The Pardoner even tries to excuse his behavior by favorably comparing himself to other hypocritical preachers who seek power or inflame hate. He preaches against sin but indulges in all forms of sin at the same time. In the journal Chaucer Review, Elspeth Whitney writes that, Since Walter Curry’s introduction of the topic in 1919, when he named the Pardoner as a eunuch ex navitate, the Pardoner has been categorized as a normal male, a congenital eunuch, a man who has been castrated, a man impotent but physically … Is the Pardoner a hypocrite?Īs a religious authority, the Pardoner’s largest fault takes the form of hypocrisy. However, he bizarrely ends his tale with a sales pitch to the other pilgrims.

The Pardoner gleefully exploits the poor, gullible people in his parish, showing them cheap trinkets and bones from Rome and pretending that they are valuable relics. He is greedy and preaches exactly what he preaches against. The Pardoner revels in his deceptive tendencies, speaking at length in his prologue about the false relics he sells his poor parishioners. The Pardoner’s Tale Back to: Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer In this article will discuss The Pardoner’s Tale Summary in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. The Pardoner’s mincing, vain, feminine appearance have led many commentators to speculate that Chaucer is painting a picture of him as a homosexual. … He preaches about the evil sin of greed even though his whole character is defined by avarice. Why does the Pardoner preach? Solely to get money not to correct sin also by preaching, the Pardoner can get back at anyone who has offended him or his brethren. Yet Chaucer places him at the very bottom of humanity because he uses the church and holy, religious objects as tools to profit personally.

Chaucer the pardoner