How is the Pardoner described in the General Prologue?
The Pardoner of the General Prologue He is depicted as smooth, delicate, lady-like and honey-tongued, duplicitous in his supposedly holy dealings, extremely rich from his deceitful profession and as a man whose very being is totally incongruous with his career as a servant of the Church.
What does the narrator Chaucer say about the Pardoner in the General Prologue?
The narrator remarks that he thought the Pardoner to be a gelding or a mare, possibly suggesting that he is either a eunuch or a homosexual. His homosexuality is further suggested by his harmonizing with the Summoner’s “stif burdoun,” which means the bass line of a melody but also hints at the male genitalia (673).
What does Chaucer have to do with the Middle English language?
Chaucer wrote during the final decades of the fourteenth century; hence, his language belongs to the later Middle English period. Since he was a Londoner by birth, Chaucer’s works are written in the dialect of that city.
How does Chaucer describe the Pardoner?
Chaucer’s description of the Pardoner suggests he’s part of the Middle Age’s emerging middle class. He is well-dressed and groomed; Chaucer even describes him as a bit of a dandy, a man overly concerned with his appearance.
How does Chaucer describe the Pardoner quizlet?
A pardoner’s job was to pardon the sins of those who were truly contrite., This pardoner sells his pardons as well as fake religious relics, Chaucer characterizes the pardoner as being effeminate.
How does Chaucer view the Pardoner?
Pardoners were laypeople who had the authority to sell indulgences, and Chaucer makes his Pardoner particularly bad. Through his narrator, whose voice is often ironic–seeming to convey information in an objective fashion but also criticizing it–Chaucer portrays the Pardoner as callous, immoral, and decadent.
Why was it important that Chaucer wrote in English?
One of the reasons Chaucer is so important is that he made the decision to write in English and not French. In the centuries following the Norman invasion, French was the language spoken by those in power. The Canterbury Tales was one of the first major works in literature written in English.
What season was described in the opening lines of the General Prologue?
The narrator opens the General Prologue with a description of the return of spring. The narrator tells us that as he prepared to go on such a pilgrimage, staying at a tavern in Southwark called the Tabard Inn, a great company of twenty-nine travelers entered.
How does Chaucer portray the English society in the prologue to The Canterbury Tales?
The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales forms a wonderful commentary upon English life in the Middle Ages. As knights dominated English society since the Norman conquest, Chaucer begins his catalogue with the Knight. The clerical estates present a much less worthy trio-the Prioress, the Monk and the Friar.
What is the Pardoner’s profession in the General Prologue?
The Pardoner rides in the very back of the party in the General Prologue and is fittingly the most marginalized character in the company. His profession is somewhat dubious—pardoners offered indulgences, or previously written pardons for particular sins, to people who repented of the sin they had committed.
What is the theme of Chaucer’s Pardoner?
Chaucer’s Pardoner is a highly untrustworthy character. He sings a ballad—“Com hider, love, to me!” (General Prologue, 672)—with the hypocritical Summoner, undermining the already challenged virtue of his profession as one who works for the Church.
What language is the Pardoner’s tale written in?
This is part of an online version of the eBook edition that I recently produced of Chaucer’s The Pardoner’s Tale. This page provides The Pardoner’s Tale in Middle English.
What is the role of the Pardoner in the Canterbury Tales?
The Canterbury Tales The Pardoner rides in the very back of the party in the General Prologue and is fittingly the most marginalized character in the company. His profession is somewhat dubious—pardoners offered indulgences, or previously written pardons for particular sins, to people who repented of the sin they had committed.