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Chaucer's The Pardoner's Tale

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Some critics regard the character Pardoner as a virtuous man who carries out itinerant preaching and sells promises of salvation, but after a profound analysis of the Pardoner's tale, it is clearly understood that this ironic man, full of lies and fake behaviors, is a real villain. The Physician tells a dramatic tale and the Host reacts to it because he doesn't love the theme that a young Roman girl died due to the fact that her beauty caused a lot of bad events leading her father to kill her. The Host wants to get rid of this sorrowful atmosphere and requests Pardoner to tell them a cheerful story. Pardoner agrees on condition that he eats and drinks first. On the other hand, other pilgrims want to hear a moral story rather than a comic one, the Pardoner accepts the offer and begins his Prologue. At first, he shows his formal documents and the Pope's seal in order to guarantee himself if a student or a priest attacks to his sayings. Then he starts to tell his tales and he shares the fetwas of priests, cardinals, patriarches and bishops in order to make people believe his tales. Even the language he uses is fake and insincere. He sometimes utters some Latin words just to influence people. Many so-called pardoners had forged documents (as Chaucer's Pardoner almost certainly has), and were complete impostors, simply making money for themselves- and very efficiently. The common folk and clergy had no means of knowing whether these pardoners were genuine or not. As a class, they were noted for their lechery and gluttony (which Chaucer's Pardoner clearly displays) and, as Pope Clement V complained, they lied about miracles and pretented the bones of animals were those of the saints and martyrs. They could only do this because genuine relics (or relics which were honestly believed to be genuine) were used in genuine appeals- again what false pardoners did was a ghastly parody of what was really pious, indicates Charles Moseley. He has long, crystal bottles full of bones, rags, tatters and he introduces these useless things as holy relics to sell them and gain money. He advises people

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