Transcript The Pardoner’s Tale

The Pardoner’s 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
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.
The Pardoner’s 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
of—avarice.”
 Line 22: “never do an honest
job of work.”
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”
The Tale
Lines 41-53
introduce the
theme: sin
 Seven deadly
sins killed the
immortal soul—
damnation









Avarice
Lust
Gluttony
Sloth
Melancholy
Wrath
Envy
Vanity
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)
Three Sins
 The
tale concerns all three
of these, with dire
consequences for our major
characters
 Vanity is another sin
introduced
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)
Symbol
 Line
105: “A very poor old
man/Who humbly greeted
them”
 The man is Death—he assigns
the fate to the young men when
he tells them where they may
find Death
 The old man is looking for
Death—he cannot die (Pontius
Pilate?)
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”
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)
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
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
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
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 men’s resolve
has now been divided
The Plan
 The
two remaining men
purpose to stab the third man
in the back while he is
distracted
 This is a coward’s means of
dispatching an opponent
 This directly contradicts the
values of the present society
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)
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
The Result
The Devil his Due
 Line
47: “Doing thereby the
devil sacrifice”
 Line 272: “And when this
rioter, this devil’s clay”
 The three men have given
their immortal souls to the
devil with their avarice, lust,
and sloth
“As Bold as Brass”
 Lines
291-297: “I’ve some
relics in my bale”
 The Pardoner wastes no
time attempting to make
money following his
“sermon”
 Absolution is on sale today!
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:
“No…may the curse of
Christ descend upon me if I
do!”
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.”
Images
Chaucer
Chaucer and Text
Chaucer

Hoccleve’s
Chaucer
Portrait
Chaucer

15th Century
Portrait