The Pardoner’s Tale ENG 400: British Literature Unit I – From Legend to History

Allegory and Exemplum  Allegory = narrative that has both a literal and a deeper (symbolic) meaning  Exemplum = allegorical anecdote (story) used to illustrate a point  Exemplum is Latin for “example.”  A clergyman giving a sermon would use such a story to drive home his/her main idea.  Note how the Pardoner uses the exemplum effectively, while utterly corrupting its meaning.

The Pardoner’s Message  The Pardoner’s favorite theme to preach is Radix malorum est cupiditas.  His story is an exemplum illustrating this theme. Radixmalorumestcupiditas. “Greed is the root of all evil.” root evil is greed

Archetype  Archetype = literary element or pattern that is repeated throughout literature (across time and culture)  Since archetypes follow a familiar pattern, they are easy for listeners to remember.  Examples  The Hero’s Journey  The battle between good and evil  Child breaking away from parent(s)  Lost heir/noble finding his/her true identity

Archetypal Narrative Elements  These four basic narrative elements can be found in stories from around the world. Characters, events, and other things that come in threesA test of the protagonist’s moral fiber A mysterious guide who helps point the way A fair ending where good is rewarded and evil is punished

Tracking Archetypal Narrative Elements Archetypal Narrative Element How It Appears in The Pardoner’s Tale Characters, events, and other things that come in threes A test of the protagonist’s moral fiber A mysterious guide who helps point the way A fair ending where good is rewarded and evil is punished

The Pardoner  The Pardoner is a traveling preacher who has the power to grant pardons.  In medieval times, a pardon was a document that officially granted God’s forgiveness for someone’s sins.  The Pardoner earns his money in three ways  selling pardons  selling fake holy relics, which were religious artifacts said to have certain powers  taking collections when he preaches  The Pardoner might earn in a day what an honest country parson would earn in a month.

The Pardoner’s Tale  First, the Pardoner begins with a prologue that outlines his scheme for extorting money from churchgoers.  Then, he tells a story (an exemplum) that he uses in his sermons to convince people to give him their money.  Note the difference between what the Pardoner says to churchgoers and what he does in his own life. How is he a hypocrite?

The Pardoner’s Tale: Vocabulary (n) pharmacist; druggist apothecary (adj) skillfully; with ease and quickness deftly (adj) white or gray with age hoary

The Pardoner’s Tale: Vocabulary continued... (n) unnatural lack of color; paleness pallor (v) walked at an unhurried pace sauntered (v) to delay or linger tarry

The Pardoner’s Tale: Vocabulary continued...  All three of these words basically mean greed. (n) desire to gain wealth avarice (n) greed, especially for what belongs to others covetousness (n) the strong feeling of wanting much more than you need cupidity