People who purposely deceive others for their own personal gain only end up hurting themselves. Greed tends to overpower one’s thoughts and they are driven by the desire to be wealthy and powerful. The desire controls their thoughts and actions which eventually causes them to turn against their beliefs and values. As seen in “The Pardoner’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer and Boss Tweed’s Ring in the early 1800’s, greed causes a person to deceive others which ultimately leads to destruction when they lose sight of their moral values.
Over the last century, many authors have written about the reality of deception in their society. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote many tales that showed the cross section of society. One of the stories he wrote was “The Pardoner’s Tale,” which…show more content… The pardoner earns trust from the listeners by preaching redemption when he says “…to have absolution for a shilling,” ultimately taking advantage of others (17-18). His moral values are compromised because he believes that by taking the listeners money he is better off. His greed for money and private gain overpowers the common good of society which causes him to deceive others (Thompson). The pardoner, after preaching about how “greed is the root of all evil,” goes on to tell a story on greed. He describes three rioters who want to slay Death but instead find a cache of gold. All three rioters want the gold for themselves and plot to kill one another. Two rioters plot together and kill the rioter who went to town to get bread and wine. However, the two rioters end up drinking the wine that the is poisoned by the rioter that went to town and they eventually die. The three rioters are overcome by the desire to be wealthy that they neglect their ethical values and it eventually leads to their demise. The pardoner goes on saying “Thus these murders received their due, so did the treacherous young pensioners too… (289-290).” The rioters who lost their moral compasses chose to
