Irony Within the Pardoner’s Tale – Essay – Jewelluman
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Irony Within the Pardoner’s Tale
Jewel Luman
Mrs. Huebbe
English
24 October, 2018
Irony within The Pardoner’s Tale
Geoffory Chaucer’s use of satire throughout The Canterbury Tales was intended to draw attention to the prevalent issues in society. In The Pardoner’s Tale, Chaucer exposes the irony within the works of the catholic clergy and the bastardization of the church. The reader views the Pardoner as a greedy, unremorseful, deceiving, con-man, concerned only with his financial stability. The Pardoner’s character represents the corruption of the church and Catholic clergy.

In The Pardoner’s Prologue, the Pardoner makes it clear that the purpose of his preaching was against the love of money, claiming it to be the root of all evil. Following that statement by professing that he preaches only for gain, not out of concern for the souls of people. The Pardoner quotes “And thus I preach against the very vice/I make my living out of – avarice/And yet however guilty of that sin Myself/with others I have the power to win…” (ln 85-88). This quote highlights the ironic nature of The Pardoner himself, revealing his own sinful motives, and preaching against the very vice he practices. He preaches the repentance of greed despite his own hypocrisy.

After the Pardoner concludes his hypocritical statements in response to avarice, he begins to tell The Pardoner’s Prologue. A tale of three rioters on a quest to kill death who succumb to their own greed, eventually leading to their demise. Ironically the rioters intend to kill evil, when evil is within themselves in the form of greed. In the Pardoner’s story he quotes “These three, to live and die for one another/As brother-born might swear to his born brother/And up they started in their drunken rage/And made towards this village which the page and publican had spoken of before” (ln 43-47). The rioters believe that they are on some sort of noble mission, when in

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“Irony Within the Pardoner’s Tale” EssaysForStudent.com. 11 2018. 2018. 11 2018 < "Irony Within the Pardoner’s Tale." EssaysForStudent.com. EssaysForStudent.com, 11 2018. Web. 11 2018. < "Irony Within the Pardoner’s Tale." EssaysForStudent.com. 11, 2018. Accessed 11, 2018. Essay Preview By: Jewelluman Submitted: November 5, 2018 Essay Length: 543 Words / 3 Pages Paper type: Essay Views: 586 Report this essay Tweet Related Essays The Wife of Bath and the Pardoner’s Tale The Wife of Bath and the Pardoner’s Tale The Wife of Bath is a very interesting woman, her views on life and god are true 541 Words  |  3 Pages Irony in Canterbury Tales Irony is a form of speech in which the real meaning is concealed or contradicted by the words used. There are three tales that are 922 Words  |  4 Pages Irony in “the Pardoner's Tale” Many tales are told in Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. Probably the greatest on is “The Pardoner’s Tale”. A greedy Pardoner who preaches to feed his 510 Words  |  3 Pages Pardoner’s Tale Two stories from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales that serve as excellent demonstrations of society today are “The Pardoners Tale” and “The Nun's Priest's Tale.” Although these 644 Words  |  3 Pages Similar Topics Scribes Tale Martha Ballard Midwives Tale Get Access to 89,000+ Essays and Term Papers Join 209,000+ Other Students High Quality Essays and Documents Sign up © 2008–2020 EssaysForStudent.comFree Essays, Book Reports, Term Papers and Research Papers Essays Sign up Sign in Contact us Site Map Privacy Policy Terms of Service Facebook Twitter

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