The Pardoner, and is role in Christianity is extremely corrupt. He represents the Catholic Church and how they had been governing England, Ireland, and the entire continent of Europe. By the fourteenth century, the church had become overwhelmingly wealthy, and used that wealth to build up their cathedrals. The main focus was no longer solely on the religion, but on outward appearance. The Pardoner represents this role well in The Canterbury Tales. In the fourteenth century, cathedrals grew around shrines to saints’ relics and were incredibly expensive to build. The amount of gold that went into the decorations such as candlesticks, and reliquaries, surpassed the riches in the noble’s coffers. In the Canterbury tales it shows how important …show more content…
The sight of the church ornamented with gold and jewels seemed unfair to the people. The church would often preach against greed which seemed hypocritical to the masses. This was considering the amount of great wealth displayed by the church. The church would also ask that relics not be offered by those who have committed sin, yet teach that no man can be named blameless. According to the Pardoner, “But whoso finds himself without such blame, he will come up and offer in God’s name” (2). The Pardoner is representing the priest and what sermons are teaching those in the church. The amount of hypocrisy in the church during the fourteenth century is astounding. The pardoner is fittingly the most marginalized character in the story. His job is to offer indulgences for sins. In that day the pardoners were paid by the church to offer these indulgences, and is not supposed to pocket any charitable donations from the penitents. This practice came under the critique by quite a few churchmen. Widespread suspicion held that the pardoners would counterfeit the pope’s signature on illegitament indulgences and pocket the extra money. The character in The Canterbury Tales was supposed to represent that type of figure throughout the story, and did so
The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, reveals that religion does not make moral individuals. Chaucer goes on about telling how several of the characters on the pilgrimage had questionable lifestyles yet the characters were taking part in a religious journey. Religion can only influence a moral character but does not make its followers untouchable to the imperfections found on earth. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer’s character, The Pardoner, is a church official who altered the peoples mind by cheating the people into believing any nonsense.
In order to define the Pardoner's position in gay history and grasp Chaucer's intentions with this character, Kruger aims to understand medieval homophobia and homosexuality. Through his study of homophobic trends and the Pardoner's character and tale, Kruger does not aim to prove the Pardoner's homosexuality or necessarily "claim" him, but nonetheless views the possibility of a gay Pardoner to be
There is enough in the world for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed”(Frank Buchman). This quote expresses the pardoner’s character as greed. Chaucer is the father of English poetry. Canterbury tales is where a social occasion of travelers who are prompting to tell four stories during their travel. One of the traveler is Pardoner.
The presence of greed utilized by Chaucer in the Pardoner’s tale presents satire as his character is meant to be honorable, yet, behind the scenes is actually the most unethical one. The first example the audience is shown of this fraud is as the pardoner explains his motives, when he states, “Of avarice and of swich cursednesse/ Is al my prechyng, for to make hem free/ To yeven hir pens; and namely, unto me!/ For myn entente is nat but for to wynne,/ And no thyng for correccioun of synne” (114 – 118).
A pardoner is a man who sells religious relics of forgiveness to sinners. However, Chaucer’s Pardoner is an untrustworthy character who sells fake tokens for a profit. He boasts of his great ability to preach, and ironically, his favorite topic is greed. “
During the Medieval Times a lot of people had their faith into the church. Several people looked up to the church and included it into their everyday life. The vast majority of the people in the towns would go to the church daily. Any other ways the people would spend their time during this time would be by farming, or any activities. Some people would take advantage of the people during this time period knowing they didn’t have any other stuff to do.
In the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer utilizes the immoral character of the Pardoner to tell the utmost moral tale through satirical devices, presenting the true greed and hypocrisy that runs throughout the Church, regardless of it attempt to cover it. Chaucer introduces the hypocrisy within the Church through the characterization of the Pardoner, as he is explained to be a man with, “flattery and equal japes./He made the parson and the rest his apes” (“General Prologue” 607-608). “Japes” are tricks, alluding to the Pardoner’s relics, as they are fake; yet, the Pardoner still sells these relics to the Church members as genuine treasures. This creates dramatic irony, because the character of the Church body is unaware of the situation bestowed
This is ironic as the pardoner tries to get the group to give him money after telling them how it was all a scam, “My holy pardon saves you from all this:/ If you will offer nobles, sterlings, rings,/ Soome brooches, spoons or other silver things,”(906-908). While he knows that they know his faulsities he deliberately ignores this in order to try and proceed with his con. Another layer of irony in this is that he promises pureness while he himself is not pure, “If you will give. You’ll be as clean and pure/
During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church had a great amount of power because it was the only one at the time. As expressed in The Canterbury Tales, it even oversaw the court, so one could propose that the Church had exponential power. They seemed to rule the economy and hold a lot of land. Kings and queens were even preceded by the Church. Supposedly, in those times, the Catholic Church was a source of great hypocrisy or a good number of its people were.
The pardoner starts his story off with describing a group of young people who drink and do mostly everything in excess. After explaining how this lifestyle is horrible he gets into depth about the sins they practice. First he explains gluttony which he tells is the first sin that caused all mankind to fall from paradise. Then he gets into drunkenness which makes someone crazy, mad, and foolish. After, he talks about gambling which is the sin that tempts and all men of power and money.
In the story, both the characters on the pilgrimage and the characters within the stories themselves display elements of church corruption. Out of all the characters on the journey, the Pardoner is the most obvious case of a corrupt member of the church. The prologue of the Pardoner illustrates his obsession with material wealth and the hypocrisy of his job. During this drunken state, he rants to the company that “Covetousness is both the root and stuff of all I preach” (p. 243) this oxymoronic phrase illustrates his corruption. Covetousness refers to one of the ten commandments; You shall not covet your neighbors
Perks of Sarcasm (Chaucer 's Use of Satire to Reach Intended Audience) Geoffrey Chaucer, also known as, “The Father of English Literature,” uses satire in his stories to influence his intended audience. Satire is the use of humor or irony to reveal a person 's stupidity. Considering Chaucer 's stories are legendary, he never fails to through some satire into his writing. With that being said, using it while writing a story is one of the most effective ways of writing.
Geoffrey Chaucer’s satirical collection of stories called The Canterbury Tales, develops an insight of his criticism for the Catholic Church members during the medieval period. During the time period, the Catholic Church could be considered as the head of the society. The church held power over education, politics, economy, as well as the everyday lives of the citizens. Fear of excommunication kept the people from arguing with the ideas of the church. Some members of the church used this power to influence others to follow the rules of Catholicism; however there was a growing number of church members who were corrupt.
History has a way of recording itself in the literature of its age. As society and culture change so does the artwork of that era to accommodate the concerns and joys of people during that time. Even observing the books and music of today, although it may relatable to future generations it was born out of today’s problems. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales are a representation of the changes of society in the medieval ages.
In The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, the social status of the character is important to his or her point of view. In the story, he uses a lot of characters to show his use of irony and characterization, but none is more ironic than the Pardoner. The Pardoner is a preacher who lives a life full of greed. Then he tells a tale about greedy men with a personality similar of that of his own. In the General Prologue, the Pardoner is described as being a preacher.