Miracle Cures sheds light on the daily life of citizens in medieval Europe, where the only hope for curing an illness was to travel distances for a possible healing. Chaucer shows the purpose of a pilgrimage as an opportunity to cleanse the body of sins. The Pardoner, one of Chaucer’s characters, sells indulgences, pardons and relics. However, he admits to having sins himself, notably, his avarice for money. Chaucer crafts a contradictory character showing that the Pardoner can be successful at his job, despite the fact that he does not practice what he preaches. Through the Pardoner’s actions, Chaucer criticizes the language the Pardoner uses in order to attain more customers and the contradiction between the ideal and the real motivation that the Pardoner has towards the customer and the customer has towards the
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People often believed if caught by sickness it was “because of their sins” and blamed one for the lack of caring for oneself. It was often said that “Satan gained power over people’s bodies as well as their souls[…] devil could enter the body and corrupt it” indicating that God was the almighty and fear-inducing, Satan had power over one’s body, and the devil could corrupt one’s body - suggesting that people had no place to escape, therefore had to become perfect humans. In order to cure a sin, the best way was to “sincerness was diagnostic of sin, the way to treat it was to confess transgressions and do penance […] only certain way to stay healthy was to attain and remain in the state of grace” (Scott 70-71). By remaining in the “state of grace”, one was able to achieve the ideal way of living and began to fear making mistakes. Knowing the important cycle of committing a sin of becoming an outcast of a society after becoming ill, people often feared others who were ill and attended pilgrimages to cleanse the body of all
People often believed if caught by sickness it was “because of their sins” and blamed one for the lack of caring for oneself. It was often said that “Satan gained power over people’s bodies as well as their souls[…] devil could enter the body and corrupt it” indicating that God was the almighty and fear-inducing, Satan had power over one’s body, and the devil could corrupt one’s body - suggesting that people had no place to escape, therefore had to become perfect humans. In order to cure a sin, the best way was to “sincerness was diagnostic of sin, the way to treat it was to confess transgressions and do penance […] only certain way to stay healthy was to attain and remain in the state of grace” (Scott 70-71). By remaining in the “state of grace”, one was able to achieve the ideal way of living and began to fear making mistakes. Knowing the important cycle of committing a sin of becoming an outcast of a society after becoming ill, people often feared others who were ill and attended pilgrimages to cleanse the body of all