Irony In The Pardoner's Tale

In The Pardoner’s Tale, the pardoner admits he only preaches out of greed and lies to all his audiences under the veil of a righteous man in order to profit (Chaucer 313). This pardoner is the narrator who tells a cautionary tale about drunkards who come to poetic justice, and expects the audience to follow the moral of the tale, even though he is in fact a very immoral man (Chaucer 324). The unethical pardoner has credibility in telling this moral tale because his story can be seen as a reflection of the pardoner’s own character and integrity, or lack thereof.
In the prologue, the Pardoner openly admits to lying about selling “pardons” to allegedly save immortal souls from purgatory to a group of people in a tavern, demonstrating his unashamed pride (Chaucer 313). The Pardoner comments that he relies heavily on preaching about greed, because that is a sin he indulges in the most (Chaucer 314). The Pardoner demonstrates his inner contrast with telling a moral tale: “For, though myself be a ful vicious man, / A moral tale yet I yow telle can,” (Chaucer 315). This shows that the Pardoner can preach a story even though he is an awful man himself.
During his sermons, the Pardoner speaks in a loud voice that chimes like a bell as well as sprinkling Latin sayings to spice up his sermons (Chaucer 312). The Pardoner then explains how if everyone in the audience buys a relic and puts it in their well, they will be able to heal themselves and grow wiser (Chaucer 312). The Pardoner