The Pardoners Tale The Canterbury Tales What did
“The Pardoner’s Tale” The Canterbury Tales
What did we know before? During Pilgrim Portrait Presentations, we learned that: He is a sinister con man He has a wallet stuffed full of pardons from Rome as well as many “religious trinkets. ” Veils, goblets, and decorated crucifixes, pigs’ bones in a glass reliquary, which he tells poor people are relics from holy saints.
What did we know before? The Pardoner has long, greasy, yellow hair and is beardless. These characteristics were associated with shiftiness and gender ambiguity in Chaucer’s time He uses false flattery to make fools of both priests and laypeople (a nonordained member of a church). He is a good singer and, more importantly, storyteller. The Pardoner gleefully exploits the poor, gullible people in his parish, showing them his cheap trinkets and bones from Rome and pretending that they are valuable.
Preview of “The Pardoner’s Tale” The Host to the Pardoner: “tell something with a moral, something clear, and profitable, and we’ll gladly hear. ” The Pardoner begins by describing all of his tricks of the trade in his work. He explains to the pilgrims that he always uses “greed is the root of all evil” as his theme when preaching…as a way to open up the pockets of his audience. He admits that all of his relics are fake…and also that he does not care one bit that they are
Preview of “The Pardoner’s Tale” He tells the pilgrims that he only preaches to make money, so much so that he does not hesitate to take money from even a poor widow with starving children. He prides himself on being a great speaker, tossing in some Latin phrases to flourish his language a bit and cites the Bible and philosophy in order to be taken seriously. He argues the point that many good sermons result from evil intentions, so his love of money shouldn’t make any difference.
Preview of “The Pardoner’s Tale” He can still inspire repentance in his audiences, even if he’s only doing it to get rich.
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