The Sin Of Greed In The Pardoner's Tale

Improved Essays
Wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony, these are the seven deadly sins. Each one is said to send a person to Hell, where the one who committed that sin lives out their eternal punishments. At the time, pardons were bought to lessen a person’s eternal punishment in Hell by a few years. Even though the Pardoner in “The Pardoner 's Tale,” an excerpt from The Canterbury Tales, preached against these horrible sins, he does not follow his own advice and is guilty of every one of the sins.
The Pardoner’s greatest guilt comes from the sin of greed, even though his tale is focused around how horrible the sin is. In his prologue he says, "I preach for nothing but the greed of gain" (Beers 129). His only goal in making others repent is
…show more content…
He tells the pilgrims in lines five and six, "Thus I preach against the very vice I make my living out of – avarice." He preaches about it but the greed doesn’t show up till the conclusion of his tale. When death gives the men a pile of gold, each desires more for themselves than the third they would originally receive. The Pardoner preaches the sin of greed to be so terrible that the brothers are willing to deceive each other to gain a greater fortune. With the death of all three by the end, he 's giving the pilgrims a sales pitch, letting him indulge in his greed. He plays his pitch as if he had offered the brothers a pardon or relic they could be saved. He 's saying they weren 't saved because of their sins, but I can save you. Line 297 states, "Do not harden your hearts" (Beers 136) and further down on line 307, "We are all at fortunes beck" (Beers 136), both from his tale, tells the pilgrims that buying pardons is virtuous, even valued and they could die at any time, without pardons, and end up in …show more content…
This may have come from their drunken state at the time, but to think they are more powerful than death leads them to vast misfortune. Even when they meet the old man they are rude to him. The brothers exclaim how he is ancient and how he should be ready to die. They show him how young and fit they are saying that this is how they could beat death. The Pardoner demonstrates his pride when he mentions getting "silver things" from just about everyone when he preaches. He enjoys boasting about the valuables he receives from others.
At the conclusion of his tale the Pardoner shows wrath with their ever grateful host. The host does start their fight when he says "No, no, not I, and may the curse of Christ descend upon me if I do" (Beers 136). The host was upset for being called the most sinful of them all. After he expressed that though, the Pardoner was too angry to speak. Wrath is all about anger. By definition, it 's extreme anger and for the Pardoner to have such a short temper he must get angry often.
Envy is the only sin the Pardoner isn 't guilty of, unless his excessive desire for wealth, his greed, would make him envious of people who possess great wealth. This can 't be proven by what he says. The brothers don’t show envy either, but in their drunken state they have no idea of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    1.) Chapter 2: "a penalty, which in our days, would refer a degree of mocking infamy and ridicule, might then be interested with almost as strong a dignity as the punishment of death itself" pg 44 This quote shows us how in their time period being shamed was on the same scale of death. This also shows how much they cared of what others had thought of them. They would use this form of punishment.…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Quote #1 In the murder mystery, Mr.Justice Wargrave is guilty of killing not one, but nine people and himself. The author does such an excellent job in keeping the reader wondering who the killer is until the end of the book. Even though she gives us a really big clue, the author makes sure it is not too obvious. And this is the clue; “Given the scheme in question which is neither more nor less than the execution of justice upon certain individuals for offenses which the law cannot touch, there is only one way in which that scheme could be accomplished. Mr. Owen could only come to the island in one way.…

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In The Crucible, John Proctor the protagonist, looks for redemption of his sins. At first, Proctor was full of guilt and doubt after he had committed adultery with Abigail, his former maid. However, as the play progressed, Proctor started down the path of redemption by confronting his sins with his wife. Finally, in the last act, Proctor was able to regain his self-respect and his own forgiveness, finding Proctor’s character change through The Crucible was portrayed in three stages: destitution, progress, and resolution.…

    • 885 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As a results the human condition is flawed and open to the temptations of greed. Both, The Pardoners Tale and A Simple Plan explore these themes throughout the entirety of their context. The Pardoners Tale written by Geoffrey Chaucer is about 3 good friends who get drunk at a pub and decide to go kill death. On their travels they find a pile of gold and wait till sundown to take the gold. Each friend becomes too greedy for their own good and they end up killing each other.…

    • 395 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The internal struggle of good and evil has been evident in humanity since the beginning of recorded history. The pardoner himself is the epitome of the battle between good and evil as he tells a story with the repeated concept that “greed is the root of all evil”. This is all ironic because while his job is to pardon people of their sins he does this by getting people to buy falsely “ancient” relics and he teaches sermons on the topic that greed is evil. “He has perfected this sermon not only from frequent repetition but also because, as he acknowledges, he is himself the epitome of avarice, so he understands the sin from within, so to speak” (Dean). Each tale was to…

    • 1094 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On the basis of entertainment and lesson-teaching, it is not difficult to see which tale in The Canterbury Tales is the best. Each pilgrim journeying to Canterbury tells their own story with a lesson and a bit of entertainment, and their stories reflect their actions and personalities. “The Pardoner’s Tale,” “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” and “The Miller’s Tale” represent their storytellers while capturing the attention of the reader. However, only one of the tales has the strongest lesson and the most balanced amount of entertainment. “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” rises above the other stories in terms of lesson-teaching and entertainment because it demonstrates a revolutionary lesson while resisting the urge of being too obscene or too hypocritical like the other two tales.…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    At first, an indulgence was understood as a certificate given to a person by the Pope whose sins had been forgiven. While never being stated by the church themselves, many members of the clergy believed that Grace was simply achieved by purchasing an indulgence with money (Walter). Martin Luther said in regards to the selling of indulgences that, “If you can get someone out of purgatory for money, why would you not do so out of love?” (Baker). In simpler terms, during this time, money was the key to making it to heaven after death and for eternal forgiveness.…

    • 1012 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Rehabilitation of Jon Nobles The rehabilitation of Jonathan Wayne Nobles was quite a lengthy journey or process; whatever one might call it. As Steve Earle 's "A Death In Texas" depicts, Nobles created himself a completely new identity by being imprisoned. No longer was Nobles the violent, rebellious man who had walked through those prison doors in 1986, but he was a completely transformed man who also had regret for his past actions that had landed him in the prison and ultimately cost him his life.…

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gaines’ “A lesson before dying” takes places in a period where justice seemed unquenchable for the African American. Grant is bestowed the undesirable duty of helping Jefferson, who is wrongfully accused of the murder of a white man, to come to justice with himself after no justice was shown in his trial. Grant is able to search for justice, and understand it through his interactions with Jefferson, friends, and family. Grant’s view on justice is giving someone what they deserve.…

    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    At a tavern just outside of London, a group of pilgrims gathered in preparation to visit the shrine of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury for the next day. As the next day came, each of the pilgrims were to tell two tales as a way to entertain themselves on their way to Canterbury and back. In addition, Chaucer had mentioned that the tale with the most meaningful theme will have their meal paid by the pilgrims. In order to know who’d be the first to start the tales, each drew a straw and the one with the shortest would begin.…

    • 1144 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In the book ""Generous Justice,"" Tim Keller's purpose is to help us reflect on the focus of Christian justice according to the Bible. Keller starts off by describing what it means to do justice. For example, he says that to do justice is a way of reflecting God's character, is to take care of the poor and vulnerable, and it also means to take care of our relationships with others. Keller also mentions some passages in the Bible which teach u about justice and shows that God is a just God and therefore, he requires from us to do justice. The author is trying to tell us that it is no longer just a matter of speaking of how merciful and generous God is or to tell the world that they have an opportunity of receiving eternal life through salvation…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Both of these characters have been argued to be great manipulators in the literary world. So, starting off with the Pardoner, he is a preacher; however, he preaches mainly based on one theme, which is, “Radix malorum est Cupiditas.” In other words, it means that greed is the root of all evil ("The Canterbury Tales” 710). The sermon that is preached by the Pardoner is all a part of his plan. He preaches about how greed is the root of all sin and as a result, the audience is left feeling guilty.…

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    (page 125, lines 9-12) The Pardoner is supposed to forgive peoples sins but instead is he just committing more sin each time he preaches to the…

    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Through many of the pilgrims that Chaucer writes about there seems to be a constant theme of corruption especially in most of the religious pilgrims such as the Pardoner and the Friar. The Pardoner was basically a salesman who sold “freedom” in other words. He would go out selling pardons for people’s sins, but he was over charging them and pocketing the rest. He was a hypocrite who preached on the notion the greed is the root of all evil while he himself lived a life full of greed (314). The same goes for the Friar, he bought people confessions and the administration of sacraments for the people.…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This passage reads that if someone were to do you wrong, you may seek revenge or some form of violence towards that person. For instance if one were to choose a random verse, they would find that each verse has no “good” ending, but also that bad actions would have detrimental effects. So if a biblical radical literalist (like the people from West Bourgh Baptist Church) were reading this passage, they would believe that the Bible was saying to seek revenge on someone who had wronged…

    • 87 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics