Reasons In The Pardoner's Tale: The Fear Of Death

About 68% of the US population has Necrophobia, a fear of death.(Seth) This phobia is most common in younger people in their late teens, and people over the age of forty. (Sarah Johnstone.) There are multiple reasons as to why one would find themselves fearing death. There are people who may fear the idea of losing somebody who they are emotionally attached to and having to cope with that loss. Life without that somebody may seem unimaginable and impossible. Some fear death for religious reasons. They may not feel confident in the quality of their life, so their choices have led them to feel anxious of the consequences they believe may be awaiting them after death. Others may fear the idea of an unexpected or a painful death, such as car …show more content…
The Pardoner's Tale is a story of three men who decide they are going to find Death and kill him before he is able to kill them or anyone else. People were dying everywhere because of a plague, which frightened and enraged the men, and led them to make the decision to track death down. As they embark on their journey, they come across an old and withered man. They rudely demand he reveals to them where they can find Death. He tells them they may find death under a tree. When they find the tree, they don't find death, but they do find 8 bushels of gold coins. They decide they will take the gold for themselves. When two of the men send off the youngest to town, they decide they will kill him off and keep the gold for themselves. The young man who went to town also is plotting to kill the other two. He poisons the wine he is going to bring back for the men. When he arrives, the two men kill him. They then sit down for a drink of the poisoned wine and die themselves. The motive that pushed the three men to attempt their journey to kill death was essentially their fear of the death that was touching those around them. They did not want death to take them out the way he had others, so they ventured to attack him, but failed and suffered themselves. In the story, there are also hints of the fear of death in the text. For example, a boy …show more content…
Death is a daunting thing to think about, whether it is your own death, or the death of another being in your life. Thinking of a person's immortality, and the idea that someone could “disappear” in a way from physical life can be very confusing, overwhelming and hard to comprehend. About two years, I lost two people who were very close to me. I was only 15 at the time and I couldn't ever really recall trying to understand death before that time. It was never my reality so I never took it into consideration. While I tried to get used to the lack of their presence, I found myself trying to understand morality and the way people leave their physical bodies behind. I would say for a short period of time, while I was trying to comprehend the idea of death, I did begin to fear the thought of losing another loved one. It isn't something that ever stuck with me thankfully. I think if one can say they avidly fear death, that it may be something they allow themselves to think about too much. Death is inevitable, no matter how much time one spends fearing it, overall no one can completely escape it. The idea of death is one you can’t allow to consume you. I wouldn't advise one to act ignorant to the idea of death in order to not fear it, but it's not something you should linger on too long. One who is constantly fearing the idea