Why Does The Canterbury Tales The Pardoner Sell Indulgences?

The Pardoner in 'The Canterbury Tales' is one of the most fascinating and controversial characters Chaucer created. He’s a church official who sells pardons and fake relics, claiming they can absolve people of their sins. What’s wild about him is how openly corrupt he is—he admits to preaching against greed while being greedy himself. His tale is all about how greed leads to death, which is super ironic given his own hypocrisy. I love how Chaucer uses him to criticize the corruption in the medieval church. The Pardoner’s vivid personality and unsettling honesty make him one of the most memorable pilgrims in the collection.

The Pardoner in 'The Canterbury Tales' is controversial because he embodies the worst traits of medieval clergy, yet he openly admits his hypocrisy. He sells fake relics and indulgences, preaches against greed while being greedy himself, and uses his charm to manipulate people. His tale about greed ironically mirrors his own life, making him a walking contradiction. What really shocks readers is his lack of remorse—he brags about his scams. Chaucer paints him as a villain, but a fascinating one because he’s so unapologetically corrupt. It’s like watching a train wreck; you can’ look away because he’s so boldly awful.

The Pardoner in 'The Canterbury Tales' is one of the most intriguing characters, a shady figure who preaches about greed while being greedy himself. He’s a church official who sells pardons and fake relics, claiming they can absolve people of their sins or bring them blessings. His whole gig is a scam—he peddles things like pig’s bones as holy relics and makes a fortune off gullible believers. What’s wild is that he openly admits his tricks during his tale, boasting about how he manipulates people. Chaucer paints him as a hypocrite, preaching against avarice while being the epitome of it. His character is a sharp critique of corruption in the medieval church, and his sales pitch is all about exploiting fear and faith for profit. The irony is thick with this one, and it’s why he stands out in the tales.

The Pardoner in 'The Canterbury Tales' is one of Chaucer's most fascinating and morally complex characters. He's a church figure who sells pardons and indulgences, claiming to have the power to absolve people of their sins—for a price, of course. What makes him so intriguing is his blatant hypocrisy. He preaches against greed while being utterly consumed by it himself, even admitting to using fake relics to swindle people. His tale, a sermon about the dangers of greed, is dripping with irony because he embodies the very vices he condemns. The Pardoner represents the corruption within the medieval church, highlighting how religious figures often exploited the faith of common people for personal gain. Despite his flaws, he’s a masterful storyteller, using his charisma to manipulate his audience, much like how he manipulates his pilgrims. Chaucer’s portrayal is both批判 and darkly humorous, making the Pardoner a standout in the tales.

The Pardoner in 'The Canterbury Tales' is one of Chaucer's most complex and morally bankrupt characters, embodying several sins that reflect his hypocrisy and corruption. His primary sin is greed, as he openly admits to preaching against avarice while shamelessly exploiting his audience for money. He sells fake relics and indulgences, preying on the fears and guilt of the poor and uneducated. His sermons are filled with fire-and-brimstone rhetoric designed to terrify people into parting with their coins, yet he cares nothing for their spiritual well-being. Beyond greed, the Pardoner is guilty of pride. He boasts about his ability to deceive people, even revealing his tricks to his fellow pilgrims, as if his cunning is something to be admired. His gluttony and drunkenness are also evident, as he frequently indulges in excess. Perhaps most damning is his hypocrisy—he condemns the very sins he practices, making him a living example of moral decay. His tale about three rioters who die because of their greed ironically mirrors his own sinful nature, adding a layer of dark humor to his character.

Honestly, the Pardoner in 'The Canterbury Tales' reads like a little morality play about hypocrisy and the human habit of turning belief into business. When I picture him, I don’t just see a corrupt individual; I see someone shaped by a system where relics, indulgences, and theatrical sermons could be monetized. He’s learned the craft of persuasion—slick language, staged piety, and a knack for making people feel small enough to buy comfort. That’s the engine of his corruption: rhetorical skill plus economic incentive. What’s deliciously blunt about Chaucer is how the Pardoner confesses his own fraud. In the prologue he admits he preaches against greed while actually exploiting it, and that self-awareness makes him more sinister. He’s not deluded; he’s calculating. That confession turns him into a mirror for others—showing that corruption isn’t only about failing moral standards, it’s about choosing profit over principle. I always come away from 'The Pardoner’s Tale' feeling both amused and uneasy: amused at Chaucer’s bold satire, uneasy because the type of corruption he mocks still finds new forms today.

The Pardoner in 'The Canterbury Tales' is one of the most fascinating and morally complex characters Chaucer created. He's a preacher who profits from selling fake relics and pardons, exploiting people's guilt and fear of damnation. His physical appearance is almost grotesque—yellow hair, bulging eyes, and a voice like a goat—which adds to his unsettling aura. What's striking is his self-awareness; he openly admits his scams during his prologue, boasting about how easily he deceives the poor and gullible. Yet, his tale about greed ironically warns against the very sin he embodies. This hypocrisy makes him a brilliant satire of corruption in the medieval church. His character is a masterclass in irony, blending charm, deceit, and a twisted sense of pride in his own villainy.

I stumbled into Chaucer’s voice on a rainy afternoon and got completely hooked by how bluntly the narrator of 'The Pardoner's Tale' skews the idea of sin. The Pardoner himself is hilarious and horrifying at once: he preaches against greed while openly admitting that he’s a con artist who sells fake relics to line his pockets. That hypocrisy isn’t just character flavor—it's the whole point. Chaucer shows sin as something contagious and performative, not just a private failing. The Pardoner’s rhetoric works because he understands people’s fears and desires; he weaponizes piety to profit from sin’s very condemnation. Reading the tale itself, with the three rioters who find the gold and promptly betray and murder one another, felt like watching a slow-motion social collapse. Greed in the tale is almost anthropomorphic—an idea that invades friendships, warps judgment, and drives rational people to absurd violence. Chaucer pairs the Pardoner’s sham sermon with a brutally literal story: the sermon condemns avarice, and the exemplum enacts it. That layering creates a bitter irony; the text both preaches and demonstrates that sin is circular and self-destructive. Beyond medieval theology, I see modern echoes everywhere—scams dressed as virtue, influencers selling salvation, institutions that preach purity while siphoning resources. What hooks me is Chaucer’s refusal to let readers off the hook: we laugh at the Pardoner, but we also feel a twinge when the sermon lands, because his strategies still work. The tale’s power lies in that uncomfortable recognition—sin is not only wrong in theory; it looks, sounds, and sells like something we might want to buy. It leaves me oddly grateful that literature can still show us our own faces in the mirror.