The Ultimate Evil In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales
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“The Pardoner’s Tale” is considered the one of the best stories told in The Canterbury Tales; the story is a motif about the ultimate evil, greed, and how it will eventually corrupt all men. As the Pardoner tells, “Thise riotoures three of whiche I telle,/ Longe erst er prime ronge of any belle,/ Were set hem in a taverne to drinke,/ And as they sat they herde a belle clinke/ Biforn a cors was caried to his grave.” (Chaucer 373-377). Three men are sitting in a tavern. When a bell rings and a corpse is dragged across the tavern they are in. It can then be easily established that the men that Chaucer are writing about, through the Pardoner, are not of royal statute. This can be simply deduced by the fact that when described the men are sitting in a tavern, “Longe erst er prime ronge of any belle,” which translates roughly into “Long before 9 A.M” (Chaucer 374, Norton footnotes 243).…show more content… After the men see the corpse all three of them decide, in all their drunken glory, to seek out Death and kill him for taking the life of the passing corpse. On their quest they met an old man who tells them that Death is waiting for them behind giant tree nearby. When they look behind the tree there lays a giant pile of gold. The three drunken men, all in avarice, kill each other. The Pardoner uses his ironic tale to explain to his fellow storytellers why they should not be greedy and give him money so that he may pardon them. The Hoste, the person who arranged for all the characters to tell stories, so that their travels be less boring, gets offended at the Pardoner for his remark