The Pardoner's Prologue and Tale
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About the Pardoner
The Pardoner went on his journey to the town of Canterbury from Rouncivalle with his friend the Summoner. The Pardoner had hair as yellow as wax which fell on his head smoothly wisp by wisp. He has piercing black eyes and his face was as smooth as he had just shaved. The Pardoner had a thin and feeble voice yet he was hardly an old spiritual man. Although the Pardoner was a priest he lived a life that was far from the word of the lord. He often broke many of the Seven Deadly sins including greed, gluttony, and pride. He earned a living through a combination of preaching and selling fake relics to his supporters. He lies to these people and promises them salvation and prosperity for a price. He would even take money from the poorest widow in town who had starving children in order buy himself more extravagances.
The Tale Begins
The host asks the Pardoner to tell a tale that was upbeat after the sad tale that the Franklin told. The other people object to this and hope that he will tell a tale that is rich in morals. He starts his tale by talking about three young men who, like him, indulge in sinful things like alcohol and prostitutes. The Pardoner goes on to talk about the sins of the men in depth especially gambling, drunkenness, and gluttony. These three young men are rioters from the town of Flanders. One night the 3 drunken men were at a tavern when they saw a corpse being carried to a grave. They asked a boy who had died and the boy responded that it one of their friends who was killed by a murderous thief named Death. The 3 men plan to avenge their friend’s death and kill Death themselves. On their way to find Death they see an old man that says Death will not take him even in his old age and suffering. The man says that he had left Death under an oak tree and that he was sure to still be there. They run to the tree and instead of seeing death they see bushels of gold under the tree. They want to bring the gold back under the cover of night so that nobody will accuse them of thievery. They are weak and need drinks so they send the youngest of them to the town. As he is gone the remaining two come up with a plan to kill the third when he comes back so that the money could be split between only the two of them. The third thinks similar to the other two and wants to have all of the money to himself. He gets poison and puts it in their drinks and goes back to the forest. In the forest the 2 men jump out and kill the third. After this the remaining 2 drink in celebration and die from the poison. In the end the money was the death that the old man said was beneath the tree.
Moral: the love of money is the root of all evil
In the end the three men die because they all want the biggest share of the money.
Irony: The irony in this story has to do with the person telling it. The pardoner is a person who is so wrapped up in greed that he deceives his whole congregation and breaks almost all of the sins in the book. It is strange that he decides to tell his story about the affects being greedy when he is the one who is greedy everyday.