FEATURED ESSAYS 1. The Pardoner And The "Brothers" 2. The Pardoner: Chaucer's Religions... 3. Pardoners Tale 4. The Pardoner's Tale: Irony 5. Chaucers The Pardoner 6. In The Mind Of The Pardoner 7. Views Of The Church In The Canter... 8. The Canterbury Tales 9. The Canterbury Tales 10. The Pardoners Tale 11. Character Personalities In The Ca... 12. The Canterbury Tales And The P 13. Canterbury Tales 2 14. The Pardoner: "The Root Of All Ev...

The Pardoner and The "Brothers"

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 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). 
This avarice is seen strongly in the Pardoner's tale as well.  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 friends 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.   Although the Pardoner is extremely greedy, he continues to
try and teach that "Avarice is the root of all evil" (6).  The characters
in his tale display great hypocrisy as well.  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 "brother"
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.  Chaucer used this technique in all 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, it is
possible to learn much about the teller of the tale.  Using this method,
Chaucer focuses on the characteristics of each of the people involved in
Canterbury Tales, but also keeps the poem interesting.