In Canterbury Tales, pilgrims were making pilgrimages to visit the shrine of Thomas Becket. This pilgrimage started in a place called Southwart. The narrator of this story is Geoffrey Chaucer, who was born into the middle class and considered to be the greatest English poet of his lifetime. He spoke many languages including French and Italian. Chaucer was part of the government, so money was not an issue for him. Society had three levels at this time: clergy, nobles, and traders or general labor workers. The merchants and tradesmen were rising and becoming higher than lower class. These segments of society are breaking down because the middle classes are emerging into society. Chaucer depicts abuse of social classes, especially the clergy.
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The Pardoner is tricked by his own tale: “ The greed of the rioters turns into destructiveness- they become divided among themselves and bring death upon their own heads; in the same way the Pardoner, divided against himself, is heading into spiritual death. This dreamlike quality makes his tale share in an irony about life from which no one is free- that what we need to know about ourselves is potentially knowable and sometimes known by others, but often lie beyond our grasp” (“Modernizing” Chaucer 55-56). The Pardoner explains that people can receive hs pardons. All they need to do is kneel before him and pay him money. If they do these two duties, their sins will be forgiven. Throughout this process, the Pardoner is the leader of the game of tricking innocent people into giving him money (“Modernizing” Chaucer 57). In the Pardoner’s tale, the Pardoner take advantage of other people: “ The Pardoner’s physical disability has isolated him from some of the normal satisfactions of life. In revenge, he rejected the professed morality of other people and uses it against them to attain the power and comfort that wealth brings. He seeks at the same time to conceal the emptiness and isolation …show more content…
The Pardoner’s tale is ironic because he claims that the relics he owns are sacred. Therefore, the Pardoner makes a profit off of innocent people who are buying his relics when the relics are not sacred at all. The Pardoner is fooling everyone around him, but in tricking people, he is in the end tricking himself, which makes his entire tale ironic. The Monk’s tale shows irony because the monk does not follow his religious obligations. A monk in the Catholic Church is a person who devotes their life to God, but the Monk in Canterbury Tales does not devote his life to God. The Monk’s Tale reveals that the Monk loves to hunt and fish in his free time instead of praying in a monastery. The Wife of Bath’s tale is ironic because she calls herself a Catholic but does not preach what she expresses. The Wife of Bath does not treat others like God would want, and she has been married multiple times when the Church believe in one marriage only. The characters throughout these tales are concerned with their own well beings, which causes them to fail in their responsibilities of being great human beings in
The Pardoner is tricked by his own tale: “ The greed of the rioters turns into destructiveness- they become divided among themselves and bring death upon their own heads; in the same way the Pardoner, divided against himself, is heading into spiritual death. This dreamlike quality makes his tale share in an irony about life from which no one is free- that what we need to know about ourselves is potentially knowable and sometimes known by others, but often lie beyond our grasp” (“Modernizing” Chaucer 55-56). The Pardoner explains that people can receive hs pardons. All they need to do is kneel before him and pay him money. If they do these two duties, their sins will be forgiven. Throughout this process, the Pardoner is the leader of the game of tricking innocent people into giving him money (“Modernizing” Chaucer 57). In the Pardoner’s tale, the Pardoner take advantage of other people: “ The Pardoner’s physical disability has isolated him from some of the normal satisfactions of life. In revenge, he rejected the professed morality of other people and uses it against them to attain the power and comfort that wealth brings. He seeks at the same time to conceal the emptiness and isolation …show more content…
The Pardoner’s tale is ironic because he claims that the relics he owns are sacred. Therefore, the Pardoner makes a profit off of innocent people who are buying his relics when the relics are not sacred at all. The Pardoner is fooling everyone around him, but in tricking people, he is in the end tricking himself, which makes his entire tale ironic. The Monk’s tale shows irony because the monk does not follow his religious obligations. A monk in the Catholic Church is a person who devotes their life to God, but the Monk in Canterbury Tales does not devote his life to God. The Monk’s Tale reveals that the Monk loves to hunt and fish in his free time instead of praying in a monastery. The Wife of Bath’s tale is ironic because she calls herself a Catholic but does not preach what she expresses. The Wife of Bath does not treat others like God would want, and she has been married multiple times when the Church believe in one marriage only. The characters throughout these tales are concerned with their own well beings, which causes them to fail in their responsibilities of being great human beings in