The Canterbury Tales was written by Geoffrey Chaucer to show common people the two sides of viewing love, life, and suffering. The story revolves around pilgrims on a religious voyage from London to Canterbury to the cathedral where Thomas Becket was murdered to seek healing powers they believed to be there. Chaucer develops characters to represent the different types of people in society. The Pardoner, one of the pilgrims voyaging to Canterbury, represents the corruption of the church and how money is the root of all evil. The Pardoner’s Tale was about three friends avenging their friend's death by killing death himself only to find gold which leads to fighting, greed, and all of their lives lost. Chaucer wrote about The Pardoner to put emphasizes on the corruption and evil practices of the Church while simultaneously showing the Pardoner's greed throughout his tale.
The tale of the Pardoner is put in close to the end of the General Prologue due to the fact of how marginalized of a character he is in the company of the other pilgrims. Chaucer describes the Pardoner's profession in the General Prologue as somewhat suspicious. The Pardoner offers his religious help for people who want pardons for particular sins. This is where The Pardoner shows off his untrustworthy side. The religious leader displays his corruption in the prologue on his journey to Canterbury by bringing with him a sack of false relics that he uses to take advantage of people. He says -“For my exclusive purpose is to win not at all to castigate their sin. Once dead what matter how their souls may fare? They can go blackberrying for all I care!” (The Pardoner's Prologue, 117-120). With the corrupt Pardoner, trying to undermine the already challenged virtue of his profession, he displays the corruption of the Church.
Throughout the The Pardoner’s Prologue, The Pardoner has told us that his main theme of his tale-“Greed is the root of all evil”-never cha...