Essay about The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer Chaucers Pardoner is unique within the group travelling to Canterbury. While the Parson, the Wife of Bath, the Clerk, and others would love to sway the group toward their respective opinions and views, the Pardoner intends to swindle the group out of its money. His sermons are based on sound theology, but they are rendered hollow by his complete lack of integrity in applying them to his own life. He is a hypocrite - his root intention is to accrue money. Curiously, the Pardoner is openly honest about the nature of his operations. The portrait of the Pardoner in the General Prologue gives an overture to this character by stating simply what he does. He targets simple (often†¦show more content†¦The Pardoners tale becomes a microcosm of the Canterbury Tales itself: an attempt to find a holy, didactic message within entertainment and baseness. Further analysis of the Pardoner himself leads to the question of whether there is any good within him. The Pardoner makes it ext remely clear to the group (and, incidentally, to us as readers) exactly how he swindles common people. He then goes on to attempt the same actions against them after telling his tale, a seemingly absurd act. Chaucer isnt simply being sloppy here in trying to convey the Pardoners nature to us as readers - if Chaucer didnt want the travelers to know how the Pardoner works, then he would have told us more discreetly. There must be some reason for the Pardoners indiscretion. Even while under the influence (however great or small) of alcohol, he wouldnt tell the group what he does unless he wanted to. It remains, then, to explore further the Pardoners character and the reasons for his actions. I stated earlier that the Pardoners root intention is to accrue money. This is the account that he offers himself. The Pardoners lack of discretion, however, negates this root drive. If he only wants money, then his presence in the pilgrimage is exclusively for swindling the others. He wou ld not have complicated that goal by revealing his art - which he does. This revealing, then, might be explained as a perverse game or challenge to his skills as a con artist. Perhaps theShow MoreRelatedThe Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer1582 Words   |  7 Pages Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the Canterbury tales a collection of short tales in the 14th century. The compilation of stories are told by different characters within the narrative as part of a game proposed by the host. Each individual must tell two stories on their journey and two stories on their way back. Each story tells some aspects of English life during the time and often added satire like qualities to the English life. 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