Geoffrey Chaucer and Giovanni Boccaccio both use frame stories to get a message across through their writing. Money is the root of all evil is a theme seen in “The Pardoner’s Tale” by Chaucer, and people make great sacrifices for the ones they love is a theme in “Federigo’s Falcon” by Boccaccio. These two selections contrast with each other because the theme in “The Pardoner’s Tale” shows that people act selfishly out of greed while the theme of “Federigo’s Falcon” shows that people act selflessly out of love. However, the selections can also be compared because both of their themes relate to the irony of people losing their wealth. People who desire wealth and more money than they actually need are often seen as greedy. Two men in the pardoner’s
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The man sent to go get the wine in “The Pardoner’s Tale” was just as greedy; he thought up a plan to poison the other two men “and with that poison he could kill his friends… For this young man was utterly content to kill them both and never to repent” (Chaucer 132) so he could have all of the gold to himself. All three of the rioters wanted the wealth all to themselves and were willing to betray and murder their friends to take their share of the money. They are all selfish because they were trying to better their own lives without considering any negative consequences or how it affected anyone else. Quite differently from the greedy nature of those men, people can also be selfless, which means they care more for others than themselves. In “Federigo's Falcon”, Federigo lost all of his wealth and everything he had except for his falcon, his most prized possession. When Monna Giovanna …show more content…
In “The Pardoner’s Tale” the plans of the three rioters fell through and “these two murders received their due, so did the treacherous young poisoner too” (Chaucer 133), since they all ended up killing each other. This shows irony because the men each planned to kill the others to get all of the gold, but they all ended up dying. None of them got the gold, which was unexpected and the opposite of what they meant to happen. In Federigo’s Falcon, Federigo also lost his wealth, only in a different way. He spent all of his money trying to impress Monna Giovanna and win her affections but “spending ar more than he could afford and deriving no profit in return, federigo lost his entire fortune and reduced himself to poverty” (Boccaccio 161). This shows irony because Federigo lost all of his wealth trying to win over the girl he loves, but she only noticed him much later for his kindness and selflessness, when he had nothing. In both of these stories the characters unexpectedly lost their wealth, although Federigo was still happy in the end, unlike the rioters who met their
The man sent to go get the wine in “The Pardoner’s Tale” was just as greedy; he thought up a plan to poison the other two men “and with that poison he could kill his friends… For this young man was utterly content to kill them both and never to repent” (Chaucer 132) so he could have all of the gold to himself. All three of the rioters wanted the wealth all to themselves and were willing to betray and murder their friends to take their share of the money. They are all selfish because they were trying to better their own lives without considering any negative consequences or how it affected anyone else. Quite differently from the greedy nature of those men, people can also be selfless, which means they care more for others than themselves. In “Federigo's Falcon”, Federigo lost all of his wealth and everything he had except for his falcon, his most prized possession. When Monna Giovanna …show more content…
In “The Pardoner’s Tale” the plans of the three rioters fell through and “these two murders received their due, so did the treacherous young poisoner too” (Chaucer 133), since they all ended up killing each other. This shows irony because the men each planned to kill the others to get all of the gold, but they all ended up dying. None of them got the gold, which was unexpected and the opposite of what they meant to happen. In Federigo’s Falcon, Federigo also lost his wealth, only in a different way. He spent all of his money trying to impress Monna Giovanna and win her affections but “spending ar more than he could afford and deriving no profit in return, federigo lost his entire fortune and reduced himself to poverty” (Boccaccio 161). This shows irony because Federigo lost all of his wealth trying to win over the girl he loves, but she only noticed him much later for his kindness and selflessness, when he had nothing. In both of these stories the characters unexpectedly lost their wealth, although Federigo was still happy in the end, unlike the rioters who met their