The Role Of Greed In The Pardoner's Tale

From the beginning of time and the fall of man, humans have had numerous types of desires. When a person has a desire, they have a highly strong feeling of constantly wishing for something to happen or wanting to have something that they do not already have. It is not wrong for one to want to achieve more and more materialistically; but when these wants begin to consume one’s life, it begins to become an apparent issue. Mankind is almost never satisfied with what they earn or are given, especially when it comes to money. When this occurs, one itches for more and is then consumed with greed. One may ask the question, “What is greed?” According to Barry in an article titled “Greed,” greed can be thought of as one of the seven fundamental character …show more content…
This man is one with a great love of God and an immense amount of knowledge about the Catholic Church. Although, regardless of the fact that the pardoner is one who is looked at with a great amount of admiration and respect, he can be seen as nothing more than a hypocrite who makes a fine living by and finds joy by tricking people into thinking that he is one in power who can forgive their sins. It is noted in the story that greed is one of the seven deadly sins (“The Pardoner’s Tale”). His job is primarily to forgive people of their sins, but all the pardoner sees this job title as is a way to make money. His scheme and superior speaking skills turn his so-called job or profession into a scam. Throughout the entire prologue, he shows his greed and even tells people of the town that all he cares about is money by saying, “I preach nothing except for gain” (“The Pardoner’s Tale”, Line 105). In addition to this direct quote from the tale, the Pardoner also admits that he likes money, rich food, and fine living. In exchange for the people’s forgiveness or pardons, the pardon takes their money, no matter the circumstance. The pardoner wants to make himself and other people see him as a credible and believable man, and he does exactly this through his sermon-like speeches and stories he shares. Also, he often preaches and repeats that “money is the root of all evil …show more content…
In the tale, three friends seek out a journey to find and kill Death. On the men’s journey to find death, they come across an old man, some readers may see the old man directly as death. The elderly man says that he can point them in the right direction to find him. The old man directs them in the distance under an old tree, but under the tree instead of finding death, the men find gold treasure. When the three friends encounter the treasure, they display an act of greed similar to the Pardoner. They all want all of the treasure and wealth to themselves. When the youngest friend leaves to go to the town and buy bread and wine for them to share as they wait to take the treasure, the other two friends come up with a plot to kill him by stabbing him upon his returning; however, the youngest friend already had a plan to kill the other two by poisoning their wine. The desires to kill one another are all acts of greed when it comes to wanting to keep all of the treasure for themselves. At the end of the tale, all three friends plot to kill worked, and they all died. Due to the selfishness and greed of the three friend, none of them got the chance to share any of the money or treasure. Instead and being content with splitting the findings, greed got the best of them. This part of the story makes it apparent to readers, that money and greed can be seen