Canterbury Tales

Katie Paschal
After reading the Canterbury Tales and the General Prologue, I learned a lot about all of the Pilgrims. The pilgrim that I found the most interesting was the Pardoner, which is why I chose to use him for my project.
The Pardoner worked for the Church and was despised by many churchgoers. In return for making donations to charitable enterprises, the Pardoner was licensed by the Pope to sell papal indulgences. People would give money in exchange for pardons and the Pardoner would then pocket that money. He was a great preacher, who preached about all the right things. In this way, he could convince people that they needed to buy these pardons to be forgiven by God. The Pardoner openly sold fake relics and convinced people that they were real. On the way to Canterbury, he was not hesitant to admit that his relics are fake and that he cheats people out of their money by constantly preaching that “radix malorum est cupiditas” (Greed is the root to all evil). He even told a story about three young men who died and lost all of their money by being greedy. After telling his Tale, the Pardoner asks the Host to come buy one of his relics. This is an example of how confident the Pardoner is about cheating people out of their money.
When creating my Facebook page for the Pardoner I included a post to explain that the Pilgrims were going to Canterbury in order to visit the relics of Saint Thomas Becket. I also had the Pardoner explain the Host’s challenge followed by his unwavering confidence that he was going to win. I did this because of the Pardoner’s strong sense of self-assurance in other aspects of his life, such as singing and preaching. I also included a post where the Pardoner says “Sold 5 pardons today. Now what to do with all this money?” I did this because the Pardoner’s sole purpose in selling Pardons is to pocket the money. He is proud of what he does and boasts about his “accomplishments” to the other Pilgrims.
I posted a comment from the Pardoner to explain his Tale about the three young men who died because of their greed. My final post from the Pardoner says “radix malorum est cupiditas.” The Parson commented, saying that earning money is fine as long as it doesn’t interfere with your relationship with God. The Plowman and the Knight liked the Parson’s comment because along with the Parson, they are two of the noblest Pilgrims from the Canterbury Tales. The physician commented stating that he disagreed and he believed that the more money you have, the better. The Friar, Reeve, and Miller liked his comment because they are immoral Pilgrims whose actions are not respectable.
Finally, I chose mid April as the dates for the posts because the Pilgrims decided to travel to Canterbury at the beginning of spring. The Pardoner’s profile picture is of someone who works in a Church and the background picture is gold coins. I chose the coins because the Pardoner’s life revolves around using deception as a way to earn money.