Back to: Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
In this article will discuss The Pardoner’s Tale Summary in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.
At the beginning of the tale, the pardoner gives the sermon describing the kind of sins the people he’s going to tell the tale of indulges in.
Gluttony, the in that had Adam and Eve were thrown out of Eden; drunkenness that makes a person lose his conscience; gambling that kindles greed in people; and swearing. After the sermon, he returns to the tale.
Three friends were drinking when they hear the funeral knell and one of them tells the others that one of their old friends has been killed by a person named death.
All of them resolve, in their drunkenness, to find Death and kill him. They go on to search for Death. On the road, they meet an old man who seems upset and has been waiting for death to take him. They ask him he has seen Death and he guides towards a tree where he has left death some time ago.
They reach the tree and find eight bushels of gold. Astonished to have found so much gold without any owner around, they decide to transport the gold in the eight so nobody finds out about it. They draw lots to send someone to bring wine and bread in the meantime.
The youngest one is chosen by the fate to go to the town. He goes and sly one of the rest two proposes to kill the one gone to the town so as to expand their share of gold, the other one agrees.
The youngest has also planned to kill the other two to become one of the richest in the world. So, he buys the strongest poison and mixes that in the two bottles of wine and keeps one pure for himself.
As he reaches around the tree, other two come from behind the tree and knife him and he’s dead. Feeling as to have expanded their share of gold they drink wine to celebrate and both of the pick the poisoned bottle. Soon they lay dead around their dead friend leaving the gold for nobody.
The pardoner concludes his tale be warning people of the sin of avarice.
