The Knight's Tale Vs Pardoners Tale Essay

When the story contest began, the Host set specific rules for all of the participants to follow, and he let them know what standards he would be judging the stories by, deciding which one is the best. The Host says that he will choose the best story based on which one shows the best morals and which one provides the best entertainment. Both “The Knight’s Tale” and “The Pardoner’s Tale” exhibit moral principles and provide decent entertainment value for the listeners. There has to be a winning tale, though, and one is superior based on the rules established by the host. One tale definitely taught morals better and had more entertainment value, and that tale is the Pardoner’s Tale. The Knight’s Tale unsurprisingly focuses on moral topics that a knight at the time …show more content…
King Theseus is the main source of good morals in the story by stopping Palamon and Arcite’s impromptu duel and preventing any deaths from occuring at the official tournament later. He acts as a kind of moral beacon for the story. In contrast, some of Palamon and Arcite’s actions display questionable morals and simply go unpunished. The most striking example of this is the fact that Arcite blatantly broke Theseus’ rules by returning to the kingdom after his banishment, but he is never punished for this action even after Theseus finds out about it.
“The Pardoner’s Tale” covers far more moral ground than the Knight’s Tale does, and the morals apply on a much larger scale. The Pardoner’s tale teaches the evils of theft, greed, drinking, and a few smaller lessons that aren’t as obvious. The tale follows three rioters on their journey to destroy Death. The men set off from a bar after a night of heavy drinking on a mission to save the countryside from Death. Soon after setting off, they come across an old man sitting on the side of the road. They bully the man into telling them where to find Death, and he points them to a nearby