The Pardoner's Tale: Chaucer's Use of Irony to Criticize the Church

Nearly every aspect of the Pardoners tale is ironical. Irony exists inside the story itself and in the relationship between the Pardoner and the story. The stopping point of the story presents a good message scorn the Pardoners shifting intentions to swindle money from the otherwise pilgrims. By using caustic remark in the Pardoners tale, Chaucer effectively criticizes the church system. The irony begins as short as the Pardoner starts his prologue. He tells the other pilgrims that his sermons theorize how money is the fundament of all evils, radix malorum est cupiditas. He actually preaches against his have problems and sins. Pardoners who took money in return for pity were supposed to handling the the money for charity, but he, like many other Pardoners in his time, used the money for his own satisfaction. He even admits to his greed. And therefrom I preach against the very vice I start out my living out of avarice.(p. 259) The Pardoner makes a mockery of the unblemished church by fabricating stories about his phony relics. Chaucer shows how the Church is so corrupt, that even a Pardoner who admits to his evil ways, can whitewash cheat the multitude out of their money. The Pardoner begins his story by condemning the commons sins of society such as insobriety and gluttony.

The irony of his criticism lies in the fact that he has been inebriation himself, and that he is an admitted glutton. There ar also many ironic elements of the stor itself. The rioters in his story, vow to set out and slay Death. In doing so, they promise to fight and make it for each other . There be deuce ironies in their mission.! First, Death is hardly a world that can be killed. Second, the three drunken fighters pledge to die for each other, but... If you want to get a full essay, run it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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