The Pardoner's Tale

Author: Geoffrey Chaucer

Biography: Geoffrey Chaucer was born between 1340 and 1345, probably in London. There is no information about his early life and education. In 1357, he was a page to Elizabeth, Countess of Ulster, wife of Edward III's third son. Chaucer was captured by the French during the Brittany expedition of 1359, but was ransomed by the king. Edward III later sent him on diplomatic missions to France, Genoa and Florence. His travels exposed him to the work of authors such as Dante, Boccaccio and Froissart.

Around 1366, Chaucer married Philippa Roet, a lady-in-waiting in the queen's household. They are thought to have had three or four children. Philippa's sister, Katherine Swynford, later became the third wife of John of Gaunt, the king's fourth son and Chaucer's patron.

In 1374, Chaucer was appointed comptroller of the lucrative London customs. In 1386, he was elected member of parliament for Kent, and he also served as a justice of the peace. In 1389, he was made clerk of the king's works, overseeing royal building projects. He held a number of other royal posts, serving both Edward III and his successor Richard II.

Chaucer's first major work was 'The Book of the Duchess', an elegy for the first wife of his patron John of Gaunt. Other works include 'Parlement of Foules', 'The Legend of Good Women' and 'Troilus and Criseyde'. In 1387, he began his most famous work, 'The Canterbury Tales', in which a diverse group of people recount stories to pass the time on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. Chaucer disappears from the historical record in 1400, and is thought to have died soon after. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Background: He was the first great poet writing in English.

Theme: Morality

Mood: Irony showing the doctrine of a host and the contradiction with his actions.

Style: Poem; rhyming couplets

Setting: Medieval Catholic Church (God, the Devil, mercy, sins); sermons.

Characters: The pardoner, his victims, three riotous men, their deceased buddy, a young knave, an old man.

Figurative Language: The tale presents a format of a vernacular sermon.

Imagery:

-        Taverns as a symbol of sins: lechery, gluttony, sloth, false oaths, and gambling.

-        The irony of three sinful men trying to kill Death.

-        The Old Man looking for someone to exchange youth.

-        The Old Man’s directions to look for Death.

-    Oak where the Death is hidden

Plot: The Pardoner explains his how he deceives them with false relics while preaching against greed to stimulate more plentiful donations to his purse, and then he preaches against various sins and illustrates them with a tale of three young men who try to kill Death. They meet an old man who must wander the earth until he can find someone who will exchange his youth for the old man's age, but they turn to kill each other and find Death at the same time. The Pardoner urges the Hoost to come forward and kiss his relics, but he has none and the Pardoner becomes extremely angry. The Knight prevents violence by inducing Harry to "kisse the Pardoner" and they ride on together

Point of view: The tale is plenty a hypocrisy showing thoughts and beliefs common in the Medieval epoch.




Activity

1.       The Pardoner has a particular trick he uses to force even the most reluctant and skeptical in his audience to pay money and to seek his relics (VI.377-8). How does it work? Could his prologue or his tale be designed to have a similar, hidden power over his hearers?

2.       The old man bears a curious doom. What must he find in order to die, and why can’t he find it? Why are human beings reluctant to make that exchange, and why is it one of their greatest follies?

3.    What is it to "kisse the Pardoner" (VI.965)? Why does the Knight ask Harry to do so, and why does Harry do it?