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The world is full of hypocrites and in the story The Pardoners Tale, Chaucer writes about a man who is living a life of sin. The Pardoners tale is an ipo logia of a pardoner who has the power from the church to forgive others for their sins but makes a living out of lying and tricking his audience. Throughout the Pardoners Tale he preaches about greed, drinking, blasphemy, and gambling but in the Pardoners Prologue he admits to committing these sins himself. The pardoner is really just a 14 th century con artist who makes a living by his own hypocrisy. In the Pardoners Tale the pardoner condemns people who drink and says, Witness the Bible, which is most express/That lust is bred of wine and drunkenness (263). He denounces drinkers and the evils they create, but in his prologue he states, No, let me drink the liquor of the grape Now as Ive drunk a draught of corn-ripe ale (262).
The pardoner admits to drinking but later preaches against it, his hypocrisy knows no bounds as he makes others feel guilty for something that he himself does, after all, isnt he telling the story while inside a bar. As a church appointed pardoner he is responsible to set a certain example for those who look to him for guidance but still he lives his greed controlled life. The pardoner teaches about gluttony and greed, and the evils that befall it, but in his prologue he contradicts his teachings many times. In his story he tells about three men who go searching for death and finding a pile of gold, in the end the gold ended up destroying them all.
He taught of how their greed killed them all but in his prologue he admits to lying and making his living off greed, But let me briefly make my purpose plain; /I preach for nothing but for greed of gain And thus I preach against the very vice/I make my living out of Avarice (261). He comes out and admits that the only reason he preaches is to become a wealthy man, he doesnt care about the people he preaches to but the money they produce, And however guilty of that sin/Myself, with others I have the power to win/Them from it, I can bring them to repent; /But that is not my principle intent (261). He cares not about helping people like a pardoner should just about his own welfare, and if he does happen to help somebody it was purely coincidental. The pardoner does whatever it takes to get money from is listeners, which includes lying, and tricking them into buying relics in bottles.
He sells these bottles claiming them to be some kind of miracle cure, Where there is a pox or scab or other sore / all animals that water at that well / are cured at once And its a cure for jealousy as well (260). He is never going to see these people again so he says whatever it takes to get their money. That tricks been worth a hundred marks a year / since I became a pardoner, never fear (260), he tells the people whatever they want to hear in order for them to buy into his scheme, he has no real care for the people or his job. He refers to his life as a game, because he travels to different towns conning their money from them. Throughout the Pardoners Tale and the Pardoners Prologue he contradicts himself at every new point he brings up and repeatedly mentions that he cares only about his money and not his work.
He is the exact opposite a representative of the church should be and though in the bible it says, Money is the root of all evil that is what his entire life is based upon. Only a hypocrite and man with no morals could live a life like this.
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Research essay sample on Prologue He Contradicts Prologue He Admits Pardoner
