Story Of The Pardoner example essay topic

The Medieval Period, a time of Lords and Knights, pilgrimages to visit famous shrines, and the profound power held by the church. Due to this power, certain members of the clergy take their authority a little too far and abuse their rights. Power is not easily contended, and there are certain characteristics to be administered in order for one to be a member of the power-holding church. Because of this limitation, the clergy are identified as ideal or hypocritical.

Having to demonstrate actions of humbleness and simplicity are two of the many characteristics required among one member of the clergy, the Pardoner. In the poem, "The Canterbury Tales", Geoffrey Chaucer displays the Pardoner's physical description and personality as apart of his hypocrisy and how in the "Pardoners Tale" he manages to create a story during his pilgrimage of how greed can lead to corruption and death. With the use of physiognomy and physical description, the author creates the Pardoner to be more female than male. Being called effeminate gives him a perfidious or hypocritical characteristic.

Also the personality of the Pardoner is to be humble and selfless, being a member of the clergy, but he is the exact opposite endowing him a deceptive classification. He also manages to stratagem others into believing in holy objects to profit off of them when they are all made up. An example of his deceptiveness is shown when Chaucer writes, "There was no pardoner of equal grace for in his trunk he had a pillow case which he asserted was Our Lady's Veil on one short day, in money down, he drew more than the parson in a month or two". It is obvious that the pardoner's attention is not set on the responsibility to the church especially when he "made monkeys of the priest and congregation", but rather to fulfill his greed. During his journey to Canterbury, the Pardoner devises a story stating, "greed is the root to all evil". To have him create this story and say this instinctively identifies him as a hypocrite because he demonstrates the same attitude as the characters in the story.

When the author writes the story of the Pardoner telling about the three riders, he exemplifies their greed by stating, "And here is a lot of gold that is to be divided equally among us three nevertheless, if I could shape things thus so that we share it out- the two of us. The greed among the three riders eventually lead them to their deaths. Ironically, the intention in this story is to establish the truth of moral, but the pardoner does not even follow his own advice. The power given to the Pardoner is abused when he uses it for his own greedy implications and therefore confirms his hypocritical statement of greed being the root of all evil. By using the pilgrimage as the opportunity for the Pardoner to be shown allows the power of the church and the effect on the people come together.