Society is a place where individual and group behaviors are bred. Some institutions especially churches have a greater role in defining right and wrong behavior. The church has a preacher who has a duty of preaching against wrong behavior and preaching for the right behavior. The Pardoner’s Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer demonstrates the common behaviors in our current society. The Pardoner gives a sermon to teach his congregation on the dangers of money and greed. This tale is directly applicable to our society because it shows what goes on among the people. This literary analysis of the tale will seek to teach the society how money and greed can be the roots to all evil.
The Pardoner himself is greedy for money and declares it before the congregation “And thus I preach against the vice. I make my living out of –avarice” (Chaucer, n.d: Line 23). The pardoner is someone who has been given the responsibility to preach against the bad and should lead by example. On the contrary, his love for money blinds him to the extent that he declares it and even says how he gets his riches from old and poor people (Line 45). The current society has people with the same character who get their fortune from the poor and they do not care about what they do.
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The love for money leads to the oppression of the poor. The pardoner talks about how he gets his riches from the poorest, the widows and the disadvantaged in society. I believe he had enough for himself but he went ahead to get more from the poor people who have more than enough problems to take care of “though she had a string of starving children to take care of” (Line 47). A greedy person is so selfish and will go on to take the last thing that a poor person has.
The greed and love for money also leads the three friends to steal “If one could only get the gold away” (Line 181). The three friends went out to look for death so they can destroy it. They meet an old man who directs them on where to find death but instead they find gold coins under the tree. They plot on how to get the gold away in a way that people cannot see them. They imagine the good life they will lead from the fortune. They have abandoned their duty and instead want to steal the gold because of the greed they have. People will always want to get away with something when someone is not looking because of the greed they have.
The greed and love for money leads to murder. The people who found the gold coins cannot take the fortune home during daylight and hence wait for darkness. During the wait, they send the youngest to get ‘wine and bread’ (Line 196) to keep them busy. As he goes, the two plan on how they will kill him so they can share the fortune between themselves (Line 212). They have a plan and are waiting for him so they can kill him. He comes back with the wine and they end up killing him. The society has people who will do anything including murder so they get the money or the riches they want.
On the hand, the younger person who was sent also plans to kill the two people he left behind to have all the gold for himself. He plans to poison them through the wine “that with poison he could kill his friends” (Line 246). He mixes the poison with two bottles of wine and goes back to his friends. When he arrives, he is killed first before the two celebrate with the wine and end up dying too. This scene also shows the extent people will go to get what they want, out of lust.
In conclusion, greed and love for money is the root of all evil in the society. People will kill for money. They will also go ahead to oppress the poor and declare it before people because they are blinded with their greed. Kindness and caring for each other can reduce the greed and love for money observed in society.
Reference
Chaucer, G. (n.d). The Pardoner’s Tale. The Canterbury Tales. 141-153. Retrieved November 26, 2016 from http://www.bg.k12.ky.us/userfiles/1049/The_Pardoners_Tale%20textbook%20pages.pdf
