1 / 5

The pardoner

The pardoner. Geoffrey Chaucer-Canterbury Tales. He is accompanied by the disgusting Summoner who is his friend , his singing partner and possibly his lover. The even more corrupt Pardoner professes to give gullible people pardon for their sins in

malo
Download Presentation

The pardoner

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The pardoner Geoffrey Chaucer-CanterburyTales

  2. He is accompanied by the disgusting Summoner who is his friend, his singing partner and possibly his lover. The even more corrupt Pardoner professes to give gullible people pardon for their sins in exchange for money, as well as a view of his pretended holy relics which will bring them blessings. He too is physically repellent: he has thin scraggly hair of which, however, he is absurdly vain, and his high voice and beardlessness suggest that he is not a full man but something eunuch-like, again a metaphor for his barren spiritual state.

  3. A Pardonerissomeonewhotravelsabout the countrysidesellingofficialchurchpardons. Thesewereprobablyactualpiecesofpaperwith a bishop's signature on them, entitling the bearertoforgivenessfortheirsins. ItseemsthatthisPardoneralsodoes a secondarytrade in relics, or piecesofclothing, bones, and otherobjects once belongingtolong-departedsaints. The Pardonerclaimstohave Mary's veil and a pieceof St. Peter's sail. Afterhis tale, the Pardonertriesto sell theserelicsto the otherpilgrims, angering the Host, whoquestionstheirauthenticity.

  4. The Pardoner’s appearance is ‘unmanly’, with strange glaring eyes, a bleating voice like a goat and long yellow hair which hangs uncombed in rats’ tails (‘ounces’) over his shoulders. In the Middle Age long hair lying on the shoulders would normally be the hairstyle of unmarried girls. His inability to grow a beard would also be seen as suspect Regarding dress, he wears his hood (part of the normal rules for the dress of ecclesiastical officials) because he wanted to appear fashionable. This is a tiny detail that is typical of the way he plays fast and loose with his duties and role.

  5. The Pardoner’s Tale In the tale three youths look for Death, thinking they can kill him. An old man tells them they can find Death under a tree, but instead they find eight bushels of gold. Under the pretence of going into town to get food and water, the youngest of the group brings back poison, hoping to kill the other two. The other two kill him, then drink the poison and die under the tree.

More Related