Pardoner's Tale Discussion Questions

How does the Pardoner describe his own character and morals in the Prologue?

He admits to being a greedy fraud. He tells the audience that his relics are fakes, yet he stills sells them to people.

Situational irony is a discrepancy between expectations and reality. identify at least 3 ironic situations in the pardoner's tale

-the three brothers go on a hunt to kill death, but end up being killed themselves -the pardoner tells the people that the relics are fake, yet he asks if anyone wants to buy some -brothers run into the old man who wants to die

What moral does the Pardoner want us to draw from his tale?

He wants the readers to realize the danger of greed and how it kills people. Money is the root of all evil

The poor old man keeps asking for Death to take him, but he never does. What do you think the poor old man symbolizes, and why?

The old man symbolizes death, because he is portrayed as disgusting and rotting.

Why are the three young rioters looking for Death?

The three rioters are sitting in a tavern, and they see a coffin containing a corpse. This causes them inquire about the person in the coffin, and they find out it is their former friend. They then start to think of all the other times in which Death "has made away with all [their] friends" (94). The rioters believe that Death is the cause of all of their friends deaths, and they therefore seek to get revenge and kill Death.

What do the 3 rioters want from the old man? Where does the old man tell the three rioters to look for death?

They want directions to Death and he tells them to go under the tree and they'll find him.

What moral do you think Chaucer wants you to draw from the Pardoner's tale?

Chaucer also wants us to realize that supposedly holy members of the Church can be evil and corrupt like the Pardoner. They are also hypocritical and abuse its own followers.

Satire is a literary composition in which human shortcomings or faults are ridiculed. What do you think Chaucer is satirizing in the Pardoner's tale?

Chaucer satirizes the fact that a person is telling a story about the importance of not being greedy. However, the pardoner himself is greedy. Chaucer is satirizing the fact that the church goes against its own statements.

How do the tavern knave and the publican, who tell the rioters at the tavern about how people are dying, personify death? In other words, how do they use personification to describe death?

Death is talked about as a privy-thief who steals lives by the knave and publican.

The tavern knave and the publican tell the rioters that Death has been killing many people lately. Through what method has Death been killing all of these people?

Death kills people with the plague.

Describe the rioters plan for the gold

One went to get bread and wine from a tavern, and the other two planned to kill him when he got back. They did, and one planned to kill the other with poisoned wine. They both went to celebrate after killing the first, and they both drank the poison and died.

How do you account for the psychology of the Pardoner? Is he truly evil, simply drunk, or so used to cheating that he does it automatically?

The Pardoner admits that he is motivated by avarice, the very sin he preaches against. He is a professional swindler who routinely manipulates his audience to make money, as demonstrated by the fact that he frankly admits his motives before telling his tale but after telling it immediately seeks to extract money. The Pardoner appears to cheat automatically.

Why do the Pardoner and the Host quarrel at the end of the tale? Who patches up their quarrel?

The Pardoner believes that he deserves money, so he asks the Host to pay his due. The Host declines to pay when he says, "of Christ descend upon me if I do" pay (319). The Knight then breaks up the quarrel and gets the Pardoner and the Host to kiss and resolve the fight.

How did you respond to the Pardoner's tale itself, and to the fact that it was told by a man of the Pardoner's character?

t is ironic that the tale was told by a greedy man when the moral of the story is to not be greedy