Pardoner

For Wed., Feb. 22 please respond to question 1 OR Question 5

1. What is the relationship between teller and tale? What does the tale tell us about the Pardoner? Examine not only his Prologue, but his portrait in the General Prologue.

2. Why does the Pardoner, after telling everyone that he is a fake, attempt to get money from them at the end of his tale? What are his motivations? What are the implications of this move?

3. How do the Pardoner and the Wife of Bath function together in the Canterbury Tales? What are their similarities and differences? How do they interact dramatically? Why does the Pardoner interrupt the Wife?

4. The references to the Plague in the tale are Chaucer’s addition to this folk theme. What does this addition bring to the tale?

5. Can a corrupt man work good? Can the Pardoner, a “ful vicious man” effect salvation?

6. How does this instance of ecclesiastical satire work with the others we have read?