Understanding Chaucer's The Pardoner's Tale

A detailed Summary of Understanding Chaucer's The Pardoner's Tale

Understanding Chaucer's "The Pardoner's Tale"

"The Pardoner's Tale" (Coghill, 1977) was written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the Middle Ages. As stated by Takami Mastuda the tale "warns against the deadly sin of avarice and teaches that spiritual death can indeed become the cause of physical death and eternal damnation" ( 313). The Pardoner tells a story dealing with death in order to get the pilgrims to buy indulgences. " 'The Pardoner's Tale' ultimately questions the efficacy of worldly prudence in the face of death. With this tale Chaucer approaches the theme of death with critical knowledge of the late medieval scheme of salvation..." (Mastuda 324).

The tale puts considerable emphasis on the character of the Pardoner, and his personality. "The tale is a demonstration of the Pardoner's usual tactic, in which he manipulates the readings of an orthodox exemplum for personal gain, stressing, as the tale conveys the dreadful consequence of coveting money" (Mastuda 314). A question that is often asked in regard to "The Pardoner's Tale" is why Chaucer chose a pardoner. "Certainly, their scandalous reputation would have suggested them to Chaucer as likely candidates for any study in religious hypocrisy..." (Fletcher 118).

Another issue that is often discussed is the Pardoner's sexuality. There are even instances in the Canterbury Tales where the Pardoner's sexuality is questioned. "His sexuality, to put it gently, is ambiguous, and even the narrator of The Canterbury Tales wonders whether the Pardoner is a 'geldying or a mare'" (Storm 812). The Pardoner is most likely a homosexual, and there are instances in the tale that support this belief. "The General Prologue hints broadly at a homosexual relationship between the Pardoner and the Summoner..."(Storm 813). The General Prologue also goes on to question the manhood of the Pardoner by listing his qualities. "Detail after detail is used in the 'General Prologue' to portray this lack of manhood: his high voice...his lack of beard, and his long, womanly hair..."(Reiff 196).

Another matter worth referring to is the hypocrisy of the Pardoner. Chaucer's Pardoner is most certainly a hypocrite, and this is shown consistently throughout the tale. This is also another reason that Chaucer chose a Pardoner for this tale. "It is unlikely, then, that any reasonable informed contemporary of Chaucer would have been unaware on hearing or reading 'The Pardoner's Prologue and Tale' of the topicality surrounding the issue of such religious hypocrisy as the Pardoner's" (Fletcher 116). Chaucer was trying to relate to that people of his time, and he does so by using the pardoner. "The choice is cunning, not simply because it cannot offend anyone...but because it lets Chaucer hide behind a character traditionally corrupt yet into whom he can safely introduce the resonance of the most urgent and topical theological argument of his day" (Fletcher 119). Chaucer also writes about evil in "The Pardoner's Tale." "Chaucer concerns himself not just with evil but with its consequences, pre

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Approximate Word count = 1225
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English