Notesale: Turn your study into money

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SINS
Throughout the Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale there are many examples of sins and immoralities:




Swearing/blaspheming
Gambling
7 Deadly Sins

Swearing/Blasphemy:
Main episodes:
1
...

2
...
Oaths should only be taken when necessary
...
The Pardoner condemns idle oaths taking the Lord’s name in vain and uses the 10
Commandments as authority
...
Their swearing oaths and blaspheming contrasts to how the Old Man uses God’s name in the form
of blessings
...
The three sinful men swear on different parts of Christ’s body
...
”
“Oure blissed Lordes body they totereHem thought that Jewes rente him noght ynough
...
”
“The heighe God forbad swering at al,
And fals swering is yet moore reprevable
...
”
“Thou that the seconde heestes honurable,
‘Take nat my name in idel or amis
...
”

“Ye, Goddes armes!”
“I make avow to Goddes digne bones!”
“By Goddes dignitee”
“And Cristes blessed body al torente
...

Swearing by different parts of Christ’s body was a common form of blasphemy: the Church
presented this as a re-crucifixion of Christ
...
It was believed that disrespecting Christ’s name equated to
dishonouring his tortured body, and, therefore, the sacrifice which Christians believe he was making
to save humankind
...
It was that serious
...

Gambling:
Main episodes:
1
...
“Hasardours”
2
...

3
...

4
...

5
...

Quotes:
“pleyen at dees bothe day and night”
“Hasard is verray mooder of lesignes,
And of deceite, and cursed forsweringes,
Blaspheme of Crist, manslaughtre, and waste also
Of catel and time
...
”

“That alle the gretteste that were of that lond,
Pleyinge atte hasard he hem fond
...
”
“Lordes may finden oother maner pley
Honest ynough to drive the day awey
...
”
Context:
Medieval preaching against gambling often made us of the story of the Roman soldiers gambling for
Christ’s robes after the crucifixion
...

7 Deadly Sins:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Lust
Gluttony
Greed/avarice
Sloth
Wrath
Envy
Pride

Lust/lechery:
Lust or lechery (carnal "luxuria") is an intense desire
...

Main Episodes:
1
...

Quotes:
“And right anon thane comen tombestres
Fetys and smale, and yonge frutesteres
...
the verray develes officers
To kindle and blowe the fyr of lecherye
...
”

Context:
These above quotes are in keeping with the medieval gender attitudes, although men are the ones
that are being portrayed as habitual sinners, it is women that are presented as not merely
temptresses, but are actively carrying out the devil’s work through their erotic behaviour
...

Main episodes:
1
...

2
...

3
...

4
...

5
...

6
...

7
...

8
...

9
...

10
...

11
...

12
...

13
...

14
...

Quotes:
“
...
”
“And eten aso and drinken over hir might
...
”

“Lo, how that drunken Looth, unkindely,
Lay by his dogtres two, unwittingly;
So dronke he was, he nyste what he wroghte
...
”
“He seith he kan no difference finde
Bitwix a man that is out of his minde
And a man which that is dronkelewe
...
”
“Adam oure fader, and his wyf also,
Fro paradis to labour and to wo
Were driven for that vice, it is no drede
...
”
“Whan man so drinketh of the white and rede
That of his throte he maketh privee,
Thurgh thilke cursed superfluitee
...
the ende is deeth, wombe is hir god
...
”
“But certes, he that haunteth swiche delices
Is deed, whil that he liveth in tho vices
...
”
“And thurgh thy dronke nose semeth the soun
As though thou seydest ay ‘Sampsoun, Sampsoun!’
And yet, God woot, Sampsoun drank nevere no wyn
...
”
“He kan no conseil kepe, it is no drede
...
”
“Looke, Atilla, the grete conqueror,
Deyde in his sleep with shame and dishonour,
Bledinge ay at his nose in dronkenesse
...
”
“
...
”
“And ech of us bicomen otheres brother
...
”
Context:
These two sins may not always seem as dreadful to modern readers, and certainly not as serious in
comparison to other cardinal sins
...
Resources to sustain human life were neither abundant nor
consistently available so the glutton could be seen as insulting, if not directly contributing to, the
plight of the starving
...
Wealth was
held by a small elite group of families gathered around the king
...

Europe suffered the Great Famine between 1315-1322 as many crops failed for three consecutive
summers and starvation was widespread until 1322
...
In 1381,
the Peasants revolt led by Wat Tyler broke out in protest against taxes on poor labourers
...
Disease was rampant especially with the
Black Death in 1949
...

The pilgrims may agree with the Pardoner in his condemnation of overindulgence, but it interesting
to imagine which of them would commit the sins of drunkenness and gluttony if given the chance to
do so without censure
...
g
...
Aquinas went so far as to prepare a list of six ways to commit gluttony,
comprising:



Praepropere – eating too soon
Laute – eating too expensively






Nimis – eating too much
Ardenter – eating too eagerly
Studiose – eating too daintily
Forente – eating wildly

There is the association of Original Sin with the sin of gluttony (St Jerome’s Adversus Jovinianum)
Greed/Avarice:
Greed (Latin, avaritia), also known as avarice or covetousness, is, like lust and gluttony, a sin of
excess
...

Main Episodes:
1
...

2
...

3
...

4
...

5
...

6
...

7
...

Quotes:
“He moste preche and wel affile his tonge
To winne silver, as he ful wel koude;
Therefore he song the murierly and loude
...
”
“For myn entente is nat but for to winne,
And nothing for the correccioun of sinne
...
”
“Yet kan I maken oother folk to twynne
From avarice, and soore to repente
...
”
“I wol have moneie, wolle, chese, and whete,
Al were it yeven of the povereste page,
Or of the povereste widwe in a village,
Al sholde hir children sterve for famine
...
turne up this croked wey
...
”
“No lenger thane after Deeth they sought,
But ech of hem so glad was of that sighte,
For that the florins been so faire and brighte
...
”
“This tresor moste ycaried be by nighte
As wisely and as slyly as it mighte
...

Thanne may we bothe oure lustes all fulfille,
And pleye at dees right at oure owene wille
...
”
“’Now lat us sitte and drinke, and make us merie,
And afterward we wol his body berie
...
”
“So that ye offren, alwey newe and newe,
Nobles or pens, whiche that be goode and trewe
...
"
The Pardoner’s character contrasts to the character of the Parson, while the character of the
Pardoner takes money from the poor, the Parson gives what little he has to them
...


This attitude was based on the example of Jesus and his followers found in the New Testament, who
lived in poverty, taking humble manual jobs for simple sustenance so that they could devote
themselves to the important news of telling people about the kingdom of God
...
They were also upheld by those wishing to reform the
church, such as John Wyclif
...
The Pardoner himself calls materialism ‘swich
cursedness’ l
...
In the light of that and his overt desire to take his hearers’ money, Chaucer is
presenting the Pardoner himself as being worthy of condemnation (when judged by God) for the sin
of avarice
...
Chaucer illustrates how the desire for money leads:


In the Pardoner, to forgery and lying, extortion, abuse of trust, lust



In the youths, to gambling, blasphemy, disrespect, duplicity, murder, drunkenness

The Host expresses society’s reaction to such blatant avarice (himself provoked to the sins of anger,
blasphemy and lewdness) and it is clear that there is a terrifying eternal consequence for the youths
(and, by implication, the Pardoner as well)
...
The Pardoner commits the sin of sloth with his lazy attitude to practical work
...
The 3 men also commit slothful actions
...
”
“I wol noon the apostles countrefete
...
”
“Long erst er prime of any belle
...
”
“This tresor hath Fortune unto us given
...
”

“Now lat us sitte and drinke, and make us merie,
And afterward we wol his body berie
...

Wrath
Wrath (Latin, ira), also known as "rage", may be described as inordinate and uncontrolled feelings of
hatred and anger
...
The 3 men demonstrate wrath towards others
2
...

Quotes:
“Is it swich peril with for to meete?
I shal him seke by wey and eek by strete
...
”
“thou false theef!”
“Thou woldest make me kisse thyn olde breech,
And swere it were a relik of a seint,
Though it were with thy fundement depeint!”
“So wrooth he was, no word ne wolde he seye
...
Envy is similar to
jealousy in that they both feel discontent towards someone's traits, status, abilities, or rewards
...

Main Episodes:
1
...


2
...

Quotes:
“
...
”
“Why livestow so longe in so greet age?”
Context:
Envy can be directly related to the Ten Commandments, specifically, "Neither shall you desire
...
"
Aquinas described envy as "sorrow for another's good"
...
It is identified as a desire to be more
important or attractive than others, failing to acknowledge the good work of others, and excessive
love of self (especially holding self out of proper position toward God)
...
The Pardoner is proud of his money and is vain in his appearance
...
The Pardoner is proud of the deception
...
The 3 men are guilty of pride
...
The Pardoner is again shown to be proud
Quotes:
“But hood, for joiltee, wered he noon
...
”
“His wallet lay biforn him in his lappe,
Bretful of pardoun, comen from Rome al hoot
...
”
“He made the person and the peple his apes
...
proudeste of thise riotoures thre
...
”
“Which were yeven by the popes hand

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