Irony In The Pardoner's Tale Essay

The Pardoner in the Pardoner’s tale represents one of the lowest members in society. He sells religious relicts and pardons wrongs committed. He represents the corruption in the church for he only focused on profiting rather than the spiritual aspect of his position. He tells the tale of three men who were spending the afternoon drinking when they hear about someone named Death who had killed thousands of people. Intoxicated and enraged by the news, the men set out to kill Death. On their quest they encounter an old man who directs them to a tree, which is the last place he saw Death. The men go to the tree and find gold underneath it. They pan to wait until nighttime to bring the gold to one of their houses, so this way they may not be perceived …show more content…
While he is away the two men decide it best to murder their friend upon his return so that they will only have to split the gold in two. Meanwhile, the third man has already poisoned the wine with rat poisoning so that he may enjoy all the gold. Upon his return he is killed and the two men ultimately die from drinking the celebratory wine. After the tale is finished the Pardoner begins preaching and attempts to sell his relics to the pilgrims. The irony of the tale is that the three men try to kill Death but they are the ones who ultimately end up dead. Chaucer personifies Death as a killer of greed. The Pardoner’s greed and selling of the relics is as prime example of the corruption of the church. Although the Catholic Church has changed for the better, the hypocrtical figures in tale can still be found in our society. Greed, the need to have it all, is very evident in our materialistic world. Public figures and modern day civilians will go to far lengths to attain …show more content…
For this reason I do not believe if I saw or listened to a piece of music that I would be able to comprehend the readings as well as I did. While movies may at times be more enjoyable and can bring different worlds to life right before your eyes, books have the power to transport you, allowing you to live every scene the way you imagine it. The written word allows humans to decide if they are willing to accept or reject its validity. A visit to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket may be analogous to not reading for the reader may have a chance to get a feel for the religious conquest the pilgrimages were after. Traveling during he spring season would be ideal for the weather would coincide with that of the pilgrims. The blooming flowers and the pleasant days would help inspire a state of reflection and penance. If the reader had also read Dante’s Inferno they would have a better understanding of the need to reconcile ones relationship with God, the religious pursuits of the time, and the hypocrisy of the Church and some of its members mentioned in Canterbury Tale. Both tales consists of pilgrimages on religious journeys. They place themselves as the narrators and use the stories characters tell as a way to deliver their message. One could even argue that the pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales offer the same guidance for Chaucer as Virgil does for Dante in