The Pardoner is perhaps one of the most complex characters in The Canterbury Tales because of the tricks and games he plays with the other pilgrims. The tale he tells about the three greedy men is a moral story in order to have his audience, the other pilgrims, feel guilty about their own sins, repent, and then, in turn, give him money. The Pardoner is only concerned with making a profit. He even says this in his prologue that all his sermons are about money being the root of all evil because he is a greedy man. Therefore, in the middle of telling his tale, the Pardoner interrupts with a sermon about gluttony, sin, and greed because he is playing the very trick he explained to the pilgrims he himself plays on his visitors. The purpose of the sermon material in the Pardoner’s tale is part of Pardoner’s grand scheme to make the pilgrims feel guilty, repent, and to have them give him money so they can be cleansed of their sins.…
Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is a unique collection of tales from a virous group of individuals on a spiritual pilgrimage. Each person in the collection comes from all walks of life. For example Hubert the friar who knows the taverns in just about every town better than a poor house, a young man given the name The Clerk who spends every last cent he has on books, and a Doctor who is good at what he does and made a lot of money during the Plague. Every person is different in their own way but read carefully people of today could relate to one or more or even a bit of each one, whether it be their personalities, their looks or their beliefs. Whatever their reason, everyone on the pilgrimage have one thing in common. They are there to find…
Canterbury Tales is about a man named Geoffrey Chaucer who’s going on an adventure to Canterbury with a group of people and Chaucer describes the people who they are, about them. The people are very interesting in many ways that I myself would never expect from people now or then so it’s very interesting to think of people and to think oh hey I’m sure there’s people like this now days. The way they dressed then is different it looks like they’re wearing leggings and the dresses with different pieces of material just randomly sewed onto it.…
A foil is a character that contrasts with another character in order to highlight particular qualities of the other character. Chaucer uses a foil for numerous characters in The Canterbury Tales. Although a foil is mainly used to show important qualities in the protagonist of the story, Chaucer employs it to both bring his characters together and set them apart. Two characters that Chaucer compares and contrasts using this technique are the Knight and the Sea Captain, or Skipper. He depicts them as similar because of their occupations, but ultimately proves them to be two completely different people when he describes their behavior.…
Throughout the story of The Canterbury Tales, many vices and virtues were displayed. More specifically, The Pardoner’s Tale, The Dynamic Culture of the Middle Ages, and A Distant Mirror, held a very common theme that current times share, Greed. There are many instances in these tale that demonstrate the true greed humans can feel.…
In the journey of Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer paints a vivid image of the medieval world. He brings forth three prominent concepts in the General Prologue, Pardoner's Prologue and Tale, and The Wife of Bath’s Tale. All tales satirically drenched with persuasive ideas, most would agree that his iconoclastic stories are dangerous for introducing aloud a different view on the church, gender relations and economic divisions. Creating doubt against the morals and true intentions of the church, bringing to light the inequality between genders and proposing a division between economic classes.…
The Canterbury Tales are an acclaimed selection of stories comprised into one large book; an example of one story in the tales is the “Pardoners Tale”, which is a riveting story that preaches the morality of greed. Greed is an intense or selfish desire, and in the story, greed is objectified in the form of money. The tale describes the journey of three boisterous, young men who are on a hunt for justice. While on this journey the men stumble upon an immense amount of gold yet to be claimed. Upon the discovery of the gold each man devises a plan to swindle the others out of the money. Ultimately, all of the men succeed in their attempts to eliminate the competition, but unfortunately none of them survive long enough to reap the benefits. A lesson…
Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales became one of the first ever works that began to approach the standards of modern literature. It was probably one of the first books to offer the readers entertainment, and not just another set of boring morals. However, the morals, cleverly disguised, are present in almost every story. Besides, the book offers the descriptions of the most common aspects of the human nature. The books points out both the good and the bad qualities of the people, however, the most obvious descriptions are those of the sinful flaws of humans, such as greed and lust.…
Medieval England literature all seem to follow a basic set of ideas. Although many of the plays and tales we have read so far are different in plotlines, they all possess a certain set of ideas and focus on certain concepts. In each piece of literature, not only is God mentioned, but religion almost always is a main issue in the plot. Along with holiness and religion, virtues and chivalry are also common in this type of literature, whether it be how the characters have good virtues or the characters’ lack of them.…
In Chaucers section of the Canterbury Tales, The Pardoners Tale various literary elements occur. He displays personification, and makes death a character, giving him life. He includes a moral to his tale which is greed is the root of all evil(Bible) and gives the story meaning. Chaucers plot is another key part to the story, because it proved greed can bring evil. Chaucer wrote the Pardoners Tale with the theme greed is the root of all evil he was able to show this by using various literary elementsThe moral, greed is the root of all evil(Bible), is displayed through the greediness of the three characters. When the youngest leaves, his mind was able to devise an evil plan caused by greed. His selfishness caused him to do the following, And deftly poured the poison into two. He kept the third one clean, as well he might, For his own drink, meaning to work all night(Chaucer 217-218). The youngest was tempted by greed to commit an evil action. Chaucer wanted the reader to realize money and greed are problems with society. They cause people to commit evil acts. Killing someone for money shows Chaucer wanted one to read this tale and recognize the problems of greed.…
Satire is defined as the use of humor, exaggeration, or irony to describe someone. In “The Canterbury Tales” written by Geoffrey Chaucer, satire is used often. CHaucer uses satire to describe a Prioress (nun), a Cook, and a Friar. Compared to these people today, the features Chaucer gives them do not match up.…
In The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, many characters go on a religious pilgrimage to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket. On the way to Canterbury, each person on the journey tells a tale. Whoever tells the best story, gets rewarded a lavish free meal. The pilgrimage includes people from the nobility, clergy, and commoner class. For each class, Chaucer develops many different character types that were representative of the society of the time. With a broad spectrum of people and action, The Canterbury tales consists of many different ideas such as social satire, courtly love/ chivalry,morality, and corruption and deceit. One of the most important ideas of the story is that Chaucer puts forward a criteria that…
Geoffrey Chaucer, in his Canterbury Tales, felt that the Church's turmoil experienced during the fourteenth century contributed to the a declining trust of clergy and left the people spiritually devastated. The repeated epidemics that the European Church experienced weakened the church by highlighting the clergy's inability to face adversity. The clergy's inability to provide relief for the people during a period of suffering did not turn people away from the church, but it did cause the people to question the value of the Church's traditional practices. People looked for ways to gain greater control over their own spiritual destines and altered their perception of the clergy, who were too weak to bring the people complete salvation. (Bisson51-52) "The times are out of joint, the light of faith grows dim; the clergy are mostly ignorant, quarrelsome, idle, and unchaste, and the prelates do not correct them because they themselves are no better." (Coulton 296) In The Canterbury Tales Chaucer makes us highly aware of the clergy's obvious and hidden intensions. Chaucer shows his awareness of the shortcomings of the Church in his portrayal of those who exercise spiritual authority during the pilgrimage. (Bisson 51-52)…
A fabliau is aptly categorized as a scandalous tale meant to satirize the bourgeois through the depiction of bourgeois characters. This is the genre Chaucer writes “The Miller’s Tale,” from his The Canterbury Tales, in so he can distinguish the social class levels of the people on the pilgrimage. Chaucer shows us the differences by paralleling then transforming certain aspects of this fabliau with the same elements of the chivalric romance of the “Knight’s Tale.”…
“The Canterbury Tales” was written during a time of religious unrest. Corruption and greed infiltrated the Church beyond the point of correction. Chaucer would have been well aware of these issues growing up as a diplomat in fourteenth century England. His familiarity of the systems and interactions between high-ranking officials in the court and the church make him a reputable source of criticism of the church and its affiliates. At a time when indulgences and monetary incentives were at a peak in Christian churches, Chaucer used his poetic prowess and political understanding to critique and ridicule how perturbed the Church had become over greed and money. In “The Canterbury Tales,” Geoffrey Chaucer satirizes how society has perverted religion and the roles of religious authority for monetary gain through his description of the appearances of the Prioress and Pardoner, and through careful construction of “The Prioress’s Tale” and “The Pardoner’s Tale.”…