Comparing The Pardoner's Tale And The Canterbury Tales

Two stories, regardless of being written in 14th Century Europe, they still have valuable lessons. “The Pardoner’s Tale”, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, is a short story from The Canterbury Tales which is a book of short stories of those who traveled to The Canterbury Cathedral with Chaucer. “The Pardoner’s Tale” holds similar qualities to Giovanni Boccaccio’s short story “Federigo’s Falcon” from The Decameron. For example, both of these stories share the same interwoven literary elements such as: irony and symbolism. Through these the authors skillfully portray a battle of overcoming fate. Together, these stories act as an example of right and wrong actions. The pair face similar situations, yet how they reacted that dictates their outcome. In Giovanni’s Federigo’s Falcon, the

And “no longer was it Death those fellows sought,...” (Chaucer 194) The three are deceived by Death and then outsmarted by whom they were trying to out-wit. An old man told them that if they followed the path they would find death, what they did not know that it would be their own death that they discovered. The old man is a personified symbol of death, and the money is the motif of their death. All the gold that was under the tree excited their greed and they plotted against each other. The elder two “agreed to slay the third and youngest.” (Chaucer 257/258). Literally as soon as the youngest left, the other two started plotting his death. But what they would not expect is that he had had the same thought. He purchases wine that contains poison, killing two birds with one stone. Upon his return the youngest rioter stabbed to death, and the other two died from drinking the poisoned wine. They really did find death under that tree, and to the fault of their greed they lay under that same