FREE ESSAY ON THE PARDONER AND THE BROTHERS

THE PARDONER AND THE BROTHERS

The Pardoner and The Brothers
Throughout literature, relationships can often be found between the author of a story and
the story that he writes. In Geoffrey Chaucer's frame story, Canterbury Tales, many of
the characters make this idea evident with the tales that they tell. A distinct
relationship can be made between the character of the Pardoner and the tale that he
tells.
Through the Prologue to the Pardoner's tale, the character of the Pardoner is revealed.
Although the Pardoner displays many important traits, the most prevalent is his greed.
Throughout the prologue, the Pardoner displays his greed and even admits that the only
thing he cares about is money: I preach nothing except for gain (Pardoner's Tale, Line
105). This avarice is seen strongly in the Pardoner's tale as well. In the Pardoner's
tale, three friends begin a journey in order to murder Death. On their journey, though,
an old man leads them to a great deal of treasure. At this point, all three of the
friends in the tale display a greed similar to the Pardoner's. The three friends decide
that someone should bring bread and wine for a celebration. As the youngest of the
friends leaves to go buy wine, the other two greedily plot to kill him so they can split
the treasure only two ways. Even the youngest decides to put it in his mind to buy poison
/ With which he might kill his two companions (383, 384). The greed, which is evident in
the character of the Pardoner, is also clearly seen in the tale.
Another trait that is displayed by the Pardoner and a character in his tale is hypocrisy.
Although the Pardoner is extremely greedy, he continues to try and teach that Avarice is
the root of all evil (6). The characters in his tale display great hypocrisy as well. As
the tale begins, the friends all act very trustworthy and faithful towards all of their
friends. They nobly make a decision to risk their lives while trying to slay their
friend's murderer. As they talk about their challenge, they pledge to live and die each
of them for the other, / As if he were his own blood brother (241-242). At the end of the
tale, the brothers begin to reveal their true nature. They all turn on each other in an
attempt to steal the treasure for themselves. All of the loyalty, which they had pledged,
was simply a lie and no faithfulness remained. While the two older brother plotted to
kill the younger, the younger brother plotted to kill them both and never to repent
(388). Thus, these so-called faithful brothers display their true ruthlessness and reveal
their hypocrisy in relation to the Pardoner's character.
The characters in the Pardoner's Tale match the unctuous nature of the Pardoner in a
great deal of ways. All of these traits and ideas that are seen in both the Pardoner and
the tale that he tells show a strong relationship in the two. Chaucer used this technique
in all of the tales that are recorded in Canterbury Tales. This technique gives a greater
insight into the mind of the teller. By analyzing the tales, it is possible to learn much
about the teller of the tale. Using this method, Chaucer focuses on the characteristics
of each of the people involved in Canterbury Tales, but also keeps the poem interesting.