About The Pardoner From the Canterbury Tales

             The Pardoner from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales is a man of physical deformity and of superior wit.
             First of all, the Pardoner has several physical deformities or abnormalities. Starting with his hair, the Pardoner "had hair as yellow as wax, Hanging down smoothly like a hank of flax. In driblets fell his locks behind his head Down to his shoulders which they overspread; Thinly the fell, like rat tails, one by one (695-699)". This shows that his has hair that is long yellow hair. The Pardoner "had bulging eyeballs, like a hare. (704)." The Pardoner also is incapable of growing facial hair. His voice also seems to be distorted. It also seems that his deformed sexually, because "I judge he was a gelding or a mare. (711)."
             Secondly, the Pardoner's shows superior wit. His job was to sell pardons to people for the church. The pardons were prearranged certificates stating that sins were forgiven in advance. The Pardoner is, for all intensive purposes, a con-artist. He sells phony relics to gullible people. It is understood, that the Pardoner can collect more money in a day than a church can collect in a month, however he knows that his guilty of conning people out of their money, and he candidly acknowledges that while he preaches against all kinds of sin, he himself indulges in various vices and begs from the poor to make a fine living. In his tale the Pardoner tries to show that money is the root of all evil.
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About The Pardoner From the Canterbury Tales. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 04:00, August 02, 2025, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/81625.html