THE PARDONER, THE PROLOGUE TO THE CANTERBURY TALES

THE PARDONER,  THE PROLOGUE TO THE CANTERBURY TALES

30 Pardoner Grants pardons for sins
Riding with the Summoner Rode in the latest mode

Just came from visiting Rome

 Bulging eyeballs like a hareSings and tells stories well

Wallet full of pardons

Hair as yellow as wax, down signed by the Pope

to the shoulder, thin locks

 Voice like a goatlike rat-tails,

 smooth chin “Gelding, or a mare”

Hood in wallet instead of head

 Pillowcase full of false relics:

Only had a small cap sewed with Our Lady’s veil,

piece of sail froma “holy relic” St. Peter when Jesus walked on water and made more than what the Parson made in 1-2 months by the sell of these relics

SUMMARY

The Pardoner -  Pardoners granted papal indulgences—reprieves from penance in exchange for charitable donations to the Church. Many pardoners, including this one, collected profits for themselves. In fact, Chaucer’s Pardoner excels in fraud, carrying a bag full of fake relics—for example, he claims to have the veil of the Virgin Mary. The Pardoner has long, greasy, yellow hair and is beardless. These characteristics were associated with shiftiness and gender ambiguity in Chaucer’s time. The Pardoner also has a gift for singing and preaching whenever he finds himself inside a church.

669         With hym ther rood a gentil PARDONER
                 With him there rode a fine PARDONER
670         Of Rouncivale, his freend and his compeer,
                 Of Rouncivale, his friend and his companion,
671         That streight was comen fro the court of Rome.
                 Who had come straight from the court of Rome.
672         Ful loude he soong "Com hider, love, to me!"
                 Very loud he sang "Come hither, love, to me!"
673         This Somonour bar to hym a stif burdoun;
                 This Summoner harmonized with him in a strong bass;(LOW PITCHED VOICE) UNTERTONE
674         Was nevere trompe of half so greet a soun.
                 There was never a trumpet of half so great a sound.
675         This Pardoner hadde heer as yelow as wex,
                 This Pardoner had hair as yellow as wax,
676         But smothe it heeng as dooth a strike of flex;
                 But smooth it hung as does a clump of flax;
677         By ounces henge his lokkes that he hadde,
                 By small /THIN strands hung such locks as he had,
678         And therwith he his shuldres overspradde;
                 And he spread them over his shoulders;
679         But thynne it lay, by colpons oon and oon.
                 But thin it lay, by strands one by one.
680         But hood, for jolitee, wered he noon,
                 But to make an attractive appearance, he wore no hood,
681         For it was trussed up in his walet.
                 For it was trussed up in his knapsack.
682         Hym thoughte he rood al of the newe jet;
                 It seemed to him that he rode in the very latest style;
683         Dischevelee, save his cappe, he rood al bare.
                 With hair unbound, save for his cap, he rode all bare-headed.
684         Swiche glarynge eyen hadde he as an hare.
                 He had glaring eyes such as has a hare.
685         A vernycle hadde he sowed upon his cappe.
                 He had sewn a Veronica upon his cap.
686         His walet, biforn hym in his lappe,
                 Before him in his lap, (he had) his knapsack,
687         Bretful of pardoun comen from Rome al hoot.
                 Brimful of pardons come all fresh from Rome.
688         A voys he hadde as smal as hath a goot.
                 He had a voice as small as a goat has.
689         No berd hadde he, ne nevere sholde have;
                 He had no beard, nor never would have;
690         As smothe it was as it were late shave.
                 It (his face) was as smooth as if it were recently shaven.
691         I trowe he were a geldyng or a mare.
                 I believe he was a eunuch or a homosexual.
692         But of his craft, fro Berwyk into Ware
                 But as to his craft, from Berwick to Ware
693         Ne was ther swich another pardoner.
                 There was no other pardoner like him.
694         For in his male he hadde a pilwe-beer,
                 For in his pouch he had a pillow-case,
695         Which that he seyde was Oure Lady veyl;
                 Which he said was Our Lady's veil;
696         He seyde he hadde a gobet of the seyl
                 He said he had a piece of the sail
697         That Seint Peter hadde, whan that he wente
                 That Saint Peter had, when he went
698         Upon the see, til Jhesu Crist hym hente.
                 Upon the sea, until Jesus Christ took him.
699         He hadde a croys of latoun ful of stones,
                 He had a cross of latten (brass-like alloy) covered with stones,
700         And in a glas he hadde pigges bones.
                 And in a glass container he had pigs' bones.
701         But with thise relikes, whan that he fond
                 But with these relics, when he found
702         A povre person dwellynge upon lond,
                 A poor parson dwelling in the countryside,
703         Upon a day he gat hym moore moneye
                 In one day he got himself more money
704         Than that the person gat in monthes tweye;
                 Than the parson got in two months;
705         And thus, with feyned flaterye and japes,
                 And thus, with feigned flattery and tricks,
706         He made the person and the peple his apes.
                 He made fools of the parson and the people.
707         But trewely to tellen atte laste,
                 But truly to tell at the last,
708         He was in chirche a noble ecclesiaste.
                 He was in church a noble ecclesiast.
709         Wel koude he rede a lessoun or a storie,
                 He well knew how to read a lesson or a story,
710         But alderbest he song an offertorie;
                 But best of all he sang an Offertory;
711         For wel he wiste, whan that song was songe,
                 For he knew well, when that song was sung,
712         He moste preche and wel affile his tonge
                 He must preach and well smooth his speech
713         To wynne silver, as he ful wel koude;
                 To win silver, as he very well knew how;
714         Therefore he song the murierly and loude.
                 Therefore he sang the more merrily and loud.

EXPLAINATION

With the summoner rode a PARDONER from the hospital at Rouncivalle near London, a man who sold official pardons to criminals after hearing their confessions to God. He had eyes that popped out of his head like a rabbit’s and a voice that sounded like the bleating of a goat. He didn’t have a beard either, and I don’t think he ever will have one. His face was always as smooth as if he had just shaven. His thin blond hair was as yellow as wax and hung in straight, stringy wisps from his head. Just for fun, he kept his hood packed up in his bag, thinking that without it he’d look cooler and more stylish with his hair falling over his shoulders. Instead, he wore only a cap that had a patch sewn on it, showing that he’d been to Rome to see the veil of St. Veronica with Jesus’ face on it. In fact, he’d just come back from Rome, and the bag he carried on his lap was stuffed full of letters of pardon for him to sell. He and the summoner were close friends and together would belt out rounds of the song “Come here, my love.” Not even a trumpet was half as loud as the summoner. I’m pretty sure the pardoner was either a eunuch or gay. Still, he was one of the most interesting pardoners in all of England. He carried a pillowcase in his bag that he claimed contained a bunch of holy objects, including Mary’s veil, a piece of canvas from the sails of Saint Peter’s fishing boat, a crucifix made of brass and jewels, and even a jar of pig bones. He could make more money in a day charging country bumpkins and priests to see these “relics” than those priests could earn in two months. And so, through flattery and deceit he’d make fools out of the countryfolk and their priests. But, to give him credit, he took churchgoing seriously and could read lessons and stories from the Bible well. And he was best at singing the offertory song because he knew he had to sing loudly and happily if he wanted people to donate their money.

DETAILED CRITICAL SUMMARY

The Pardoner

The Pardoner rides in the very back of the party in the General Prologue and is fittingly the most marginalized character in the company. His profession is somewhat dubious—pardoners offered indulgences, or previously written pardons for particular sins, to people who repented of the sin they had committed. Along with receiving the indulgence, the penitent would make a donation to the Church by giving money to the pardoner. Eventually, this “charitable” donation became a necessary part of receiving an indulgence. Paid by the Church to offer these indulgences, the Pardoner was not supposed to pocket the penitents’ charitable donations. That said, the practice of offering indulgences came under critique by quite a few churchmen, since once the charitable donation became a practice allied to receiving an indulgence, it began to look like one could cleanse oneself of sin by simply paying off the Church. Additionally, widespread suspicion held that pardoners counterfeited the pope’s signature on illegitimate indulgences and pocketed the “charitable donations” themselves.

Chaucer’s Pardoner is a highly untrustworthy character. He sings a ballad—“Com hider, love, to me!” (General Prologue, 672)—with the hypocritical Summoner, undermining the already challenged virtue of his profession as one who works for the Church. He presents himself as someone of ambiguous gender and sexual orientation, further challenging social norms. The narrator is not sure whether the Pardoner is an effeminate homosexual or a eunuch (castrated male). Like the other pilgrims, the Pardoner carries with him to Canterbury the tools of his trade—in his case, freshly signed papal indulgences and a sack of false relics, including a brass cross filled with stones to make it seem as heavy as gold and a glass jar full of pig’s bones, which he passes off as saints’ relics. Since visiting relics on pilgrimage had become a tourist industry, the Pardoner wants to cash in on religion in any way he can, and he does this by selling tangible, material objects—whether slips of paper that promise forgiveness of sins or animal bones that people can string around their necks as charms against the devil. After telling the group how he gulls people into indulging his own avarice through a sermon he preaches on greed, the Pardoner tells of a tale that exemplifies the vice decried in his sermon. Furthermore, he attempts to sell pardons to the group—in effect plying his trade in clear violation of the rules outlined by the host.