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Religion In The Pardoner's Tale Essay

503 Words3 Pages

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. “Then I show forth my long glass cases, crammed full of clothes and bones: all the people believe that they are holly relics” (The Pardoner’s Tale, 1). The Pardoner’s avarice and ability to deliver …show more content…

The Good Wife was well known for the unending cycle of lust and passion among multiple men. “About her broad hips was a short riding skirt…Love and its remedies she knew all about,… for she had been through the old dance” (The Prologue, 4). The Good Wife had been on many pilgrimages in Rome and Boulogne, which did not alter the desire for men that dwelled inside. Religion is specific that a woman shall only have one husband unless the wife is widowed, only that way can the wife remarry. The Good Wife fornicated consciously knowing that it was against religion’s rules. The Wife’s lifestyle was immoral and religion could not justify the faults committed. Many may argue that religion does make moral individuals. Chaucer wrote about individuals that were religious yet committed fault after fault. That is not the case for everyone who beliefs in religion. Religion influences people into being a moral individual but cannot enforce morality on people. Chaucer wrote about corrupt church officials and religious members, not about the ones who actually served the Lord with mind, heart and soul, so there could have been people that were entirely committed to living a moral life due to religion and its

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