It should be mentioned though, that, in contrast to the Middle English penitential lyrics, in which the author addresses God in a direct manner and with a certain message to get across, whether it is a plea or appraise: “Ne lete us falle in no fondinge” (Patterson 108) the characters in The Pardoner’s Tale mention the name of God rather as a way to make sure that the Lord will keep them from certain harm: “Now for the love of Christ Who died for us, forsake / your oaths, great and small” (Chaucer) seems an exclamation than a plea moreover, it seems that the manner of mentioning God’s name I rather a habit than a conscientious attempt to address the Lord. Indeed, if considering Chaucer’s poem closer, one will see that the author tries to convey the idea that people should remember about the words of wisdom that the Bible says and let God into their souls and minds: “Now for the love of Christ Who died for us, forsake / your oaths, great and small” (Chaucer).Ĭomparing the given feature of Chaucer’s poem, it is necessary to mention that the Middle English penitential lyrics by Patterson actually manages to get the same message across, though in quite a different way: “Une fader in hevene riche, / Thi name be hallid ever i-liche” (Patterson 108). biting stories about unscrupulous clergy or dissolute women” (Lázaro 147).Indeed, according to Luis Alberto Lázaro, The Pardoner’s Tale offers a lot in terms of revealing the specifics of the Christian belief and the ways in which people speak to the Lord, contrasting it sharply to the ways offered by the Medieval church: “Chaucer himself recited his lines in front of a courtly audience, entertaining his listeners with While in the Middle English penitential lyrics, the idea of a man establishing relationships with God is obvious. To start with, The Pardoner’s Tale and the Middle English penitential lyrics touch upon the issue of the relationships between a man and God. Calling for the Lord Almighty: Pater Noster and The Pardoner Despite the fact that the Tale and the Prologue revolve around the issue of morality most of the time, the two stories manage to touch upon a range of other issues, among which the one of repentance takes a good chunk of the poem, which makes The Pardoner and its Prologue display certain similarities with the Middle English penitential lyrics. Setting a challenging plot and developing a rather unpredictable twist, Chaucer wrote a unique work which deserves taking a closer look at. Of all the stories in Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer The Pardoner’s Tale and its Prologue must be the most famous and by far the most memorable of all the “tales”.

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Geoffrey chaucer the pardoner's tale