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The Clergy In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

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In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer uses the pardoner to suggest that members of the clergy are dishonest and are constantly trying to take advantage of others for their own benefit. In church the pardoner "[sings] so merrily and loud" in order to earn money from the crowd (Chaucer). The people see clergy members as faithful and trustful; by singing loudly and joyfully, the pardoner takes advantage of the peoples' faith in him and the church. Another way the pardoner gets his money is by selling fake relics such as a "pillowcase...asserted [to] [be] Our Lady's veil"(Chaucer). He uses these "relics" as a way to convince people (poor and rich) into buying "special" items that were involved with someone/something holy; little did the people

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