Illustrate from ‘The Pardoner’s Tale and Prologue’ the Pardoner’s skill as a preacher

People sought salvation with awe as The Black Death swept across Europe. The pre-science era when Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales meant priests confront an increa perditiong workload, introducing monetary payments in exchange for remission of sin or penances (punishment). The responsibility of the collection of this money went to quaestores.These quaestores1 did not always have a firm connection with the Church, and definitely not with the artes praedicandi, the collected thought collective in the theory and art of pr distributivelying. However, the new direction the Church took became a rampant breeding ground for forgers and confidence tricksters such as the Pardoner, preying upon the fears of the decrease population for personal gain.The artes praedicandi was divided into two argonas, the moral and the technical. With the moral, the preacher, genuinely inspired, was to be the mouthpiece for the Holy Spirit. There is no question that Chaucers Pardoner is a completely immoral c reature, his motives selfish and his interests in hu slice art much important than guidance from God. However, in the technical aspect of preaching he excels. chivalric practice and sermon c bothed upon the preacher to provide religious instruct as well as entertainment.2 Gardiner writes of elements of convention in the traditional Medieval religious lesson and the Pardoner covers all of them.The first, statement of theme, is a biblical text edition and in the Pardoners case it is, Radix Malorum Est Cupiditas, the love of money is the root of all evil.3 The Exemplum, a story to illustrate the text, is taken care of in the tommyrot of the riotours search for death. The discourse of the sins of drunkenness, gluttony, gambling, blasphemy and swearing could be considered the dilatatio, detailed explaining of the text, and fix up after the storys close, the peroration, a discussion and application of the text.The Pardoners Prologue sets up a universally held view, that the Pardone r is honest of the very sins he preaches against, he seeks to become sin itself and is master of his own damnation. The Pardoner has with him firm establishment of authority and credibility, bulles of popes and cardinales that destine him powers of absolution.And I assoille him by the auctoriteeWhich that by bulle ygraunted was to meBy this gaude have I wonne, yeer by yeer,An hundred mark sith I was pardoner(103-6)The Pardoner also has a piece of the sail of the ship St. Peter had sailed upon the Sea of Galilee, the Virgin Marys embryonic membrane and a relic that cures jealousy and helps livestock and their farmers and the magic mitten As discriminate of the audience of pilgrims and readers, we are aware that these holy relics are pure counterfeit, further to the frightened believer in an age of magic surrounded by death, the Pardoners offer of help seemed sensible rather than silly. Chaucer gives us here a visual image laid so over the top of heer as yelow as wex, that it all ows room for him to describe the physical movements of the fake. The Pardoner evangelises with energy-Thanne payne I me to strecche aside the nekkeAnd est and west upon the peple I bekke,As dooth a dowve sittinge on a capital of SwitzerlandMinde handes an my tonge goon so yerne(108-11)And authority-I stonde lyk a clerk in my pulpet(107)His storytelling is full of naturalistic dialogue and personification, the riotoures thre representing the condemned sins of drunkenness, gambling and blasphemy. The latter of these also helps to pull his flock or customers in with the tactic of shock. He incorporates everyday experience in to the sermon. Cookery and wines are mentioned in verse of political consumer advice. There is sluice a laugh to be had when he describes a drunk man snoringAnd thurgh thy dronke nose semeth the sounAs though thou soydest ay Sampsoun SampsounAnd thus far, God woot, Sampsoun drank nevere no wyn(267-9)If that doesnt seal the deal, the one about the adulterous wife with two to cardinal priests should It is clear the Pardoner values entertainment highly, and this is in place to build in those who have no interest in God.An important theatrical role of fourteenth century ministering was the recommendation of the use of ensamples, specific incidents used to quiz or push a general assertion. To the lewed the Pardoner may fall out as a learned man,, drawing on works from the stoic philosopher Seneca and philosopher and scientist Avicenna (Ibn Sina). He makes reference to De Contemptu Mundi by Pope Innocent III, the theologist St. Jeromes Adversus Jovinianum and St. John of Salisbury. His knowledge of the Bible is as impressive as his blue incorporatings. He quotes or hints at the contents of Genesis, Proverbs, Ecclesiasticus, the Gospels and the epistles of St.Paul. He refers to a wide variety of texts, and if they were obscure the more likely they would be associated only when with the Pardoner, perhaps of his own invention.His tongue of hauteyn tone uses a number of rhetorical devices, common among legitimate preachers. Repetition is the most common overuse of the biblical passage and over-stressing of the same five sins is practised, making sure words are stuck firmly in the memory or minds of the listeners through its amplification and emphasis. Onomatopeia, as mentioned is used to imitate the heavy breathing of a drunk, and the glutton,That may go thurgh the golet softe and swoote,Of spicerie of leef and bark and roote(257-8)He also uses apostrophe,O wombe O bely O foetid cod(248)His narration is packed with exclamation, as he uses heavy punctuation to increase emotional impact. His tale and sermon manipulate suspense, his voice, playing each of the parts, shifts in tone and volume. From complexity to simplicity and back, the lesson is rich in flood and anti-climax. He is a natural performer and a cunning predator,For though myself be a ful vicious man,A moral tale yet I yow telle kan,Which I am wont to pre che for to winne(173-5)c. Andrew Luke 2002