The Pardoner and The Priest's Tale
The following are some thoughts on Chaucer's "Pardoner" and "Priest" Tales.
Initially, one may be pressed to find similarities in two such seemingly unlike pieces as Chaucer’s "Pardoner" and "Nun’s Priest" tales. The pardoner is as shocking as the nun’s priest is subtle. The former appears blatantly blasphemous and the latter reticently righteous. Yet, a closer examination reveals parallel themes, methodology, and even, common failings in the narrators.
Both clergymen preach against human vices; the pardoner warns of greed, the nun’s priest of vanity. The motto in the Pardoner’s story is that money is the root of all evil. He also references the excesses of drunkenness and gluttony. His message is straightforward, graphic, and ends in death. The nun’s priest relates a parable exemplifying the folly and dangers of pride, especially in the form of vanity.
The pardoner and the nun’s priest each use parody and personification to relay their meanings. The former tells a tale of three youths searching for Death, which they do find as a result of their inebriation, debauchery, avarice. Interestingly, the concept of Death is personified. Actually, the narrator is the personification of the same sins of which he speaks. The nun’s priest tells an ostensibly trite tale of a vain rooster being seized by a fox. By using animals with human traits, his story can be viewed as a fable ridiculing and admonishing the excesses of pride. Another interpretation might see this parable as a satirical reference to exaggerated notions of courtly love.
Chaucer’s disdain for hypocrisy in the church can be detected in both of these characters. The pardoner is a self-professed hypocrite who virtually boasts that he practices what he preaches against. Additionally, he brags of selling fake relics and exoneration for money. The nun’s priest, as Badman pointed out, appears mild, yet inappropriately relishes and lingers over the rooster’s sexual prowess. At the conclusion of the tale, the narrator even comments on the physical similarities rooster and the priest, particularly the strong, puffed-out chest. One questions which style of hypocrite is preferable: a self-acknowledged liar or a cloaked, self-satisfied faker.
Initially, one may be pressed to find similarities in two such seemingly unlike pieces as Chaucer’s "Pardoner" and "Nun’s Priest" tales. The pardoner is as shocking as the nun’s priest is subtle. The former appears blatantly blasphemous and the latter reticently righteous. Yet, a closer examination reveals parallel themes, methodology, and even, common failings in the narrators.
Both clergymen preach against human vices; the pardoner warns of greed, the nun’s priest of vanity. The motto in the Pardoner’s story is that money is the root of all evil. He also references the excesses of drunkenness and gluttony. His message is straightforward, graphic, and ends in death. The nun’s priest relates a parable exemplifying the folly and dangers of pride, especially in the form of vanity.
The pardoner and the nun’s priest each use parody and personification to relay their meanings. The former tells a tale of three youths searching for Death, which they do find as a result of their inebriation, debauchery, avarice. Interestingly, the concept of Death is personified. Actually, the narrator is the personification of the same sins of which he speaks. The nun’s priest tells an ostensibly trite tale of a vain rooster being seized by a fox. By using animals with human traits, his story can be viewed as a fable ridiculing and admonishing the excesses of pride. Another interpretation might see this parable as a satirical reference to exaggerated notions of courtly love.
Chaucer’s disdain for hypocrisy in the church can be detected in both of these characters. The pardoner is a self-professed hypocrite who virtually boasts that he practices what he preaches against. Additionally, he brags of selling fake relics and exoneration for money. The nun’s priest, as Badman pointed out, appears mild, yet inappropriately relishes and lingers over the rooster’s sexual prowess. At the conclusion of the tale, the narrator even comments on the physical similarities rooster and the priest, particularly the strong, puffed-out chest. One questions which style of hypocrite is preferable: a self-acknowledged liar or a cloaked, self-satisfied faker.
posted by MaryNine at 7:48 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home