The Pardoner's Tale Greed Essay

Greed – the extreme, selfish desire to acquire what is beyond average necessities. Whether greed applies to wealth or power, mankind is prone to exemplify the cupidity. Humans may never become truly content with what they are given, allowing them to desire superfluous objects. The development of greed, as shown in repeated history, eventually leads to the ruination of characters, one particular character being Andrew Carnegie. Andrew Carnegie, the leader of the steel industry in the 19th century, epitomized the concept of greed by yearning for supplementary profits within his company; this greed greatly affected the lives of many, including Carnegie himself.

As a French Proverb states, “greedy eaters dig their graves with their teeth”. People are consumed with wanting more and more rather than knowing what they need in life. The human race constantly carries on this pattern of greed. A theme of greed is shown in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.

An old proverb states, “A shared joyed is a double joy, shared sorrow is a half sorrow”. This simple concept is much easier said than done. To feel joy double and feel sorrow half, we must develop and cultivate relationships with others. Throughout life people encounter many relationships that cause a variety of emotions, envy, greed, forgiveness, and loneliness. These character traits cause relationships to falter. Through American literature, students will understand how crucial the effect emotions have on the quality and outcome in human relationships.

There is a difference between being selfish and being greedy. The definition of greed is “Intense desire for something, especially wealth or power”, whereas the definition of selfish is “Lacking consideration for others”. During the Gilded Age, America was characterized as the Land of the Free, which attracted immigrants from all over the world to come live the American Dream. Was it greedy or selfish for these immigrants to come to America and improve their way of living? During the Gilded Age, greed is what motivated industrial innovation and for people to improve their ways of living. But with great responsibilities come great consequences, the consequence of greed is people seeing greed to be the same as being selfish. Despite this, the

King Midas was a very rich man, perhaps the richest in the world. Midas had loved nothing more than gold, except maybe his daughter Marygold. This already had made him a very greedy man; he literally had an entire vault full of gold valuables. When a mysterious stranger granted him a wish, Midas asked that everything he touch be turned to gold. He had all he could ever want, more than he could ever use and yet wished for more. In his quest of greed, he forgot the importance of the basic necessities of life. When he tried to drink, the water turned to liquid gold. When he tried to eat, the food turned into chunks of gold. He had overlooked the simplest of things. Unaware, Midas turned his daughter into a gold statue, taking away the most important thing in his life. His ignorance had cost him everything, showing the evil of

Greed can be a good thing if it is used for the right reasons. For example, greed can be the key that leads to success. If a person wants to achieve recognition, they’ll go extreme measures to make it happen such as inventing something, excelling in their studies, or even being the best. However, in most cases, greed can lead to disaster. Having the desire to obtain something a person already possesses is selfish. In the “Odyssey,” Homer illustrates the lessons learned throughout Odysseus’ journey. This book exemplifies how greed can lead to misfortune through the story of Odysseus and the King of the Winds, Aeolus. Greed is the cause of Odysseus’ delayed travels, causing more to be lost than what was already given at the time. The lesson learned is that you should never desire for something that isn’t going to benefit you if you have to commit terrible acts in order to achieve them.

Greed and love, in most cases go hand in hand. People will sometimes become jealous when a loved one show affection or chooses someone else over themselves. This in many cases can drive a person to horrible or outrageous things this fact is one of the main parts in the novel The Great Gatsby. This can be summed up by one sentence and used as a theme statement and that sentence is “sometimes people will do anything to get what they want.

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). The Pardoner is extremely upfront regarding his greedy motives as seen in the quote “For myn entente is nat but for to wynne,” (117). The sole reason he is in this game is no other reason than to make money. The revelation of this goal results in an ironic situation as his job consists of preaching against greed, while the only reason of his employment is driven by his own greed. “To yeven hir pens; and namely, unto me” is also written as “With offered pence, the which pence come to me” (116). Through this line, the audience can see that the character of the Pardoner, himself, does not see his situation as particularly ironic, instead, to him, is what he has to do in order to support his lifestyle. As one moves through the prologue, one is continuously shown abundant examples of this mistruth, for example as the Pardoner says, “For I wol preche and begge in sondry landes,/ I wol nat do no labour with myne handes,/ Ne make baskettes, and lyve therby,/ By cause I wol nat beggen

In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad shows human nature’s tendency toward callousness through the use of greed, imperialism, and darkness. Throughout the book the topics of greed, imperialism, and heartlessness give examples of the flaw that humans cannot fix. Humans tend to help others when there is a benefit for them to gain. This greed drives humans to overlook the unthinkable in order to satisfy their lust for power and money. The attempted help of the Englishmen becomes the disease that slowly starts to cripple the host to gain the power they desire. Conrad utilizes ideas of greed, imperialism, and the symbolism of darkness to show that humans are inherently selfish.

Before I read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, I associated a love for money as greediness and materialism. “The words ‘to make money’ hold the essence of human morality.” This statement has changed my view of money and it’s impact on society. In Rand’s book, a character by the name of Francisco d’Anconia gives a speech on the virtue of wealth after being called out for being a depraved product of money. He is scorned for his profits through the downfall of his competitors, but then ultimately talks about the problems his own company faces. Through his speech, he brings about a different perspective of the opinion on wealth and how people should view money.

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

While one rioter goes to town for food and drink, the other two stay behind. Of the remaining two, one tells the other that the gold should “be parted by only us two” (486). This sin is used in order to solidify the theme of pride and greed leading to demise in this tale. Not only were the two men plotting against the rioter who went to town, but the lone rioter was planning the same. During this time period, greed was common; anything was done in order to better one’s own self. By utilizing greed, Chaucer illustrates the development of the rioters from brothers to the two men turning on the other and vise

b.) Like stated above, greed is not a virtue by any means. Virtues are good qualities to strive for and try to model our daily lives after. The men in “The Pardoner” realized that greed is the root of all evil. The prologue told us “Radix Malorum Cupiditas” which means “greed is the root of all evil.” The 3 became greedy for what they believed was behind the tree, and this ended up turning

Pardoner admit over as much story that he knows the correct strategy of extorting cash starting with individuals by preaching against the avarice from claiming cash. His skill lies in singing at the offertory to extract greatest cash starting with the individuals. Greed is those root from claiming shrewdness. “I preach nothing except for gain”(Line 105, Pardoner). Through the whole Pardoner’s tale he displays his love towards money and his greediness. “Put it in his mind to buy poison With which he might kill his two companions”(Lines 383-384, Chaucer). The greed within pardoner’s

In Chaucer 's the pardoner 's tale you can easily tell the type of greed that is in the story ,which is the greed for money. This is also one of the most ironic tale since the pardoner is the most greediest person amongst the group. The Pardoners tale begins in lines (81 to 85) where three very good friends were drinking at a tavern. Then they left the tavern and while they were walking come across a old man. The man was quite interesting, he lead the trio of friends to a bunch of gold. I personal think that the old man is Death considering that he said if they would find Death under the tree. At first the friends were all going to split the gold but as time went on greed changed them. Once the money was introduced in the story the friends turned on each other.