The Pardoner’s Tale An Introduction

Background Pardoners sold pardons—official documents from Rome that pardoned a person’s sins. The Pardoner in Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales is dishonest. The Pardoner often preaches about how money is the root of all evil.

Making Inferences… How did Chaucer feel about the role of the Pardoner in society? There was widespread dissatisfaction with pardoners (and also with money-loving Friars) in Chaucer's time, and both were popular subjects of satire and joking.

Allegory and Irony “The Pardoner’s Tale” is an allegorical, satirical, and ironic conveyance of the greed of the church and the recognition that the church was corrupted during this time period.

Allegory Allegories are narratives that have both literal and deeper, symbolic meanings. If you notice a that a story is filled with symbols, you’re probably reading an allegory. This form appears in many types of work, including poetry, novels, plays, and short stories.

Exemplum “The Pardoner’s Tale” is a kind of allegory called an exemplum, which is Latin for “example.” The tale is an exemplum against the sin of greed, and the Pardoner uses his tale to illustrate the point of one of his sermons, “Love of money is the root of all evil.” In “The Pardoner’s Tale,” readers are exposed to the symbolic representation of the vices of humanity.

Archetypal Narrative Elements To teach its lesson effectively, an allegory must be easily understood. For this reason, an allegory may use certain basic storytelling patterns, or archetypal narrative elements found in folk literature around the world. Characters, events, and other things that come in threes. A test of characters’ morality A mysterious guide who helps point the way. A just ending that rewards good or punishes evil.

Irony Irony is a disconnect between expectations and reality. There are three types of irony: Situational Verbal Dramatic

Situational Irony Situational irony is when what actually happens is different from what you expect to happen.

Why is this Ironic?

Why is this Ironic?

Why is this Ironic?

Why is this Ironic?

Rainy days are my favorite. Verbal Irony In verbal irony, there is a conflict between what is said and what is meant. The opposite of what is said is meant. Rainy days are my favorite.

How is this Ironic? You work from six in the morning to six at night doing manual labor. You come home and say, “I just had the most amazing day!” A sales woman is rude to you. You turn to whoever you are with and say,“What pleasant lady.” Your friend steps in a pile of dog poop. You turn to her and say, “Aren’t you lucky!”

Dramatic Irony Dramatic Irony occurs when the reader (or audience) knows something that the character does not.

How is this Ironic? Scary music in a horror movie only the audience can hear, so we are prepared for what is to come while the characters are not. In Titanic, we know the boat is going to sink. The people on the boat are unaware of the actual dangers the iceberg presents.

Irony & Chaucer Chaucer uses all three types of irony in “The Pardoner’s Tale.” As we read, see if you can identify examples!