The Pardoners Tale
The Medieval Church Pardoner
• Church pardoners where often elected by
corrupt church officials and collected
money for pardons.
• Some pardoners gave the money they
collected to the church and others kept the
money for themselves
The Canterbury Tales Pardoner
• The Pardoner tells a tale about the danger of
greed and gluttony.
• The Pardoner is greedy in that he sells his false
relics and pardons to unsuspecting people who
can barely afford the pay for them
(relics/pardons).
• Hiding his money and “valuables” shows that he
does not trust any of the other pilgrims.
• Which is ironic because the way he is described
with his long blonde hair and beardless face,
implies that he is not to be trusted by anyone
else.
Chaucer's take on the Pardoner
• Chaucer was a satirist and often poked fun at those
whom he seemed to disapprove of, possibly explaining
why there is a pardoner in the Canterbury Tales.
• Most Pardoner’s were known for possessing con-man
like agendas.
• Scholars of the time period often criticized the church for
the practice of issuing pardons because they felt that
only God had jurisdiction the forgive people of their sins.
• Like many of his contemporaries Chaucer may have
firmly disagreed with certain church practices, including
pardons.
• It is questionable whether or not Pardons can be
justified.
The Canterbury Tales Pardoner
• Has a fiduciary relationship with the
summoner in which the summoner finds
the accused criminals and rather than
bringing them to justice he introduces
them to the pardoner. This introduction
allows both the pardoner and the
summoner to financially benefit from the
accused.
The Parallels of the Pardoner
and his Tale
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Upon analyzing the Pardoners
description in the prologue the following
parallels have been identified.
Gluttony- Travels around to different
courts eating and drinking with friends.
Fraudulence- Glaring eyes and limp hair
Drunkenness- Bulging hare like eyes
Greed- He keeps wallet hidden and lives
lavishly
A quick summary of the Pardoners
tale
• Three young men drink together at a local tavern.
• They hear that one of their friends has been killed so they set
out on a journey to avenge his death.
• They ask an old man who tells them to go into the woods and
look by a tree.
• They look by the tree and they find hidden treasure.
• To prevent people from thinking they stole the gold, they
decide that two of the men will stay and guard the gold and
one will go into town and get supplies.
• The two guards decide to kill their friend when he gets back.
• The third young man also plans to kill his two friends who are
guarding the treasure by poisoning their wine.
• The two guards kill their friend by stabbing him.
• Then they drink the poisoned wine and die.
• Greed never gets you anywhere.