Greed In The Canterbury Tales

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In Geoffery Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, each character reveals much about themselves in their stories. One of the most well known characters from the tales is the pardoner. The pardoner is a greedy man who preaches "money is the root of all evil", by saying this, the pardoner is implying that greed causes a lot of evil actions, but in reality money is what the pardoner most desires in the entire world. He claims to be a man of God and do his work for the church, but he is doing it for selfish reasons. He is just as ugly on the inside as he is on the outside.Geoffrey Chaucer is considered by many to be the father of English poetry. Chaucer's most well-known work is the Canterbury Tales, it is a frame story about twenty-nine pilgrims traveling …show more content…
The pardoners hair was yellow as wax, it hung lanky on his head, it was thin and droopy, which describes his spiritual state. The pardoner did not have a beard and seemed not to be a true man; but a "gelding or a mare", some labeled him as homosexual for his bald face. This once again is showing his inner state. He is not a man; and has no spirit, courage, or integrity of a man. Chaucer uses the physical description of the pardoner to draw a picture of one with no true spiritual life and no real connection to the God he claims to serve. He has a horrendous personality, no matter how you put …show more content…
Within his tale, the pardoner's main point to his listeners is that "money is the root of all evil", but as soon as he is done preaching he pulls out his sack of indulgences and asks for money. His sermon does not portray his beliefs whatsoever. The purpose of his tale is to get his audience to buy pardons when his sermons are finished. The pardoner makes the people feel as if they are obligated to pay him. The pardomer uses his gift, which is knowing how to talk, to reach people to make them feel as if they have to buy the pardons or they are not
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