The Role Of Greed In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

In “The Canterbury Tales” by Geoffrey Chaucer, the pardoner would be inclined to sit with the summoner at the Tabard Inn due to their shared power abuses, their fraudulent activities, and their former relationship. The summoner abuses his authority to blackmail people into satisfying his selfish thirst for wine; meanwhile the pardoner also exploits others, but does so in a manner that fulfills his personal cravings for money. Both men would be reunited at the Tavern Inn when the pardoner realizes that the commotion coming from near the bar is the summoner vaunting about his many deceptions of others. Ultimately, Chaucer created of these characters to show how humans are susceptible to sin, specifically greed, with the hope to deter society …show more content…
The summoner, finishing one of his many glasses of wine, would be drunkenly boasting about his collection of wine at home. He would go on about the vast quantity he has and how he is able to accumulate it so quickly. The pardoner, curious about the ruckus coming across the room, would approach the tables on the other side in order to figure out the commotion. When the pardoner gets closer, he realizes that the noise is coming from his longtime friend, the summoner, who “rode together” (21). Although the pardoner and the summoner came on the pilgrimage together, they wouldn’t have had a chance to talk by themselves, so the pardoner would decide to take this opportunity to catch up with the summoner. Since the summoner was already bragging about his wine collection, the pardoner would inquire more about the means by which the summoner obtains all of his wine and if they have changed since the last time the two friends saw each other. The summoner, not using the bit of intelligence he has, would reveal to the pardoner exactly how he allows men to keep concubines as long as they provide him with wine. The summoner would continue to tell the pardoner his ways, but also would tell the pardoner that no one has been so creative with his or her schemes. The pardoner would decide to risk exposure for the sake of being better than the summoner and he would describe some of the many ways he has "made monkeys at the priest and congregation” (22) with his “honey tongue” (22). He would reveal his methods by starting with his fake relics and his preaching ability. The summoner would then offer the pardoner a place to sit at his table and a glass of wine. The summoner and the pardoner would exchange tales of the many people they have tricked long into the night and they would only stop because, per usual, the summoner would drink “strong wine till all was hazy” (20) and would be