The Old Man in the Pardoner's Tale
             The Pardoner's Tale relates to the Bible and to Christian faith. Chaucer tells a story that deals with good and evil, or life and death. He uses the old man to symbolize the death and evil that walks next to us in our everyday lives. If anyone should come across the old man and not recognize who he is, he/she will be led down a crooked and sinful path into death or hell.
             The story begins with three riders that ask a boy what had happened to a man that had just died. The boy responds, "There came a sneaking thief that men call Death, who slays all the people in this country, and with his spear he struck his heart in two, then went on his way without saying another word" (The Pardoner's Tale, Ln.380-381). The riders are furious and pledge to kill death. "Let each of us hold up his hand to this Death. He who slays so many shall be slain before nightfall (The Pardoner's Tale, Ln.384-385.).
             Out of emotion, they set out to take vengeance on something that is out of their hands. However, the men do mean well. They know and understand what right from wrong, but they just are not prepared to take on death.
             On their journey, the three men come across an old man. They ask him a few questions about his life. The old man says that he can never die even though he wants to. He wants someone to trade places with him, but he just keeps walking on the earth until God decides to judge us. "Either in town or country who'll engage to give his youth in barter for my age; And therefore I must keep my old age as long as it shall be God's will. Not even death alas, will have my life. Thus, I walk like a restless prisoner, and on the ground, which is my mother's gate." (The Pardoner's Tale, Ln.439-441)
             The old man's role is to send the riders down the crooked road that ultimately led to their graves. The three riders were loo
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