| Pardoners Tale Essay, Research Paper
The Pardoner’s Tale vs. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Throughout literature, relationships can often be found between the author of a story and the story that he writes. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s frame story, Canterbury Tales, many of the characters make this idea evident with the tales that they tell. A distinct relationship can be made between the character of the Pardoner and the tale that he tells. Through the Prologue to the Pardoner’s tale, the character of the Pardoner is revealed. Although the Pardoner displays many important traits, the most prevalent I think is his greed. Throughout the prologue, the Pardoner displays his greed and even admits that the only thing he cares about is money: “I preach nothing except for gain” (”Pardoner’s Tale”, Line 105). In the Pardoner’s tale, three friends begin a journey in order to murder Death. On their journey, though, an old man leads them to a great deal of treasure. At this point, all three of the friends in the tale display a greed similar to the Pardoner’s. The three friends decide that someone should bring bread and wine for a celebration. As the youngest of the friend’s leaves to go buy wine, the other two greedily plot to kill him so they can split the treasure only two ways. Even the youngest decides to “put it in his mind to buy poison, with which he might kill his two companions” (383, 384). The greed, which is evident in the character of the Pardoner, is also clearly seen in the tale. Another trait that is displayed by the Pardoner and a character in his tale is hypocrisy or insincerity. Although the Pardoner is extremely greedy, he continues to try and teach that “Avarice is the root of all evil” (6). As the tale begins, the friends all act very trustworthy and faithful towards all of their friends. They nobly make a decision to risk their lives while trying to slay their friend’s murderer. As they talk about their challenge, they pledge “to live and die each of them for the other, as if he were his own blood brother” (241-242). At the end of the tale, the “brothers” begin to reveal their true nature. They all turn on each other in an attempt to steal the treasure for themselves. All of the loyalty, which they had pledged, was simply a lie and no faithfulness remained. While the two older brothers plotted to kill the younger, the younger brother plotted to kill them both and never to repent (388). Thus, these so-called faithful brothers display their true ruthlessness and reveal their hypocrisy in relation to the Pardoner’s character. The characters in the “Pardoner’s Tale” match the unctuous nature of the Pardoner in a great deal of ways. All of these traits and ideas that are seen in both the Pardoner and the tale that he tells show a strong relationship in the two. I think that Chaucer used this technique in a lot of the tales that are recorded in Canterbury Tales. This technique gives a greater insight into the mind of the teller. By analyzing the tales, I think it is possible to learn much about the teller of the tale. Using this method, Chaucer also focuses on the characteristics of each of the people involved in Canterbury Tales, but also keeps the poem interesting. I think that there is an advantage by writing in this fashion, it shows the relationship of the writer to the characters in the story. It is kind of like you are actually in the story with the characters. I think it makes the story more imaginable. In Gawain and the Green Knight, I think that the author was writing the poem as if he were writing a book. Unlike the Pardoner’s Tale, the narrator in Sir Gawain is not as involved in the story as much. Personally, I chose Pardoner’s Tale as a better story. I found that in Gawain, the story is also not as personal either.
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