Canterbury Tales (Barron's Book Notes)

by Canterbury Tales (Barron's Book Notes) [lit]

  But not everyone agrees. Later on, the Clerk gives a tale back, measure for measure, that is exactly the opposite of Dame Alice's.

  ^^^^^^^^^^CANTERBURY TALES: PLOT

  The Pardoner, like the Wife of Bath, begins his tale with a long introduction that shows us remarkable things about his character. He freely admits he uses the same tricks every place he goes, with the same sermon--"Love of money is the root of all evil." He shows people his credentials, then the animal bones he passes off as holy relics, which he lies can cure sick animals, increase livestock, even cure jealousy. He makes 100 marks a year by preaching against greed, shaming people into parting with their money. But he does this only out of his own covetousness, not to help people. He won't live in poverty, that's for sure. Even though he knows he's completely unscrupulous, he can still tell a moral tale.

  The Pardoner sets up the pilgrims the same way he does his gullible parishioners. First he rails against drunkenness, gluttony, gambling, and swearing. Then he tells the warning tale of three young men of Flanders (Belgium) who are guilty of all these things.

  While they're drinking in a bar, a dead body goes by. It happens to be a friend of theirs. A servant boy tells them Death is the culprit who is going around killing everyone. (It's during a plague.) The three rioters decide--drunkenly--to go find this Death and kill him.

  They meet an old man who is covered except for his head. He is polite, but the three young men are rude to him. The old man wants to die, but can't find anyone who will trade his youth for the old man's age. Thinking he's Death's spy, the rioters make him tell where Death is. The man points to a large tree, saying they'll find Death underneath it.

  But what they find is eight bushes of florins (gold coins), and, delighted, decide to wait until night to move them. They send the youngest rogue into town to buy wine, and while he's gone, the other two decide to stab the third when he returns, so they can split the gold. The youngest, meanwhile, has the same idea and poisons the wine in order to kill the other two.

  Everything goes as planned--all three ending up dying. Alas, cries the Pardoner, look what comes from gluttony and pride! And he offers pardons for redemption, although he admits that Christ's pardon is better than his.

  In an epilogue to his tale, the Pardoner actually tries to palm off some of his "relics" on his fellow pilgrims, starting with the Host, whom he calls the most sinful of the group. The Host is furious, and it takes the Knight to get them to kiss and make up.

  The PARDONER is his own main character, since it is in the context of his personality that the tale takes on irony. He prides himself on being a practitioner of all the sins he preaches against, and plenty others besides. No wonder he's often seen as Chaucer's best psychological portrait. But unlike the Wife of Bath in her introduction, he is not presenting a justification for his life-style. He's saying how proud he is of his own deceptiveness.

  Why would he disclose all his sordid tricks? Certainly they're not something to brag about, even when you're drunk, as he is. Some believe that years of hypocrisy have created an urge in him finally to admit his guilt; some think he wants to show off his love of money, or has stopped caring what others think; while others think he's simply totally unaware of how much he is revealing of his inner self.

  He certainly embodies the theory of evil. Remember the picture of him from the General Prologue: a thin goat's voice, a suspiciously effeminate nature, and the assumption that a part of him is missing (he is either "gelding or mare," eunuch or homosexual). To the medieval mind, an absent part is a clear indication of moral deprivation; the inward and the outward are connected.

  Is there any good at all in the Pardoner? Think about how Chaucer treats his characters, even the nasty ones, as human, as real people. For all his faults, the Pardoner at least is honest and knows he's damned to hell for his conniving. He is able to turn the villagers he dupes away from their greedy ways. And he tells us that when he stands in the pulpit and tells his lies, his hands and tongue go so fast that it's a "joy" to see his "business" (line 71). You could see this as another example of his disgusting pride in himself, or as Chaucer's way of saying that even the lowest of the low can do something good. Also, there's a certain fascination in such an evil character. We wonder what makes him tick, and here he gives us an unusual opportunity to see behind the public mask he wears.

  The THREE RIOTERS have been seen as representing three major divisions of sin--perhaps gluttony, drunkenness, and blasphemy--three of the sins the Pardoner preaches against at the start of the tale. They aren't real characters, yet we get a clear picture of the way they carry on and live their lives. They are more stupid than evil.

  The OLD MAN has been a mystery for centuries. Who is he? Death himself, the mythical Wandering Jew, merely an old man? Whoever he is, he serves the purpose of pointing the young men to the place where Death waits.

  ^^^^^^^^^^CANTERBURY TALES: INTRODUCTION

  The Host asks the Pardoner for a joking story, but because of the kind of debauched man he is, the pilgrims are obviously afraid that he'll tell a bawdy story that's even worse than the Miller's. But before the Pardoner tells a moral tale, he must get drunk, "by St. Runyan." (This is a play on the Middle English word for "scrotum" ("runian"), in addition to being a saint's name.

  The Pardoner boasts about being able to pull the wool over the eyes of the sheep, the villagers to whom he sells pardons. In bragging, does he reveal more of himself than he intends to? He tells about the "miracle" water that can cure jealousy, even in men who know their wives have slept with two or three priests (line 43). In his tone of voice we can hear him laugh at those who, like him, are hypocrites in their religious calling. But does he mean to reveal his contempt for humanity as being as corrupt as he is? (For example, assuming that wives will cheat on their husbands, and with priests no less.) It's unclear.

  He says three times that his sole purpose is to make money for himself. He has no desire to be like the Apostles and live in poverty or by hard work. Nonetheless, he can tell a moral tale with a smooth tongue, even without being moral himself. We get the impression he doesn't realize his own words, or care that he himself will go to hell for all the sins he warns others against. This is what gives his tale, like the Wife of Bath's, such poignancy: he is saying more about himself than he realizes.

  ^^^^^^^^^^CANTERBURY TALES: THE TALE

  The young revelers are described enjoying "abominable" excesses--dancing girls, drinking, gambling, and tearing Christ to pieces in curses--and laughing at each other's sins. Just as we might be thinking that we're all a little like that sometimes, the Pardoner lights into a long attack against those very vices.

  His longest is against drunkenness. He describes a drunken lout making loud snores that sound like "Sampson, Sampson" (line 226), and we remember that the Pardoner himself is effeminate and small-voiced in contrast. But the Pardoner is drunk, and this irony sheds doubtful light, not only on his tirade against drink, but also on the ones against gluttony, cursing, gambling, and lechery, since he's admitted to all of them.

  All this makes us realize that while he doesn't care if the villagers' souls "go blackberrying" when they die, he doesn't care about his own spiritual condition either.

  His tirades seem to have no particular logic to them, but he starts with the biggest, gluttony and drink, and proceeds downward. Each sin has moral examples attached; the cursing that accompanies the gambling section is especially vivid and funny--"By God's precious heart," "By his nails" (line 323).

  He picks up the story of the three rioters as the main moral example.

  NOTE: The point of view shifts here from the moralizing tone of the drunken Pardoner to Chaucer's own more objective point of view, since it concerns the selfishness and greed of men similar to the Pardoner.

  The first sound we hear is a death bell as the corpse of one of their drinking buddies is carried past the door. But, like the Pardoner himself, the three are untouched by any morals that might be drawn.

 
; The drunken three have an arrogant and prideful response--that they are capable of killing Death--but some also see something admirable in taking on such an adversary, even though it's just a drunken boast.

  It's ironic that the three pledge their honor and vow to die for each other, calling each other "brother" and "friend," for they will soon be dying by each other's hand.

  The old man they meet greets them meekly, but they respond impolitely, asking why he's still alive. His response, which includes a line from "Holy Writ" (line 414), shows that he is patiently waiting for the will of God to die, since no youth will trade him his age. But the gamblers depend only on the momentary turns of fortune. The old man would trade all his belongings for a shroud (line 406); by following his directions, the three revelers will do just that.

  There's also a shift in the view of Death. From an evil being to be beaten or feared, the old man shows Death also as a welcome relief. Rather than being a "false traitor" as he is to the youths, Death is a natural part of life, and life itself may be "abominable" excess if lived too long.

  He tells them Death awaits under a big oak tree, where they find the gold. Of course, because the theme of the sermon is that "money is the root of evil," we are meant to see that the money is Death, which symbolically is lying at the root of a tree. But the drunken rioters don't see that, even though ironically one of them says, "My wit is great, though I bourde [joke] and play" (line 450). He adds that they will spend the fortune as "lightly" as they've gotten it (line 153). Little does he know how true those words are.

  But earthly goods create discord and greed, and God's ever-present plan, in the form of the Devil ("feend," line 516), appears in the conversation of the first two rioters and in the mind of the youngest. Unintentionally, in his guilt and nervousness, he tells the apothecary he needs the poison to kill "vermin," but we can see the irony; that's exactly what he and his false "friends" are.

  As in the Knight's Tale, we're told that after the first two kill the youngest, one "happened," "per cas" (by chance) to drink the poisoned wine (line 557). This is our signal that it's anything but chance in the works. A divine plan is evident even in the evil schemes of these three fatal jokesters. They have found Death by carrying him around with them.

  We're jolted by the change in tone when the Pardoner again intrudes his phony piety, telling people they are full of pride and blasphemy. Obviously he has memorized his tale and is just repeating it, not listening to a word he is saying about the wages of sin. Does all this mean that it doesn't matter how you act, you'll go to hell anyway? Or is there an assumption that even though the Pardoner is incorrigible, there's still hope for the rest of us? Either way, the Pardoner remains steadfast in his "cupiditas" (love of worldly things), and shows us the truth of his boast that he doesn't care about anything else when he offers fake pardons to his listeners.

  We get this impression even when he ends by saying "I will not deceive you" (line 590) and that Christ's pardon is worth more than his. Does this mean the Pardoner is filled with a blast of true repentance? Readers have disagreed about this for years. You'll have to make up your mind based on what you have already seen of the character and his motives.

  ^^^^^^^^^^CANTERBURY TALES: THE EPILOGUE

  Stepping down from his imaginary pulpit, the Pardoner becomes a mere man again, back to his old tricks of passing off "relics," which his traveling companions by now know better than to believe in. Even he knows it's ironic when he calls his presence on the trip a "suretee" (insurance, and also a legal bond) for the pilgrims.

  But picking on the Host gets him more than he bargained for, reminding us forcefully that the tales are made up of remarkably lifelike and conflicting personalities. Perhaps he wants to get back at the Host for suggesting at the start that he tell a joking story instead of the sermons he prides himself on. For whatever reason, he tells the Host he should make the first offering for "he is most enveloped in sin." His next suggestion, "Unbuckle thy purse" (line 617), has a sexual connotation that the Host, a burly bouncer of a guy, doesn't appreciate. The Host offers to use the Pardoner's testicles for relics, enshrined in a "hog's turd." Perhaps by calling attention to the Pardoner's physical and spiritual limitations, the Host's comments are meant to remind us of the gulf between the Pardoner's life and his tale.

  It takes the Knight to restore harmony, which is fitting since he represents natural order and harmony. He makes the two kiss (another strange and hilarious sight, when you think about it) and the tale ends happily. But notice also that it's not the Pardoner, whose job it is to pardon, who forgives the Host for the crude remarks.

  ^^^^^^^^^^CANTERBURY TALES: SOURCES

  There's no one source for the Pardoner's Tale, but much of the philosophy comes again from Boethius, the early Christian philosopher. His view is that men are lifted up and thrown down by fickle fortune, but cannot see the divine plan beyond fortune's wheel. The plan, such as life or death, cannot be altered, so that even if the old man were to find someone to change places with him, he would not die until his time was due. The young men die because they are destined to die for their greed.

  ^^^^^^^^^^CANTERBURY TALES: THEMES

  1. VIEWS OF DEATH

  We see Death first as the "thief" that the three revelers believe must be slain before he slays more people. This noble-sounding sentiment becomes ridiculous when you realize it's impossible to slay Death. The old man shows Death in another light, as an end to life that is part of the natural order and God's plan.

  A third picture emerges at the deaths of the rioters, which is of righteous retribution. They went out looking for Death and they certainly found it. It's what they deserve for being fools and not following the right way of life.

  The tale also deals with spiritual as well as actual death. The moral depth to which these young men descend is a kind of death that they can escape through correct living. But they don't, and so they meet physical death as well.

  2. DIVINE ORDER

  God's plan is evident in all things, even in the schemes of foolish drunks. It is obviously not an accident that they meet the old man who tells them where Death is, and that Death has been waiting for them. They think they can live life by their own rules; they can't see that the pattern is already destined.

  3. DRUNKENNESS

  A drunken man in medieval imagery represents one who keeps his eyes only on the lower, gross things of life instead of looking upward toward the grace of God. This image appears in other tales as well, such as the Knight's and Miller's, where men who lack foresight are compared to being "drunk as a mouse." Drunkenness, the Pardoner tells us in his sermon on the subject (while he is drunk), leads to other sins, such as lechery and gluttony.

  4. PRIDE

  Like the Pardoner himself, his characters exhibit pride, the kind that comes before a fall. To seek and try to kill Death is an attempt to go beyond the bounds of man, and therefore is punishable by death. What the Pardoner doesn't realize is that the moral of his tale is especially applicable to himself. He is as blind to that as his three revelers are.

  ^^^^^^^^^^CANTERBURY TALES: FORM AND STRUCTURE

  The introduction to the Pardoner's Tale is in the form of a sermon that he delivers complete with fancy flourishes to the people he tries to rook into buying pardons. His tale continues the format and launches into a series of "exempla," examples with a moral point that are richly illustrated and set down one after another. The story of the three rioters is an extended version of a moral example story, used often by preachers.

  ^^^^^^^^^^CANTERBURY TALES: PLOT

  In the introduction to the tale, the Knight interrupts the Monk and tells him to stop telling his tragic tales--they're annoying. The monk refuses to tell a different one, so the Host turns to the Nun's Priest, Sir John, and asks him to tell a merry tale. The priest obliges.

  The story begins with a poor widow who supports herself and her two daughters as best she can by raising a few animals. She's contented because her desires are moderate;
she wants no more than what she has.

  The scene shifts to the yard, where Chanticleer the rooster, the best crower you've ever heard, rules over his seven hens. His favorite is Pertelote, who sings with him (this story takes place in the days when animals could speak and sing, we're told) and sits next to him on his perch at night.

  Pertelote wakes before dawn to hear Chanticleer moaning in his sleep because of a nightmare. She asks what's wrong. He's afraid of the dream, in which a doglike animal wants to kill him. Pertelote taunts him for being afraid of a stupid dream, which doesn't mean anything. Bad dreams come from eating too much, she says, and offers to make him a laxative that will cure his nightmares.

  Chanticleer launches into a long defense of dreams that foretell what will happen. But he ends by saying that with his fair lady by his side he is so filled with joy that he's not afraid of nightmares or dreams.

  It's now daylight, so he ignores his fears and flies into the yard, mounting Pertelote twenty times by midmorning. But's it's unfortunate that he took his wife's advice to dismiss his dream, for the fox is waiting for him in the bushes to carry him off.