The Pardoner In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

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One of Chaucer’s pilgrims, the pardoner, a high ranking member of the clergy, travels in fashionable style, implying that he has acquired a good bit of wealth from his work. “He wore no hood upon his head, for fun; The hood inside his wallet had been stowed, He aimed at riding in the latest mode;” (700). It is very clear from his introduction that the Pardoner is one who has money in mind, before his purpose within the church. “His wallet lay before him on his lap” (705). He has a look of suggested greed “…He had bulging eye-balls, like a hare.” (705), which is visible to onlookers, such as Chaucer himself and the narrator, who see through his religious cover-up. The irony in is that the pardoner, a man of faith, who is usually considered to be humble and not wanton for material wealth, is in fact, the opposite, infatuated with the very sins he preaches about. …show more content…
“He said he had a gobbet of the sail Saint Peter had the time when he made bold/ To walk the waves, till Jesu Christ took hold. He had a cross of metal set with stones,/ And, in a glass, a rubble of pigs’ bones.” (715). With these relics, he manipulates unknowing, innocent followers of Christ by having them purchase symbolic souvenirs of faith, which are likely counterfeit. “And with these relics, any time he found/ Some poor up-country parson to astound,/ In one short day, in money down, he drew/ More than the parson in a month or two…” (720) However, the Pardoner is aware of his swindling ways, devaluing the meaning and intent of his profession. “And by his flatteries and prevarication,/ Made monkeys of the priest and congregation.” (725) He knows he is lying, but the wealth from his position in the clergy is worth more to him than helping others in

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