The Pardoner as Symbol in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales Essay

The pardoner as Symbol for the Pilgrims Unattainable Goals in Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury TalesGeoffrey Chaucers work, The Canterbury Tales, paints a portrait of medieval life through the voices and stories of a wide variety of speakers. The people on the Pilgrimage tell their stories for a wide range of reasons. Each Tale is told in order to gain two things. The Tales provoke their audience as much as they atomic number 18 a kind of self-reflection. These reactions range from humor, to extreme anger, to open admiration. Each boloney is symbolic for a meaning above the actual plot of the storey itself. The theme of social and moral isotropy is one theme which ties any character and Tale together. The character of the Pardoner exemplifies this ideal. By embodying imagery of balance in his character and in his allegory, the Pardoner becomes a symbol for the Pilgrims unrealizable goal of spiritual and moral balance. All the characters in The Canterbury Tales are on a pilg rimage. Their physical journey takes them to the cathedral at Canterbury, to visit the shrine of a former archbishop, Thomas a Becket. When their stories are looked at allegorically, the pilgrimage takes on a new meaning. Beyond a physical journey, these Pilgrims exact their minds and thoughts upon a symbolic journey. The subjects of their stories vary widely, but common to all is the need for self-knowledge and understanding. The Knights Tale, with its emphasis on courtly love and gothic ideals, is a portrayal of the changes happening within the higher classes of medieval English society. The drunken Miller shows his anger towards the aristocracy by telling a parody of the Knights Tale. The Pardoners Tale tells the story of three young men who wa... ...omes a way of reconciling the sick(p) portions of human experience in order to promote growth in the face of sin and death. Works Cited and ConsultedAmes, Ruth M. Gods bay window Chaucers Christian Humanism. Loyola Universit y Press Chicago, 1984. Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Pardoners Tale. The Canterbury Tales Nine Tales and the ecumenical Prologue. Ed. V.A. Kolve. New York W. W. Norton & Company, 1989. Colby, Elbridge. Chaucers Christian Morality. The Bruce Publishing Company Milwaukee, 1936.Ellis, Roger. Patterns of Religious memoir in the Canterbury Tales. Banes & Noble Totowa, 1986.Patterson, Lee. Redemption in Chaucers Pardoners Tale. ledger of Medieval and Early Modern Studies. Durham Fall 2001. 507-560Reiff, Raychel Haugrud. Chaucers The Pardoners Tale. The Explicator. Washington, Summer 1999. 855-58