Essential question #6

What parallels can be drawn between The Pardoner's Tale and his Prologue. How is this tale different from the other two we have studied?

The parallels that can be drawn between The Pardoner's Tale and his Prologue is the hypocrisy of the Pardoner and the actual tale. In the Pardoner's tale he focuses on five vices; gluttony, drunkenness, gambling, swearing, and avarice. These five vices are what he displays to the people even though he preaches against them. The Pardoner embodies the vice of avarice because proudly states that he preaches for money, "I mean to have money, wool and cheese and wheat thought it were given me by the poorest lad or poorest village widow, thought she had a string of starving children...." (244). He ends the tale by saying that he had been drinking before he began his prologue, "Now as I've drunk a draught of corn-ripe ale,..." (244). Although he says he does not preach in vain. This tale is different from the other two we have studied because the Pardoner's tale does not tell of love and seduction, but focuses on sin. The Pardoner simply states how people should not live a lifestyle of debauchery, even though he lives a sinful life. The other two tales send a message that the Knight and Miller postively represent.