Importance Of Morality In Canterbury Tales

Throughout history, authors have used the characters in their stories as an example for how society should behave. In the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer warns society about the seven deadly sins that grow from pride, including anger, gluttony, sloth, envy, lust, and avarice. Each pilgrim is guilty of at least one of these sins, and tells a cautionary tale detailing the consequences of possessing such a sin. Even the holiest of pilgrims possess a deadly sin. The pardoner, a representative of the Church who raises money for religious works by selling relics and pardons for the forgiveness of people’s sins, is far from the holy man he is supposed to be. In the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer exemplifies the sin of avarice through the pardoner’s thoughts and actions.
The pardoner abuses his position in the Church to satisfy his own desire for money. As a pardoner, he is allowed to keep some of the money he makes from selling pardons, however, he unrelenting takes advantage of people and keeps the profits for himself. In Church, he properly represents his occupation and reads a lesson very well, “But best of all he sang an Offertory,/ For well

The pardoner is proud that he absolves people of their sins, while committing one of his own. He brags to the other pilgrims that his purpose as a pardoner is to “preach for nothing but for greed of gain” and therefore, as he explains, “I preach against the very vice/ I make my living out of - avarice” (Pardoner’s Tale, 243). The pride the pardoner has in his work allows him to successfully swindle money from people because he enjoys deceiving them into thinking they are donating money to the Church, when really he uses the profit to his own advantage. Through his bragging, the pardoner shows no remorse for his actions and the pride he has in his sinful