![]() In his prologue, the Pardoner says that he makes sure that his voice rings out “as round as goes a bell” ( Pardoner’s Prologue, l. Instead of a church bell, the three revelers hear the clink of a bell announcing that a corpse is going to his grave. The story itself begins with three drunkards sitting in a tavern just before the hour of prime, which is the first of the liturgical hours, when worshipers would usually hear a church bell calling them to prayer. The Pardoner starts his tale with a short sermon against three sins of appetite – gluttony, gambling, and blasphemy – and announces that his moral will be the same one he always uses: Radix malorum est cupiditas (Greed is the root of all evil). Normally, these rites would prepare them to meet Death, but in their case, the inverted liturgy deadens their senses and arouses their lusts. As we’ll see, the three revelers in his tale go through all the rites of worship in their quest to kill Death. It’s striking, then, that the Pardoner’s tale is so strong a warning against the unrepentant sinner. He is rampantly unrepentant, so repulsively hypocritical that the garrulous Host says that he’d rather cut off the Pardoner’s testicles and enshrine them in a hog’s turd than kiss one of his so-called holy relics. For all he knows or cares, the souls go blackberry picking ( Pardoner’s Prologue, l. Despite granting pardon to people in every town so that they can enter Heaven (as long as they pay up), he says that he has no idea what happens to the soul after death. The Pardoner, on the other hand, the “one lost soul,” asks for no forgiveness for his sins, even though he fully admits that he is taking advantage of people left and right. ![]() It begins with new life ( General Prologue, ll.1-8) and ends with a final judgment (the Parson’s tale), followed, hopefully, by absolution through repentance and grace. Combined with Chaucer’s famous retraction at the end of the book, which reads like a last will and testament, the Parson’s comment suggests that the pilgrimage, along with the entire collection of stories, can be read as a symbol of the journey every man and woman must take through life. Despite his many flaws, they embrace the pardoner-in-chief and trust him to guide them on their journey.Out of all the characters in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, the Pardoner has been called the “one lost soul.” The pious Parson, who closes out the collection of tales with a sermon on the seven deadly sins and how a sinner can absolve himself of them, connects the journey to Canterbury with “that perfect glorious pilgrimage / That is called Jerusalem celestial” ( Parson’s Tale, ll. But many 21st-century Americans more resemble the Knight than the Innkeeper. The Reformation caught fire because millions of the faithful believed the sale of indulgences was a symptom of pervasive immorality in Europe’s most sacred institution. Is Trump trying to persuade them not to cooperate with the special prosecutor because he will pardon them should they ever be convicted of perjury or contempt? Like Chaucer’s pardoner, who confessed to bilking the gullible poor even if their unfortunate children starved, Trump seems indifferent to the plight of the poor, of which his support for cutting some welfare programs and separating refugee children from their families are but two examples.Īs far as we know, our pardoner-in-chief hasn’t yet sold any indulgences, but he has publicly dangled pardons in front of his associates. They excuse him as a sinner undergoing redemption - though few signs of contrition are visible. Still, our pardoner-in-chief remains popular among a substantial minority of Americans despite his moral and ethical lapses. Like the pardoner, Trump has made no secret of his sexual profligacy and shady business dealings. Tellingly, the other pilgrims accepted the pardoner as merely a fellow sinner, save for the innkeeper, who threatened to castrate him, until the knight persuaded the two men to make up for the sake of a peaceful pilgrimage. even if her children should die of hunger.” I will have money, wool, cheese and wheat although it were given by the poorest servant boy or by the poorest widow. ![]() "For my intention is only to make a profit and not at all for correction of sin. When the ignorant people are set down, I preach … and tell a hundred false tales … of avarice and … cursedness … to make them generous to give their pennies … unto me. “By this trick I have won, year after year,” he bragged, “a hundred marks. In addition to selling indulgences, he peddled fake holy relics guaranteed to cure poxes, purify wells or persuade a husband to forgive his wife for sleeping with her priest. The pardoner was well-qualified on the subject.
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