 in the pardoner’s tale by
geoffrey chaucer the
corruption of the church
during the middle ages is
demonstrated
 Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Pardoner’s
Tale” demonstrates the
corruption of the church during
the Middle Ages.

“The Canterbury Tales,”by Geoffrey
Chaucer—
29 Pilgrims—
----It’s the pardoner’s turn
To tell a tale….
The Pardoner
Lines 689-734: The Pardoner
Professional Class
Military
Religious
Knight, Squire, Yeoman
Nun, 3 Priests, Friar, Parson,
Pardoner, Summoner
Secular
Cleric, Serjeant at Law, Merchant,
Skipper, Doctor

Chaucer’s “Prologue to the Pardoner’s Tale”
and “The Pardoner’s Tale”

The Pardoner
Lines 689-734: The Pardoner
Avarice is the problem, money itself is not evil.
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Analyze Chaucer’s “The Pardoner’s Tale,” its
significance to literature, and its universal
themes and language
Discern between end rhyme and internal
rhyme.
Compare Chaucer’s work to a modern version
that also uses end and internal rhyme.
Define SAT words --avarice; castigate;
adversary
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Language is powerful
Storytelling is a tradition still found in our
culture
Universal truths of the past still relevant
today
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In Chaucer’s day----social system upheaval--beginning of middle class---Black Plague--Protestant Reformation…
In Our times---Economy,
economy….recession…wall street bail
outs…holidays---spending---commercialization…..

Avarice
Castigate
Adversary
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SAT Words for the Week
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End Rhyme
Yet with these 'relics`, whenever he spied
A simple parson from the countryside
In one day he made more money I fear
Than that simple parson made in a year.
And so with his false flattery and craft
He made the people and the priest seem daft.
But, and indeed to be perfectly fair,
In church, he was a noble cleric there;

Internal Rhyme
Choking on tears, he said, "Death is a thief! /
My friend was asleep and his breath just ceased./
May he rest in peace, and never be stressed. /
I guess people ever need to be ready to meet
Death."
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The pervasiveness of greed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0VHiON
kot8
In the 1987 film “Wall Street” Gordon Gekko
(Michael Douglas) delivers a speech that has
now become famous… part of which was
about greed…

“The point is, ladies and gentleman, that 'greed' -- for
lack of a better word -- is good. Greed is right. Greed
works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the
essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its
forms -- greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge -has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed -you mark my words -- will not only save Teldar Paper,
but that other malfunctioning corporation called the
USA.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vscG3k91s58&feature=related
 “Do you agree that
greed is good…???”
 Can money buy happiness?
 Is love of money the root of all evil?
Support your response with examples from your
reading , your own experience, and/or your
observations of others.
http://www.bremesoftware.com/Chaucer/ind
ex.htm
 pardoner-- a person who pardons or
forgives or excuses a fault or offense ; a
medieval cleric who raised money for the
church by selling papal indulgences
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Indulgences-remission of punishment granted
by church to free remorseful Christians from
public penance
sold pardons and indulgences to those
charged with sins
 loud high-pitched voice, long flaxen hair, had
 no beard (and would never have a beard),
effeminate characteristics
 knew how to sing and preach to people to
frighten them to buy the relics
 made a lot of money selling his fake relics

A voice that sounded like a goat.
Feminine features
I think he was a gelding (castrated) or a mare.
He sold relics
“For in his bag he had a pillow-case
Of which he said, it was Our True Lady's veil:
He said he had a piece of the very sail that good
Saint Peter had, on the time he sailed
 In that one day he gathered more money than
the parson in two months, that easy”.
 He used flattery and preached with his smooth
tongue.
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http://cmsweb1.lcps.org/51620821161515513/blank/browse.asp?A=383&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&C=112101
http://aspirations.english.cam.ac.uk/converse/chaucer/pardoner.acds
My story begins in a bar, where three friends
Drink cheap gin and party hard all weekend.
These men were riot-starter types
Who spent the better part of their money on cards and dice,
Livin' the life of loose women and vice,
Pickin' fights, seduced by all seven different types
Of sins: a feeding frenzy of Vengeance,
Vanity, Lust, Greed and Envy.
Devious energy left them half-insane,
Laughing deranged like hyenas at their bastard games;
As each glass was drained and each bet was placed,
They set the pace and left space for their next mistakes.
All excessive waste and drunken rambling,
With eager hands trembling. Eventually gambling
Leads to pan-handling, but that's the price
You pay to cast the dice, and other appetites
Pay the same sacrifice, while the false assumption
Is they help us function, when really it's just a dungeon
Of self-consumption. In other words it's not worth it;

The following is an example of an end
rhyme:
When they had gone not fully half a mile,
Just as they were about to cross a stile.
1.
2.
True
False
1.
2.
True
False