Explore Chaucer’s Presentation of Sin in the Tale

Explore Chaucer’s presentation of sin in the Tale?

Reference from Page 375 onwards and Page 23.

Preachers use ‘The Pardoner’s Tale’ to emphasize a moral point. As an audience, we are constantly reminded that ‘’Greed is the root of all evil“ throughout the tale. Whilst Sin manifests itself primarily in the characters that act influenced by greed. Chaucer employs other methods too.  The constant reference to the Bible and the seven deadly sins serves to further extenuate the theme of sin, as well as legitimize it. The personification of death and the symbol of the old man create a profound omen throughout the tale and this serves to foreshadow the sin to come.

Sin is expressed through the three brothers, and their desire to seek out Death and kill him. When the rioters are made aware of the treasure there is a sense of immediate ownership; ‘al this gold is oures’.  The word ‘al’ automatically implies a sense of greed, fulfillment and content, and this is married with the possessive pronoun ‘oures’. This links the greed back to the three brothers. However, the repetition of the ‘o’ contradicts this feeling of contentment, reflecting the brothers’ spiritual isolation as they attempt to commit one of the seven deadly sins. The juxtaposition of the phonetic diction, and the meaning of the words serve to illustrate their earthly and superficial outlook on life.  This idea of indulgence is reflected through the reference to the ‘serpenti’. This link to the ‘Fall of Man’, and the idea of temptation presents and personifies sin. Just as Eve is enticed by the ‘Apple’, similarly the treasure tempts the three brothers. Whilst Adam and Eve are used as examples today to symbolize the fall of man and sin, the three brothers simultaneously serve to represent it. The sin of the rioters is further extenuated through the character of the old man. He greets them with respect and this is contrasted to their greeting of wishing for bad luck. The old man’s moral superiority in comparison to the brothers, not only portrays them as more sinful, but also further serves to exemplify sin.

The youngest rioter’s action of buying poison serves to illustrate sin. This section is associated with violence, and death. The pace maintained in this section reflects on one level the haste at which he buys the poison, but on another it serves to create tension and mystery which in turn links to the theme of sin. The rioter’s association with ‘poison’, ‘quelle’ and ‘polcat’ allows for the presentation of sin. A weasel can be presented as duplicitous and sneaky, and thus a likened to the character of the youngest rioter. The rats, by association are known as animals that are linked to disease, and this could serve to be a metaphor; the rioter is sinful and ‘rotten’, and this could infiltrate to the rest of society. The animal references connected to the rioter serves to present the sin inherent in the tale. The exchange of the poison represents sin. Chaucer uses the words ‘strong and violent’ and positions them at the end of the sentence to show the profound effect it will have on the other rioters. The repetition of the meaning ‘strong’ can be seen to illustrate the sheer force and power of the ‘poisoun’ and thus the nature of the sin.

The companionship present in the three rioters, who distinguish themselves as brothers, is broken when they are presented with materialistic possessions. The selfishness of each of the brothers and the plotting and scheming presents sin in the form of betrayal. They make an oath to God that they then break.  One of the brothers says; ‘I wol thee nat biwreye.’ The emphatic negative ‘nat’ is juxtaposed to the softness and repetition of the syllable ‘e’, highlighting how the betrayal is even worse as they promised not to. The rhyming couplet married with ‘biwreye’ is ‘tweye’. This meaning, we are, almost implying they are a unit and represent a group and this is explicitly juxtaposed to the word ‘betrayed’, which implies the breaking of that unit and companionship.

Whilst the rioters are presented as the main representation of the sin, the personification of ‘Deeth’ does play a role.  He is portrayed as a man and a thief who steals life; ‘Ther cam a privee theef man clepeth Deeth.’ The fact that Death is presented as someone who commits a deadly sin, yet represents the termination of life highlights how sin is omnipresent and omnipotent; it even exists when you die. The word ‘clepeth’ has a harsh ‘p’ sound invoking a sense of anger to the reader, the word is cleverly positioned before Deeth in order to carry through this anger to the sinful ‘character. The Pardoner lists all the bad acts ‘Deeth’ has committed; thus presenting an endless list of sin. Deeth ‘sleys’ ‘al’ people, the use of the word ‘al’ implies he shows no mercy and condemns everyone. Deeth is personified as a murderer. He is pictured with a ‘spere’, almost elevated to the level of a Greek God, thus creating an image of a powerful man who can destroy. In this image he is shown as literally cold hearted as his heart is split in two and thus linking back to the lack of mercy and the creation of sin. The sibilance in that line, serves to juxtapose the meanings of the phrases. The repetition of the ‘s’ invokes a softness, which counteracts the violent and graphic images that are being associated with Deeth in this section. This could represent how we are unaware that Deeth commits such crimes, and that the comfort we are provided with when we die of heaven and hell dilutes these crimes.  As readers the Pardoner warns us of Deeth, we are told to ‘be war’. The word here has been separated into two, allowing the reader to acknowledge the word ‘war’, almost implying that Deeth can wage war on the rioters. Sin is evidently presented through the personification and extended metaphor of Deeth as a human being and violent soul stealer.