makes a good profit doing so, all while preaching heavily against greed and gluttony and announcing that the theme of his tale will be “The love of money is the root of all evil”

Insights from the prologue

“Good men,” I say, “take heed for here is news. Take but this bone and dip it in a well; If cow or calf, or sheep, or ox should swell from eating snakes or that a snake has stung, Take water from that well, and wash his tongue, And it will  then recover.; Furthermore where there is a pox, and of scab, or other sore, All animals that water at that well are cured at once. Take heed of what I tell. “If the good man – the owner of the stock- Goes once a week before the cock crows, Fasting, and takes a drink of water too, Why then according to the holy Jew, he’ll find his cattle multiply and sell. And it’s a cure for jealousy as well;” (Chaucer p 269).

“But, let me briefly make my purpose plain; I preach of nothing but of greed and gain And use the same old text, as bold and as brass Greed is the root of all evil And thus I preach against this very vice I make my living out of avarice. And yet however guilty of that sin. Myself and others I have power to win them from it, I can bring them repent; But that is not my principal intent. Covetousness is both the root and stuff Of all I preach. That ought be enough. Well then I will give examples thick and fast. From bygone times, old stories from the past. A yokel mind loves stories of old, being the kind I can repeat and hold. What! Do you think, as long as I can preach and get their silver for the things I teach, That I will live in poverty, from choice? That’s not the counsel of my inner voice! No,Let me preach and beg from kirk to kirk And never do an honest job of work, No, nor make baskets, like St Paul, to gain a livelihood. I do not preach in vain. There’s no apostle I would counterfeit; I mean to have money, wool, and cheese, and wheat, Through it were given me by the poorest lad, Or by the poorest village widow, though she had A string of starving, all agape. No, let me drink the the liquor of the grape, And have a jolly wench in every town!” (Chaucer p 261)

The CharactersThe Three Rioters – They are the three main characters in this tale. They have traits that include gluttony, drunkenness, gambling, and swearing.

"In Flanders once there was a company of young folk, who devoted themselves to such follies as riotous living, gambling, brothels, and taverns, where, with harps, lutes, and guitars, they danced and played at dice day and night, and also ate and drank more than they could handle;” (Chaucer p 262)

The Old Man – The old man is found by the three rioters and he is completely covered except for his face. When asked by one of the men why he is still alive, he answers that he is doomed to walk the earth for all eternity.

“Because I never yet have found, though I walked to India, searching round Village or city on my pilgrimage, One that would change his youth to have my age is mine and must be still Upon me, for such time as God’s will. Not even Death, alas! Will take my life;. So like a wretched prisoner at strife. And on the ground, which is my mother’s gate,I knock with my staff, early and late,  And say to her, ‘Dear mother, let me in.Lo, how I wane, flesh, and blood, and skin, Within himself I walk alone and wait about the earth which is my Mother’s gate, Knock knocking with my staff from night to noon and crying , “Mother” open to me soon.” (Chaucer p 269)

Summary of the TaleThree men of low or questionable morals are drinking in an inn when they learn Death has taken one of their friends.  While drunk, they immediately swear oaths to avenge their former friend and slay Death.  They head off, and not from where they started, they encounter a poor old man.  The old man greets them, and they treat him rudely.  The three men, believing the old man is an accomplice of Death, demand to know of death’s location.  The old man responds that if they are so eager to find Death they should look in a grove, under an oak tree.  The men go to the tree, and find bushels of gold coins.  They plan to remove the gold at night, and so they send the youngest to town to fetch bread and wine.  After he leaves, the two remaining men hatch a plot to kill him when he returns, so they can have a larger portion of the treasure.  While in town the youngest decides to kill the other two, so that he can have the entire fortune to himself. He buys poison for two of the three purchased wine bottles.  He returns and is killed by the other two, after which they promptly die because they drank the poisoned wine.

Themes Deception The Pardoner’s whole life is based on deception. It’s

what he does for a living. “For my exclusive purpose is to win And not at all to castigate sin.”

The Rioters because two of the rioters plan to stab the third in the side, and the third one plans to poison the other two. “And thus began a parley with the other: ‘You know that you can trust me like a brother; Now let me

tell you where your profit lies; You know our friend has gone to get supplies And Here’s a lot of gold that is to

be Divided equally amongst us three. Nevertheless, if I could shape things thus So that we shared it out – the two of us-”

The Deception by the old man of the rioters into going to the oak tree.

Themes Corruption The corruption of the church. Pardoner’s

are men of the church and as such should be caring for the souls of the church’s followers, however Chaucer’s pardoner is only interested in forgiveness of sin as a way to maintain his creature comforts "My holy pardon can save you all, providing you offer nobles or sterling coins, or else silver brooches, spoons, or rings.” The Pardoner is spiritually corrupt.

Gluttony The sin of overindulgence. The rioters are the most obvious choice for this. They overindulge in their entire lifestyle,

drinking, gambling, women.

Themes Greed Two of the rioters plan to stab the third

in the side, and the third one plans to poison the other two. The motivation behind this is simply greed. This is very important because it proves the Pardoner point "The love of money is the root of all evil". 

Moral The moral of the Pardoner’s tale (from the Pardoner’s

POV) is obvious because he states it. Radix malorum est cupiditas

What Chaucer might have hoped we got out of it:

Be cautious of Church figures they are not as revered as you might believe.

Judge people by their actions and not their words.

These ideas are supported in the prologue when Chaucer gives us a description of the Pardoner in the Pardoner’s own words, where he admits of his own corruption.

Allusions

Gluttony

Sin of drunkenness

Adam/Eve the Pardoner claims they were thrown out of paradise for their gluttony, but it was actually their temptation that caused their exile.

Looth/Herodes drunkenness caused him to sleep with his own daughters.

Attila the Pardoner tells about Attila who dies in his sleep because of a bloody nose caused by his drunkenness “Look how Attila, the great conqueror, died in his sleep, shamefully and dishonorably bleeding from his nose in drunkenness; a captain should live soberly.”  

Allusions

Swearing or Blasphemy

Death is more honorable then gambling

The pardoner quotes Matthew 5:34 “But I say unto you swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne. The Pardoner even says swearing is worse then murder.

The pardoner uses the story of Stillborn the ambassador to express how frowned upon gambling is and that death is a better option then gambling. “Stillbon, who was a wise ambassador, was sent in great pomp to Corinth from Sparta, to make an alliance between them.  When he arrived, it happened by chance that he found all the greatest men of the land gambling.  For this reason, as soon as possible he stole home again to his country, and said, ‘I don’t want to lose my good name there; nor will I take upon myself such a great dishonor as to ally with you gamblers.  Send other wise ambassadors; for I swear I would rather die than ally with you gamblers.  For you who are so famous for your honors shall not be allied with gamblers by my will, or by my treaty.’ Thus said this wise philosopher.”

Metaphors

The Snake

A Tomb/The Evils of Drunkenness

The Pardoner compares himself to a snake, and specifically his words. “And spit my venom forth, while I profess” Conjures negativity and evil, Satan, sin

The Pardoner preaches,” For drunkenness is truly the tomb of man’s wit and discretion” Implies drunkenness will cause death, or that death is a punishment for drunkenness

Metaphors

The Devils Agent

Jesus Christ as a physician to our souls

The pardoner uses this to describe anyone who is engaging in anything remotely sinful “And then would come the dancing girls, graceful and dainty, and young girls selling fruit, singers with harps, bawds, girls with cakes - all truly the devil's agents"

The Pardoner uses Jesus to give his sermon legitimacy, so naïve people will give him their money. "And Jesus Christ, who is physician of our souls, grant that you will receive his pardon;” Tells people the pardon is from Jesus and not him.

Metaphors

The Crooked Way The old man uses this language to describe the path the rioters should follow to find death. A crooked way is a metaphor for the path a sinner would take.

Evaluation The Pardoner is sleazy, like a used car sales man. He

can’t be trusted, despite the fact that he is an esteemed member of the church.

He is very good at preaching and convincing people to give him their money.

I think Chaucer characterized him as such to criticize the Catholic Church and it’s corruption. The format of The Canterbury Tales were a way for him to bring light to social issues without repercussion.

Secondary Sources Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales “The

Pardoner’s Tale.” The Penguin Group. New York: 1951.

Friend A. THE DANGEROUS THEME OF THE PARDONER. Modern Language Quarterly [serial online]. December 1957;18(4):305. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed February 24, 2015.

http://lepardonerstale.weebly.com