Preview

Similarities Between The Prologue And The Pardoner's Tale

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
274 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Similarities Between The Prologue And The Pardoner's Tale
In both the Pardoner’s Prologue and the Pardoner’s Tale there are various examples of imagery, in the Pardoner’s Prologue, the host asks the pardoner to tell a funny story to cheer everyone up after the physician’s gloomy tale. The Pardoner describes his lifestyle, revealing his true cynical character. He goes on to state that most sermons come from evil intentions, therefore, he should be able to make money from his audiences even if he is only citing the bible and philosophy to inspire his audience out of greed. On the other hand, the Pardoner’s tale is about three selfish men, who die because of their cupidity. Uniquely, both stories are centered around avarice and death. In both the prologue and the tale there are crucial images of death.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The allusion between Chaucer’s “Pardoner’s Tale” and the article is accurate. The governor is like the pardoner, he doesn't pardon anyone for his entire first term and no one in his second term until the last minute. The pardoner preached against greed, yet he was handing out “confessions” if you paid. Oh, the hypocrisy of the Medieval Catholic Church.…

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    It has been stated that “greed is the root of all evil” and the Pardoner even preaches this in his sermon that he preaches each and every time and has down by memory. In the prologue that the Pardoner gives of himself, he states that “I preach, as you have heard me say before, And tell a hundred lying mockeries more. I take great pains, and stretching out my neck To east and west I crane about and peck Just like a pigeon sitting on a barn. My hands and tongue together spin the yarn And all my antics are a joy to see. The curse of avarice and cupidity Is all my sermon, for it frees the pelf. Out come the pence, and specially for myself, For my exclusive purpose is to win And not at all to castigate their sin. Once dead what matter how their souls may fare? They can go blackberrying, for all I care!” What the Pardoner is pretty much saying is that he preaches against greed and doing things for self gain, yet he turns around and does his preaching for greed and gain. He can make money off of the individuals that are brought to him so he can forgive them of their sins. The Pardoner says that this whole thing is like a game to him and he doesn’t honestly care what happens to people’s souls after they die. He only wants to make money and benefit at the expense of other individuals. There is extreme satire in the preaching’s of the Pardoner. He doesn’t…

    • 1886 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Although the Pardoner deceives the public, he still confesses his sin "the very vice / [He] makes [his] living out of – avarice" (243). The Pardoner openly admits how much he values wealth over religion by "preaching" against “the very vice” – avarice. Similar to the Wife of Bath, the Pardoner seems “proud” of himself for beguiling innocent people. It is also evident from his tone that he does not believe in religion, but in wealth. Moreover, the Pardoner unambiguously states to the pilgrims, "Let me preach and beg from kirk to kirk / And never do an honest job of work...I mean to have money..." (244). The Pardoner, again, is open about his dishonesty and implies he will “never” be honest in his profession as his only goal is “to have money” despite how sacred his work is. His "work" is to con people of their money by selling pardons and artificial items. Hence, in “The Pardoner’s Tale”, an ethic that was delineated is that corruption, due to cupidity, is present in an infinite number of people, including religious officials, because they act out of arrogance rather than…

    • 1296 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Pardoner’s Tale,” the Pardoner serves as a moral exemplum in that his drunken and greedy habits highlight an opposite path of righteousness. The Pardoner embraces his love of wealth and alcohol however, and emerges as an exemplum of transparency in addition to sin. The Pardoner is in fact a skilled preacher who uses language to persuasively advertise his false relics. He specifically personifies medieval rhetoric, or the use of poetic tropes such as metaphor and exemplum to elevate speech and sway his audience. This elevation occurs at the expense of transparency however, as the Pardoner’s decorative rhetoric veils his speech with layers of symbolism and subjective interpretation. The Pardoner’s language therefore…

    • 1341 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the Pardoner's Tale, Chaucer writes about a man who preaches to his audience for money. The pardoner speaks of three men that lost their lives due to greed. This leaves the reader with the knowledge that money is the root of all evil. I think the whole world is nothing compare to the pardoner's greed. The pardoner admits that his job is not to encourage people to become better from sin, but to make himself rich. According to the text “but let me briefly make my purpose plain, I preach for nothing by for greed of gain”. Also he even goes so far as to say that he would steal from the poorest page, the widow and even a starving child if it meant that he would gain from the process.…

    • 450 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Pardoner’s Tale is a story of three incredibly sinful rioters who make a pact to uncover the face of Death. It is a moral tale that exposes the consequences of unholy acts: primarily greed. Thus the story begins and the three men cross paths with an old man who is unable to die, and upon request, points the men in the direction of Death in which they seek. Though the men believe they have stumbled upon wealth and riches, their sinful greed ironically brings them to find what they initially set out to find:…

    • 490 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To begin, the Pardoner opened his tale by describing the actions of three men, who heard of a reaper-like figure terrorizing the town. As they set out to locate it, the stumbled across a large sum of gold coins and decided to share it evenly. They devised a plan to take the gold, but decided to have one-member return home and retrieve bread and wine and then take the gold home at night so wouldn’t…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To begin with, the rioters in the Pardoner’s Tale have shown greediness because at one point in the story they considered betrayal so that they could stay with the gold that was under the tree. The rioters were leaded to their death by the old man which represented Death, Death was the one that showed them to their death only because they wanted all the gold that was under…

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Great Gatsby

    • 3144 Words
    • 13 Pages

    The complexities of love and desire are repeatedly illustrated in all three texts. Shakespeare, Fitzgerald and Duffy depict the destructive nature of love and desire through the themes of greed, selfishness and obsession. These are conveyed through metaphors, similes and personification. The most prominent technique used by all the writers to demonstrate the power of love and desire as destructive is the use of foreshadowing and imagery; however, the desired effect of these techniques differs across the three texts.…

    • 3144 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pardoner's Tale

    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Geoffrey Chaucer was the man who wrote “The Canterbury Tales” and one of his most famous stories is the “Pardoner’s Tale”. “Each historical study of The Canterbury Tales has necessarily nibbled off one on aspect of history, finding in medieval thought a dominant idea, technique, pattern, or style which may be discovered in the poem” (Howard 4). Giving context clues on Chaucer gives small examples of what it was like living during the Medieval Times. Each story was given a message is meant to change the audience’s mind. Greed can ruin a strong relationship between anyone no matter what the circumstances were between them. Hillary Clinton’s speech “Remarks to the U.N. 4th World Conference on Women Plenary Session” was about how women…

    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout history parables have permeated every culture. Mostly, it has been seen in religious texts. For example, there is the Bible, Qur 'an, and Rig-Veda. Most of their history was passed down orally. Today 's society is lucky enough to have the printing press which gives people many stories to read and think about. Two of these stories that are related to parables are "The Lottery" and "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas". Both of these stories use allegory which are hidden in interesting waysIn "The Lottery" and "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas", the beautiful scene at the beginning of these two short stories along with the dark underbelly endings shows that we are inherently evil. It is no surprise that each story starts on a warm sunny day, a day when characters in a story should fall in love. The author of "The Lottery" begins her tale on June twenty seventh. The characters in the story gather round in groups while talking and gossiping. The tone of the story suggests that some underlying excitement is stirring within the townspeople. One cannot grasp the evil waiting in the hearts of the Characters until till the end of the story upon which a woman is stoned to death by everyone in the town, including her family. "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" is another story in which a beautiful sunny day turns into despair and hopelessness. The author of "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" writes to convince one that this utopian society does not feel guilty in the least. When one discovers the child in the broom closet, one will become aware that the whole of this utopian society depends on this child 's suffering. Contrary to what the author wrote in the beginning of the story, the people of Omelas do feel guilt but they justify that guilt by saying the child suffers for the good of the people.…

    • 772 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The pardoner is a priest whom most people think of as being honest and respectful, however, in reality he is a hypocrite whom takes advantage of the less fortunate and plays with their emotions. The pardoner lived off the money of the church people whom believed in him and his beliefs. He took advantage of their vulnerability and used their weakness to obtain more goods for his own personal gain. The pardoner is thought of without sin but in reality is the most sinful person of them all. This tale allows us readers to see that nobody can be trusted.…

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prologue

    • 303 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Roger’s sin for seeking revenge is worse than Hester and Arthur’s adultery sin because Roger took it upon himself to seek justice in an inhumane way that lead to the death of Arthur, Pearl without a father, and Hester alone to raise Pearl without the love of her life.…

    • 303 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this particular short story, a group of themes were portrayed. He uses the unpredictability of human conduct, use of dramatic irony, the ironic use of fate, restraint and suspense, and many more. He uses the unpredictability of human conduct by making the servant run from his actions. He symbolizes that we as humans tend to run from our problems. He uses the dramatic use of fate by making death have an appointment with him in the exact place he is running to…

    • 492 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The narrator opens the General Prologue with a description of the return of spring. He describes the April rains, the burgeoning flowers and leaves, and the chirping birds. Around this time of year, the narrator says, people begin to feel the desire to go on a pilgrimage. Many devout English pilgrims set off to visit shrines in distant holy lands, but even more choose to travel to Canterbury to visit the relics of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, where they thank the martyr for having helped them when they were in need. The narrator tells us that as he prepared to go on such a pilgrimage, staying at a tavern in Southwark called the Tabard Inn, a great company of twenty-nine travelers entered. The travelers were a diverse group who, like the narrator, were on their way to Canterbury. They happily agreed to let him join them. That night, the group slept at the Tabard, and woke up early the next morning to set off on their journey. Before continuing the tale, the narrator declares his intent to list and describe each of the members of the group.…

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays