Understanding The Pardoner's Tale

We began the lesson looking at the word ‘whilom’, which is mentioned in The Pardoner’s Tale on the first line. Ms Bullbeck asked us to look at the significance of the word in the tale. This is what we came up with;

• Vague
• From the first line of the tale
• tale - fantasy, ambiguity, not factual
• once or 'once upon a time'
• unreliable
• Chaucer started the tale in a 'fairytale' way - reference to The Bloody Chambers (fairytale beginnings)
• The beginning
  
  

In previous lessons we had looked at the prologue and the portrait of ‘The Pardoner’s Tale’ which gave us an introduction to the character of the Pardoner, and an insight to the actual tale. The word ‘whilom’ in the first line of the tale had already given us an idea that the tale itself would not but very reliable, due to the meaning of the word; ‘once upon a time’, which is a phrase commonly used in the beginning of fairytales, which are not always true stories.
In the next stage of the lesson, we were asked to analyse lines 177-198 of ‘The Pardoner’s Tale’, making notes on the type of character Chaucer was creating through the Pardoner, also making not of the language he used to do this.

In groups of 3, we found it easy to translate the lines, however, analysing the meaning behind the lines was more challenging. From lines 177-198, we found that Chaucer was introducing a group of people which would be the focus in the tale, they came across as self-destructing people, as they would be ‘drinking beyond their capacity’ and be attending places including brothels and places to gamble. As we have discovered the Pardoner is someone who wants to be a saviour, which helps Chaucer to create an interesting tale, using this contrast of ‘destructive’ characters.
We also made not of the fact that it is common in human nature for people to feel better about themselves when they hear or read about people who are so ‘destructive’, for example, the group of people Chaucer has introduced to us in the beginning of this tale. This group of people are exceeding limits, such as the limits of nature and religion, which was not the norm in the middle ages. As the pilgrims in the middle ages were very religious people, it became obvious to us that they would be shocked when listening to this tale, as drinking and gambling was not good religious behaviour. This allows the Pardoner to distinguish himself from these types of people he is describing, making himself out to be a good religious figure.

In the next stage of the lesson, we also began to analyse lines 197-374. Mrs Bullbeck introduced the idea to us that from this point of the tale, Chaucer introduces an apparent digression. In this part of the tale we have 2 functions;
· Dramatic function – delays the story and maintains tension and expectation
· Thematic function – enlarging on various kinds of sin and makes the story that follows more hard hitting and impacts more on the Pardoner’s audience.

In our groups of 3 we continued to analyse and translate lines 197-374, in my group we discovered that the Pardoner is using religious stories and examples to refer to drinking and its consequences, and he then begins to talk about gluttony. He uses this religious imagery to make the pilgrims understand his point of view. Chaucer uses this language to show the reader how important religion was at this time, as using biblical figures is significant to the pilgrims, as they all look up to and admire such figures. However, when they are told about such religious figures sinning, the Pardoner makes himself look like a better person to admire, building trust with them. In this part of the tale, the Pardoner begins lines with ‘O’ – which is referred to in the book as ‘a convention of preaching. The repeated ‘O’ at the beginning of these lines is intended to draw attention to their content.’

Towards the end of the lesson, Mrs Bullbeck then gave us some background information on some of the religious context referred to in this section of the tale. The Pardoner refers to a religious figure called Herod, who was a King who ordered the head of John the Baptist on a plate when he was drink; showing that he has made a rational decision under the influence!

Another religious figure called Lot was also referred to in the tale; he was someone whose daughters got him drunk and forced him to sleep with them so they could have children; another consequence of drinking!

After being introduced to these religious figures, I found it helpful to do my own research about these people independently. I looked on http://www.wikipedia.org.uk/, and typed in the names of some of the people mentioned, and got some background information, it was quite useful.

HOMEWORK!!

For homework we were asked to look at lines 243 – 374 of ‘The Pardoner’s Tale’. Also to translate these lines and annotate them with any ideas we have.

DUE TUESDAY

I found this website helpful to understanding the tale in general;

http://www.jsu.edu/depart/english/gates/pardprt.htm
http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/pardoner.htm


It will also help with the translation of lines 243-374 for homework