Pardoner's Tale

We have a lot of complex issues to discuss for the Pardoner's Tale. In case we don't get to them all, or you'd like to have a list for your notes, I'm going to put my lesson plan up on the blog. I'll try to do that more often.

Bookland in the Middlesboro Mall has an Oxford Classics edition and translation of the Canterbury Tales. If you're struggling, I recommend that you get a copy. This should augment your reading and help you keep up. It is not a substitute for reading in Middle English, though!

Class discussion outline:

I. Small Group work:

• Again, I’d like you to come up with several topics for discussion. List them on board.
• Several critics have claimed that the Pardoner is the most morally corrupt pilgrim. Does the text suggest this? What about him makes him worse than even the sommoner or Friar?
• Unlike the other “bad” pilgrims, the Pardoner doesn’t tell a “churl’s tale.” Does this make him better or worse than them?

II. Pardoner, Physician, Host—ask someone to summarize this scene

• how does the Host interact with the Physician? What sorts of questions does this raise when he turns to the Pardoner?
• The other Pilgrims object to his telling a Tale. Why? What does this suggest about him?
• What’s the significance of the Pardoner needing cakes and ale before he can “preach”?

III. Pardoner’s Prologue

• What sorts of things does the Pardoner say he does?
• This is a type of “confessional prologue,” like the Wife of Bath’s—and the Pardoner interrupts her during her Prologue. How and why are these two characters linked thematically, with respect to their descriptions in GP, the Prologues, and their Tales?
• How does the Pardoner view his own authorial position? Why?

IV. Pardoner’s Tale

• The tale begins with a mini-sermon on the tavern sins—swearing, gambling, and gluttony. Some of it is a little doctrinally unorthodox (pride was the official cause of Adam’s fall, not gluttony) but it would all be quite common.
• The Pardoner’s ideas about consumption might strike us as proto-Marxist, even. His expose of illicit practices concerning wine-mixing, and his warnings, based on history, about gambling and swearing are all highly conventional.
• The sermon is followed by a short narrative demonstrating the problems of these sins. What did you make of this as a story? What surprised you about it? Did you have any questions?
• Who is the old man? IS he evil? Good? Why is the tale ambiguous about this, when it’s not ambiguous about much of anything else?

V. Pardoner’s Conclusion?

• Why does the Host react with such violence? How do you read his threat?
• Why is the Knight the one to stop it? What does he signify by doing so?