The Pardoner's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer

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Buddha once said, that “To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life”. The Pardoner’s tale, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, underlined the main theme “radix malorum est cupiditas”, or that greed is the root of all evil. The Pardoner’s tale is an eccentric tale about three brothers, who succumb to the temptations of greed. In The Pardoner’s tale he referenced that the characters, or rioutours who exhibited these sins were men, because it would be unrealistic in that era to see women behave in that context. “The Pardoner’s Tale is rife with allusion to the doctrine of the resurrection of the body, and conversely to the association between the unredeemed dead and the corruption of the body” (Zatta); the Pardoner’s tale directly relates to sins and corruption of the body, such as swearing and drunkenness. Chaucer’s prologue sets the tone for the story, and emphasizes the theme with vices such as gluttony, gambling, and drunkenness.
Throughout history, many historians have written religious works that consist of absolving sins, or vices. The Canterbury tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, is a prime literary example of these types of works. A pilgrim who admits that he is greedy has written the exemplary tale of the three rioutours and false, Chaucer modeled the pardoner’s tale on Faus Semblant a notorious character in Le Roman De La Rosa (Dean). Le Roman De La Rosa is an allegorical poem of chivalric love that Geoffrey Chaucer used as a base for many of his writings that were very religious, and church oriented. Books during the crusades used to advocate cultural values, and religious concepts. It is common for authors to base their stories off other author’s works, even in today’s era.
In one of his most famou...

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...the reader with examples of historical events, and a vivid prologue, which describes the penances, received for committing these sins. Overall, The Pardoners Tale is a miraculous story in which it underlines the main theme “greed is the root of all evil”, and sets the tone for all upcoming stories.

Works Cited

Chaucer, Geoffrey, and Nevill Coghill. "The Pardoner's Tale." The Canterbury Tales. London: Penguin, 2003. 103-06. Print.
Dean, James. "'The Pardoner's Tale'." In Sauer, Michelle M. The Facts On File Companion to British Poetry before 1600. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 17 Apr. 2014
SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.
Rossignol, Rosalyn. "The Pardoner." Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 17 Apr. 2014
Zatta, Jane. "The Pardoner's Tale." The Pardoner's Tale. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.

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