The Pardoners Prologue And Tale By Chaucer Essay

Geoffrey Chaucer’s â€Å"The Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale† is important because it demonstrates how someone with power can influence less intelligent and poor people for financial gain, which was relevant in society during the Middle Ages. In Chaucer’s story, the Pardoner uses his influence and tells a tale of three men to convince the people to pay for him to pardon their sins. Chaucer’s tale and story is often used to emphasize the moral values in our society. There are many points in the tale that are based on the theme of greed being the cause of all evil in humanity, and the Middle Ages was a period of great societal change in Europe. â€Å"The Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale† is a reflection of the society of the time, did break free of previous†¦show more content†¦This statement illustrates how important religion was in the Middle Ages and the influence it had over the people during this time in Europe. â€Å"In The Pard oner s Tale the mixed style is an instrument of the remarkable characterisation which finally dominates the poem. It is the very style of the Pardoner, who is the only pilgrim dramatically given literary powers comparable to those of Chaucer himself. The depth of the characterisation depends in part on the fact that in the Pardoner s mixed style, unlike in Chaucer s, the speaker is somehow made to fail in his irony. He turns out to be hardly humorous at allÍ ¾ his style rather deepens the curious blend of the grotesque and the pathetic already to be found in his portrait.† (Muscatine, pg. 24) The Pardoner in Chaucer’s story is reflective of the pardoners in society during the Middle Ages and their abusive use of their power over the church congregation. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales could also be seen as a break-through of previous constraints that created a new insight of society during the Middle Ages. Chaucer was an intelligent man whose writings showed insight into the church and its’ customs. In the tale, the pardoner is seen as someone who is fashionable with nice clothes and long hair, not the typical image of a poor monk. The Pardoner then goes on toShow MoreRelated The Rich Diversity of Meanings of the Pardoners Tale Essay5609 Words   |  23 PagesThe Rich Diversity of Meanings of the Pardoners Tale Chaucer’s innovation in the Pardoner’s performance tests our concept of dramatic irony by suggesting information regarding the Pardoner’s sexuality, gender identity, and spirituality, major categories in the politics of identity, without confirming that information. Our presumed understanding of the Pardoner as a character lacks substantiation. As we learn about the Pardoner through the narrator’s eyes and ears, we look to fit the nobleRead MoreCriticism of the Church in the Canterbury Tales1576 Words   |  7 PagesThe Canterbury Tales, a collection of tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, was written in Middle English at the end of the 14th century (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2011). It is considered to be the best work of literature in English in the Middle Ages (Johnston, 1998). 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