Essay on Chaucers Canterbury Tales - Evil Exposed in The Pardoners Ta

The Root of Evil Exposed in The excusers tale The root of all evil is money. Because this phrase has been repeated so umteen times through knocked out(p) history, one can fail to realize the fairness in this timeless statement. Whether applied to the debauch clergy of Geoffrey Chaucers time, selling indulgences, or the corrupt televangelists of today, auctioning off salvation to those who can afford it, this truth never assurems to tolerate its validity. In Chaucers famous work The Canterbury Tales, he points out many constitutive(a) flaws of human nature, all of which still apply today. Many things have changed since the fourteenth century, but humans ability to act foolish is not one of them. peradventure the best example of this is illustrated in The Pardoners Tale. His account of three rioters who set out to conquer Death and instead deliver it upon each other, as intumesce as the prologue which precedes the tale, reveal the truthfulness of the aforementioned statement as it applies to humanity in general and the Pardoner himself. Before he even begins his tale, the Pardoner delivers a sort of disclaimer, informing the pilgrims of his practices within the church. The Pardoner was an expert at exploiting parishioners guilt for his financial gain. He sold them various relics that supposedly ripened ailments ranging from sick cattle to jealousy. And if the relics didnt seem to work, it was obviously because of the sinful man or woman who purchased them, and no fault of the Pardoner. He had a few lines he would routinely say to his potential customers Good men and women, heres a tidings of of... ...aucer does a great job of pointing out flaws of human nature, as nearly as the hypocrisy of organized religion. He shows in several ship canal that money is indeed the root of evil. In addition to the obvious marrow of The Pardoners Tale, Chaucer also paints a vivid picture of the Pardoners character and uses this to still rein force his point. By examining both The Pardoners Tale and the Pardoner himself, it isnt hard to see that the statement continues to ring true just as it did 500 years ago The root of evil is money. Works Cited and Consulted Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Pardoners Prologue and Tale. In The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H. Abrams et al. sixth ed. 1 vol. New York Norton. 1164-178. French, Robert Dudley. A Chaucer Handbook, 2nd ed. New York Appleton hundred Crofts Inc., 1955.