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The Introduction to the Pardoner's Tale. The wordes of the Hoost to the Phisicien and Pardoner. 287 Oure Hooste gan to swere as he were wood; Our Host began to swear as if he was crazy; 288 "Harrow!" quod he, "by nayles and by blood! "Alas!" said he, "by (Christ's) nails and by (His) blood! 289 This was a fals cherl and a fals justise.
- Chronology
1385-87 Chaucer writes "Palamoun and Arcite" (later used as...
- 1.2 The Knight's Tale
The Knight's Tale. Iamque domos patrias, Sithice post aspera...
- Chronology
- Summary: Introduction to The Pardoner’s Tale
- Summary: Prologue to The Pardoner’s Tale
- Summary: The Pardoner’s Tale
- Analysis: Introduction & Prologue to The Pardoner’s Tale & The Pardoner’s Tale
The Host reacts to the Physician’s Tale, which has just been told. He is shocked at the death of the young Roman girl in the tale, and mourns the fact that her beauty ultimately caused the chain of events that led her father to kill her. Wanting to cheer up, the Host asks the Pardonerto tell the group a merrier, farcical tale. The Pardoner agrees, ...
My theme is alwey oon, and evere was— Radix malorum est Cupiditas. After getting a drink, the Pardoner begins his Prologue. He tells the company about his occupation—a combination of itinerant preaching and selling promises of salvation. His sermon topic always remains the same: Radix malorum est Cupiditas, or “greed is the root of all evil.” He gi...
The Pardoner describes a group of young Flemish people who spend their time drinking and reveling, indulging in all forms of excess. After commenting on their lifestyle of debauchery, the Pardoner enters into a tirade against the vices that they practice. First and foremost is gluttony, which he identifies as the sin that first caused the fall of m...
We know from the General Prologue that the Pardoner is as corrupt as others in his profession, but his frankness about his own hypocrisy is nevertheless shocking. He bluntly accuses himself of fraud, avarice, and gluttony—the very things he preaches against. And yet, rather than expressing any sort of remorse with his confession, he takes a pervers...
Short Summary: The pardoner describes his professional tricks in his prologue and then delivers a sermon embodying an exemplum of three riotous young men, frequenters of a tavern, who set out to kill Death. They meet a mysterious old man and rudely demand that he tell them where death is.
Thinking that the pilgrims need a merry tale to follow, the Host turns to the Pardoner. The more genteel members of the company, fearing that the Pardoner will tell a vulgar story, ask the Pardoner for a tale with a moral. The Pardoner then explains to the pilgrims the methods he uses in preaching.
The Pardoner begins his tale after the host has asked for an uplifting story after the depressing account of the Physician. The Pardoner’s Prologue details his methods of swindling poor and fearful people in exchange for the “pardons” of sin he can bestow as a representative of the Church.
Prologue. The prologue takes the form of a literary confession in the same manner as The Wife of Bath's Prologue. [4] However, rather than an apology for his vices, the Pardoner boasts of his duping of his victims, for whom he has nothing but contempt. [4]
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