“The Pardoner’s Tale”

How can irony be an effective tool to both teach and manipulate?

The Pardoner’s Tale

     3 young men of drunk and riotous behavior search for Death.

An old man whom they insult tells them that Death lies up the hill under a tree.

They find bags of gold and plot to send the youngest for food and wine and then kill him for the gold. He returns with poisoned wine.

They all die.

Some Background…

   Pardoners sold pardons — official documents from Rome that pardoned a person’s sins.

The Pardoner in Chaucer’s

The Canterbury Tales

is dishonest.

The Pardoner often preaches about how money is the root of all evil.

Death personified

    The

Pardoner’s Tale

is a reminder that death is inevitable. Death is personified as a thief who pierces the heart of his victims. The tale refers to death as the person responsible for slaughtering one thousand by his hand during the plague (line 670). The three men from the bar are determined to challenge death because he has taken away their friends. This was an iconographic image of death throughout the middle ages and later. (image taken from www.vidimus.org/.../issue_40_2010-03.html

)

Hypothesize…

 How did Chaucer feel about the role of the Pardoner in society/ the church?

Explain the role of death in “The Pardoner’s Tale”

Chaucer’s dissatisfaction

 There was widespread dissatisfaction with pardoners (as also with money-loving Friars) in Chaucer's time, and both were popular subjects of satire and joking.  “The Pardoner’s Tale” is an allegorical, satirical, and ironic conveyance of the greed of the church and the recognition that the church was corrupted during this time period.

ALLEGORY

 A symbolic representation.  In “The Pardoner’s Tale” we are exposed to the symbolic representation of the vices of humanity The Seven Deadly Sins

The Seven Deadly Sins

Pride Avarice Lust Anger Gluttony Envy Sloth

Allegory



a narrative with both a literal and symbolic meaning.



Exemplum: an allegory that uses an example to make a point.

“The Ship of Fools”

“The Ship of Fools”

The Canterbury Tales Religious Allegory

 Literal meaning  Symbolic meaning

“The Pardoner’s Tale” as an Allegory Exemplum



a narrative with both a literal and symbolic meaning.



Exemplum: an allegory that uses an example to make a point.

Archetypal Narrative Elements

Element Example from text

Characters, events, and other things that come in threes A test of characters’ moral fiber leading to their destiny A mysterious guide who helps point the way A just ending that rewards good or punishes evil

How can allegory be an effective tool to both teach and manipulate?

How does the Pardoner both teach a lesson and manipulate?

Chaucer uses SATIRE and IRONY in “The Pardoner’s Tale”

Satire

Noun. A literary manner which blends humor with criticism for the purpose of instruction or the improvement of humanity

Some tools of the satirist

  Direct satire Indirect Satire     Exaggeration/Diminutiztion Utopianism/ Dystopianism Caricature Parody  http://www.youtube.com/watc h?v=ZcJjMnHoIBI

TERM

Mockery Sarcasm Overstatement Understatement Parody Pathos Mock-Heroic Irony

DEFINITION/ DESCRIPTION

Making fun of something Harsh, personally directed comment: using praise to mock someone; usually aims to hurt Say more than is meant; exaggeration Saying less than is meant Imitation of a specific, known person, literary work, movie, or event; often involves mocking Going from the serious to the ridiculous quickly Imitation, exaggeration, and distortion of literary epic style Say one thing yet meaning another

EXAMPLE

“Man is the only animal that blushes- or needs to.” - Mark Twain To refer to a 98-pount weakling as a “real he man” “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse” “Mount Everest is not small” General MacArthur said, “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away” PARODY: “Old blondes never grey, they just dye away.” “I love my country, my wife, my job, and chocolate candy” The garbage man, tall and strong, lifted his glittery can of rubbish as if it were a feather, and with the strength of Thor, hurled it into the dumpster.

In

Romeo and Juliet

when Romeo tells Mercutio that his wound is slight. Mercutio says “No, it’s not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but ‘tis enough, t’will serve”

IRONY

At Its Finest

IRONY

 Situational  The opposite of what is expected to happen occurs  Verbal  The opposite of what is meant is said (sarcasm)  Dramatic  The reader knows something the character does not

Situational Irony

 The fire safety lectures were canceled because the screen caught on fire.   An ambulance runs over a pedestrian. If you have a phobia of long words you have to tell people that you have Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia...

Why is this ironic?

Accidentally Ironic

Define the irony.

What TYPE of irony is this?

Extra Examples

Your friend walks into a pile of dog poop and you say “Wow, how lucky are you?” * This is where sarcasm is shown for verbal irony.

You work from six in the morning to six at night doing manual labor. Verbal irony would be if you came home and said “I just had the most amazing day!” A mean sales women is rude to you. You would turn to whoever you are with and say “What a lovely lady she is.”

Dramatic Irony

 Scary music in a horror movie only the audience can hear, so we are prepared for what is to come while the characters are not.  In Titanic, we know the boat is going to sink. The people on the boat are unaware of the actual dangers the iceberg presents.  Have you seen, read, or know the story of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet?

What does the Pardoner always preach about?



Sin of Greed and “The Love of money is the root of all evil”

 How does this quote relate to “The Pardoner’s Tale?

Chaucer’s words

And with these relics, any time he found Some poor up-country parson to astound, On one short day, in money down, he drew More than the parson in a month or two, 725And by his flatteries and

prevarication

Made monkeys of the priest and congregation.

But still to do him justice first and last In church he was a noble ecclesiast.

The Pardoner (lines 689-734)

   Compared to Summoner about lustful love — together they sing a song Has yellow waxy hair hanging down on his head thin like rat-tails; has bulging eyeballs; small voice like a goat; no beard Wore a little cap

Personification of evil; sells holy relics and favors to pardon people form all their sins to ensure purgatory; extorts money from people by preaching against having money; has repulsive physical features; special skill is singing at the offertory to extract money.

So, what is ironic about…

In church he was a noble ecclesiast.

AND So, what is ironic about…

 His sermons:  

Sin of Greed “The Love of money is the root of all evil”

EQ: How can irony be an effective tool to both teach and manipulate?  What is Chaucer teaching?  How is he manipulating?

 What is the Pardoner teaching?  How is he manipulating?  Baba’s Word Review Video