The Pardoner Tale

1. By Geoffrey Chaucer
A Presentation by Chris, Sarah, and Ali

2. The Pardoner:Prologue
Occupation: combination of preaching and
selling people the promise of “salvation”.
Sermon theme always is “Radix malorum est
Cupiditas”, which means “greed is the root of
all evil”.

3. Social Class: Clergy-member of the church and is
considered “closer to God” than the common
man.
Characteristics:
Long, greasy yellow hair without a bear- c
onsidered “shifty” at Chaucer’s time
Carries relics- crosses
Rides at the back of the pilgrims
Untrustworthy
Looking to “cash in on religion” (Chaucers
critisism)

4. One of the least moral of all the pilgrim
All of his “relics” are frauds.
-Offers (fake) “salvation” solely to gain riches
-Always preaches “covetousness”, which is the sin
he most readily commits
Very greedy
“I preach for nothing but for greed of gain”(243).
*Deceitful: tricking people out of money
“I speak some words in Latin-just a few- To put a
saffron tinge upon my preaching and stir devotion
with a piece of preaching”(241).
*Vengeful
“And so I take revenge upon our foes” (243).

5. The Pardoner’s Tale
He starts by describing a group of (Flemish)
youngsters who drinks, eats, gambles, and
does everything bad in great excess- exhibit
gluttony as well as lust.
He individually attacks all of their sins:
gluttony, drunkenness, gambling, and
swearing.
Eventually focuses of three of the youngsters
who were sitting in a tavern drinking in the
morning.

6. The three heard a funeral bell, and a servant
informs them it was one of their friends killed by
a figure called “Death”
Decided to find and kill “Death”
•“If we can only catch him, Death is dead!”(251).
oEarly on their journey, they come across an old
man who claims to have just seen “Death”, and
points them in the right direction.
•The three do not find “Death” there, but 8 bushels of
unclaimed gold coins, and forgot all about their
pursuit.
They know they cannot transport it during the day, so they
drew sticks to see who would go get food and wine.

7. After the youngest leaves, the other two plot to kill him
when he returns to gain bigger shares.
Meanwhile, the youngest is forming a similar scheme,
and buys poison to kill the others. However, he was killed
upon his return.
In their celebration, the other two drank poisoned wine
and died next to their “friend”.
The pardoner concludes by condemning
gluttony and avarice, which bring treachery and
death.
He then admits he forgot something, and offers
to award each pilgrim (starting with the Host) a
fake relic. However, the host says he will make a
relic out of his genitals. The Knight calms them
and the two make up and continue on.

8. Conclusion
THEME: Greed will get you NOWHERE in life!
Genre: exemplum: teaches a moral lesson
pertaining to the consequences of greed.
Source of the Tale: Roman de la Rose
The Roman de la rose is a medieval French poem
styled as an allegorical dream vision. It is a notable
instance of courtly literature. The work's stated
purpose is to both entertain and to teach others
about the Art of Love.
LOVE OTHERS INSTEAD OF ONLY CARING ABOUT
YOURSELF!!!

9. Contemporary Counterpart: This is a
standard moral lesson taught to every
elementary school child.