Pardoners Tale Essays (Examples)

Chaucer's CANTERBURY TALES (General Prologue)

One of Chaucer's great character descriptions is of the Pardoner:

a.) What image suggests his lack of manliness and his effeminacy? Why do you think Chaucer would portray the Pardoner this way?

The Pardoner makes his living in an unmanly way, through wit and guile rather than true trade. The pardoner is described as a gelding or a mare, like an animal that cannot reproduce.

b.) A goat is usually considered a lecherous animal. What image associates the Pardoner with a goat? Why does Chaucer depict him thusly?

The Pardoner's goat-like beard, eyes, and hair suggest a man who is still driven by desire, but by a perverted rather than a healthy form of sexual desire -- in the Pardoner's case he is driven by a desire for money and physical satisfactions of good and drink as a replacement for sexuality.

c.) What images does…

hile the tale is succesful in illustrating it point, it does not stand up to the test of sentence and solas the way "The Oxford Scholar's Tale" does.

The Miller's Tale" is a wonderful tale that exposes courtly love through mockery. This tale is unconventional in that it is not one of happy matrimony. True love and respect are disparaged in practically every way. From this tale, we might assume that bad behavior goes unpunished and, in some cases, unnoticed because Alison and Absalon never receive punishment for their behavior. In addition, the two humiliate John and he is never allowed an opportunity to redeem himself. The Tale is not devoid of humor with its two tales of love. Nicholas' relationship with John and the joke of the flood is definitely entertaining as well as Absalon's persistence in getting Alison's attention. He goes beyond human limits to win her hart…

311).

In contrast to bolstering the position of any specific class of society, in the Canterbury Tales Chaucer's method of story telling refuses to take sides: a tale by a knight is deflated by that of a miller, and the miller's wit is undercut by his drunkenness. hile many critics have commented upon the ironic contrast between the Chaucerian teller of the tales and their content, such as the greedy Pardoner who condemns money as the root of all evil, this irony is also evident within the pilgrim's tales, even the funny miller's tale (Spearing 2001). Those who know best are shown to know least, and the man who tries to control his wife is shown to be the most out-of-control.

orks Cited

Blamires, Alcuin. "Philosophical sleaze? The 'strok of thought' in the 'Miller's Tale' and Chaucerian fabliau." The Modern Language Review. 102. 3 (July 2007), 621-640.

Heffernan, Carol Falvo.…

The ible, he argued, cites the creation of Eve for Adam as proof that a wife is man's support, as well as many other examples of humble and devoted wives.

The knight told his brother that he desired a young wife, who was no older than thirty, for she would be more pliable. Placebo cautioned that it takes great courage for an older man to marry a young woman (Classic Notes, 2004). He warned him that a young woman who married an older man may have ulterior motives, which the man would never know until he was married. Despite the fact Placebo has a wonderful wife, he understands what faults she has and advises January to be aware of who he marries.

The brothers argue about the merits of marriage, with Placebo predicting that January would not please his wife for more than three years, but Placebo eventually agrees to…

Wife Bath: Feminism Chaucer

Chaucer appears to create the Wife of Bath shine intentionally from the rest of the characters in the novel; she has been possibly one of his most controversial figures since her contradictions as to what she states and just what she does. The writer's formation of her character offers one significant objective which has been to surprise his readers. Chaucer chooses to consider each and every bad attribute that ladies were thought to have in those times and also the outcome has been Alisoun. This kind of vivacity and boldness had been seldom observed in female fictional figures of that era (Oberembt 287).

The Wife Bath: Feminism Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales had been written towards the end of the Fourteenth century, however it was left incomplete. It has been setup as numerous stories within one story. The primary frame has been a travelling crowd…

Friar and the Pardoner in Chaucer's "General Prologue"

The Friar and the Pardoner represent in Chaucer's "General Prologue" two ironic figures: they are meant to be examples of faith and virtue to secular society (the friar is a monk without a monastery -- a priest who administers the sacraments of the Church to the faithful; and the pardoner is an agent of the Church, offering indulgences to sinners who repent and wish to receive the indulgence in exchange for a donation to the pardoner, who is supposed to convey it to the Church). Both should be symbols of goodness -- yet Chaucer uses them to show the depth of corruption and complacency that had entered into the Church by the 15th century. The Pardoner sells indulgences and turns the Church, which should be a spiritual institution reflecting the ord of God and the purity of Christ, into a cheap pawn…

Contrary to the common image of the 'damsel in distress' women often play a very active role in medieval literature. In "The Wife of Bath's Tale," the Wife tells the story of a crafty old witch who manages to break a spell that forces the sorceress to appear ugly during the day. The moral of the "Wife of Bath's Tale" is that men should show deference to their wives, and not merely strive to rule the roost alone. Even "The Miller's Tale" shows a woman happily engaging in lustful adultery, and demanding sexual satisfaction in her marriage.

In the Decameron, women are less apt to take central roles in the narratives than in "The Canterbury Tales," although they feature prominently as storytellers. When women do appear in the Decameron, women are either innocents who are seduced, as in the case of story I.4, or they act to curtail male passion…

Madam Eglantyne the Nun, is also an ironic charater. She eats in a very refined manner and attempts other fine characteristics such as speaking French, although she fares poorly at this. Ironically, not all her language is pure, as she swears cosntantly by "St. Loy," a saint renowned for not swearing. Unlike the general conception of the Nun, she is very concerned with outward appearances and did not much care for human beings. Indeed, she cared much more for her three dogs than the human beings around her. Another irony is that she has a coral trinket to fight worldly temptations, which is clearly failing badly.

A second character is the Friar, Hubert. While he is jolly, merry, and festive, his actions are nevertheless evil and cunning. He impregnates girls, for example, and marries them off. He deceived the faithful by hearing confessions for a fee, and even begged from…

It is his own acknowledgment of his glory and honor that allows him to stand as an example to future generations. Folk epics are not meant only to recall historical details, but also to inspire modern heroes; the world of Beowulf and the world for which it was written both required strong heroes who knew the honor and righteousness of their actions.

Beowulf is more than the story of a hero's life, journey and adventures, and death. It is the story of a type of person and a people that the author and original readers of Beowulf felt an intimate longing for. As a folk epic, the tale of Beowulf is meant to draw people together in a common history, and to inspire them to the same types of glory that the heroes of the past achieved. Its purpose is to achieve solidarity in the admiration of a common hero,…

Your answer should be at least five sentences long.

The Legend of Arthur

Lesson 1 Journal Entry # 9 of 16

Journal Exercise 1.7A: Honor and Loyalty

1. Consider how Arthur's actions and personality agree with or challenge your definition of honor. Write a few sentences comparing your definition (from Journal 1.6A) with Arthur's actions and personality.

2. Write a brief paragraph explaining the importance or unimportance of loyalty in being honorable.

Lesson 1 Journal Entry # 10 of 16

Journal Exercise 1.7B: Combining Sentences

Complete the Practice Activity on page 202 of your text. After completing this activity, read over your Essay Assessment or another journal activity you've completed.

* Identify three passages that could be improved by combining two or more sentences with coordinating or subordinating conjunctions. Below the practice activity in your journal, write the original passages and the revised sentences you've created.

* Be sure to…

Interestingly, although Raskolnikov's punishment comes before the end of the novel, only after he is banished to Siberia is he able to truly let God into his heart. This shows how earthly punishment and salvation are not always linked. The novel ends with him throwing himself upon Sofia's mercy, as she finally understands that he has accepted God into his heart and been redeemed.

Although no figure is Christ-like in the novel, Sofia acts like a figure of wisdom and a facilitator of Raskolnikov's faith. She inspires him to reject secular philosophy for God, as philosophy and his intellect cannot save him, only religion. Although Sofia has no education, she is depicted as wiser than most of the learned men in the novel. Sofia hears Raskolnikov's first confession of his crime, before the authorities. Unlike the anonymous authors of Beowulf, for Dostoevsky true heroism is sacrifice and repentance, not manifesting…

This is also true in another tragedy of murder, Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. One of the more humorous characters in the novel is the drunken Marmeladov. Marmeladov is an alcoholic, and his long, rambling monologues are a startling counterpoint to the seriousness with which Raskolnikov regards his life. ithout characters like Marmeladov, the novel would be almost unbearably claustrophobic and ridden with tension, as Raskolnikov tormented himself with guilt over his double murder, and the police officer Porfiry tried to trick the law student into a confession. But like the porter, Marmeladov serves an important function in underlining the novel's theme. It shows the desperation to which the poor in Russia sink: Marmeladov's dissipation forces his daughter Sofia to become a prostitute.

ithout knowing Sofia and the patience with which she bears her sacrifice and her misery, Raskolnikov would never have found his path to moral redemption. Even in…

characters and events of the story.

Prologue

The Host, after listening to the Physician's depressing story, asks the Pardoner to tell a humorous story that makes everyone happy. The pilgrims who know the Pardoner ask him to promise to tell them a story that has a moral virtue and is not raunchy. So, the Pardoner starts by explaining his tricks in work and trade, describing how he always uses the theme of 'greed is the root of all evil' whenever he is preaching. Further, he demonstrates the hard sell that he gives on arriving in town, stating that those relics are fake but he does not care about that. The Pardoner makes it a point that the pilgrims understand how he only preaches to make money so he does not even hesitate when taking it from a starving child or a poor widow. He also describes that he is a…

.." (line 8). This quatrain as a whole makes it clear that the meaning of the poem applies to the poem itself.

The third quatrain is entirely regular, as is the first line of the closing couplet, but the final line of the poem has an inverted first foot that continues the pattern of breaking up the structure of the poem and the meter at key moments. The final couplet reads: "For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; / Lilies that fester, smell far worse than weeds" (lines 13-4). Continuing the same interpretation of the poem as self-referential that has heretofore been used, this line suggests that the poem and even the poet's skill could be turned sour by using used for ill purposes (such as more directly accusing the perceived cause of the poet's displeasure), and the inverted first foot of the second line of the couplet again…