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If it were just looking at morality, "The Wife of Bath's tale" would be a sure win. There is no way to compete with the Wife’s multiple themes and life lessons. Once her story is near its end and the knight, her protagonist, is face to face with the old woman, the antagonist, the wife's message becomes clear. The very first of her ideas is that gentleness, the most prized quality by the upper class, does not come from the class that someone is born into but rather their choices. “For though they give us all their heritage… they cannot bequeath… their virtuous living” (263). Through the wife's narrative it is explained that class is something someone earns on their own, not something that someone is born with. She certainly has at least one more major commentary on morality.
The way that she talks about the sensibilities of her time is extremely intelligent. She states that being poor is preferred in many ways to being wealthy, the one with the the most power is religion “The High God, in Whom we believe, say I,/In voluntary poverty lived his life” (322-3). The Catholics would have responded to this by saying that the poor are following in the footsteps of their messiah. The Wife continually makes arguments for morality in
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This is held up by her chief rival the Pardoner. All of The Pardoner's Tale's strength lies within its moral which is defined in his prologue:“Radix malorum est cupiditas” (98). As this tale continues it prove that the love of money is the root of evil. The very end scene of Pardoner's Tale is everything that one needs to fear the greed of money. “Thus ended these two homicides in woe;/Died thus the treacherous poisoner also” (431-2). The reason for this scene is even more frightening: “O cursed sin, full of abominableness!/O treacherous homicide! O wickedness!/O gluttony, lechery, and hazardry!” (433-5). The sermon type ending was even more powerful then one may think due to the fact that the indtended audience was meant to be Catholic. Although morality is strong in this tale entertainment is the other half of the competition between the pilgrims. The Pardoner's Tale is definitely entertaining. The very first notable entertaining aspect in The Pardoner's Tale is how he relies on the three forms of poetic irony. The first form of irony that appears in his tale is verbal irony. When the three young men find the pile of gold, their leader says “For as you know, the gold
This is held up by her chief rival the Pardoner. All of The Pardoner's Tale's strength lies within its moral which is defined in his prologue:“Radix malorum est cupiditas” (98). As this tale continues it prove that the love of money is the root of evil. The very end scene of Pardoner's Tale is everything that one needs to fear the greed of money. “Thus ended these two homicides in woe;/Died thus the treacherous poisoner also” (431-2). The reason for this scene is even more frightening: “O cursed sin, full of abominableness!/O treacherous homicide! O wickedness!/O gluttony, lechery, and hazardry!” (433-5). The sermon type ending was even more powerful then one may think due to the fact that the indtended audience was meant to be Catholic. Although morality is strong in this tale entertainment is the other half of the competition between the pilgrims. The Pardoner's Tale is definitely entertaining. The very first notable entertaining aspect in The Pardoner's Tale is how he relies on the three forms of poetic irony. The first form of irony that appears in his tale is verbal irony. When the three young men find the pile of gold, their leader says “For as you know, the gold