The Pardoner Character Analysis

I have chosen the Pardoner to expand on. In the prologue this character is described as having shoulder length, thin, yellow hair. He had bulging eyes and no facial hair. This might have been part of the reason that Chaucer judged him to be effeminate, describing him as “a gelding or a mare.” The pardoner is a member of the church, with the job of selling absolutions to the members of the church. This character could be a representation of one of the great controversies of the time regarding the Church. He shows what people believed to be the greed of the Church. He is a dishonest man in his position and was probably dishonest before obtaining the position of pardoner. He carries pardons and fake relics with him to sell. He brags about his smooth talking and ability to make money. He might have been the used car salesman of his time.
I image him rolling into town with song and rhyme calling the people to him. On line 692 we read about him singing loudly, “Come hither, love, come home!” In my imagination, he calls people forward and says, “I know what troubles you and I have just the cure.” Maybe he sees a young man and calls him forward, convincing the man that he knows of his impure thoughts and for a small price he will no longer have to fear. He sees people with infirmities and calls to them with the power of a relic. The suggestion that the power of “Our Lady’s veil” (line 715) could make everything all well. I see him after his show counting his money and smiling because he “made monkeys of the priest and congregation.” (Line