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Unpardonable Hypocrisy
In "The Pardoner's Tale," the Pardoner, a papally approved absolver of sins, relates his story to the other Canterbury bound pilgrims while preaching "Radix malorum est cupiditas." Filled to the brim with hypocrisy and self righteousness, the sliminess of the Pardoner's character is revealed in both the General Prologue and during his own tale.
In the General Prologue, several traits of the Pardoner, who described by the Hoste, already indicate his two outstanding qualities: avarice and hypocrisy. Physically, the Pardoner appears to be an unkempt man. His messy, yellow hair is massed into strands spanning down his shoulders. "Dischevelee save his cappe he rood al bare," notes the Hoste of the Pardoner's hair. His negligence for his self appearance connects to his negligence of other people's concerns. The only two clean qualities the Hoste sees in the Pardoner's appearance are his cap and his rood. Sewed onto the cap is a vernicle and his rood is "of al the newe jet," or all the new fashion. These two articles stand out not only because they are clean, but also because they are both religious and costly. It fits well that the Pardoner, a man that blurs the line between religion and money, has attire that so accurately matches his personality.
Much more of the Pardoner's hypocrisy and self righteousness is revealed during his tale. One of the first things he tells his fellow travelers about is the theme of his sermons. "Radix malorum est cupiditas," he claims just before explaining how he dupes the listeners into buying phony relics and blessings. This is why the Pardoner doesn't fit into the stereotypical role of the self-righteous money grubbing hypocrite. Whereas the
stereotype character would either be decisively ignorant of his underhanded practices or try to justify them in some twisted way, the Pardoner not only openly confesses his hypocrisy, but proudly embraces it. His corrupt practices are deliberately honed and applied in the most devious ways. Obtaining money is his sole objective. One example is instead of giving his sermons in traditional Latin, he expressively uses widely understood English to reach into the pockets of more people. Another example would be when he says, "For myn entente is nat but for to winne/ And no thing for correccion of sinne" (Approximately "For my intention is only to win, and has nothing to do with the correction of sin").
In addition, his stories are full of moral value and meaning; by the actual tale of the three rioters and their hunt for death, he shows off that he is more than talented in making people dish out the cash. Despite these examples showing his severe hypocrisy and self righteousness, the fact that he knows what he's doing is wrong and he confesses it almost brings a redeeming quality to his character.
However, the epilogue of his tale drives home his arrogance and foul nature. In spite of all the warnings and admissions of his wrong doings, he goes ahead and blatantly tries to pull his villainous pranks on the pilgrims, and in particular, the Hoste, by begging them to buy insincere pardons and blessings from phony relics. As if to crush any thought that perhaps the Pardoner might have a streak of morality in him, he insults his listeners with this final unbelievably disdainful and hypocritical crime.
In conclusion, the Pardoner's scheming ways are developed in the General Prologue and during his tale. Full of avarice, pride, and hypocrisy, he is a detestable charter despite his intelligence and awareness of his evils. However, Chaucer as the Hoste, wishing to set an example by not sinking as low as his filthy character, kisses and makes up with him. Perhaps this is a further religious suggestion that no one, despite their faults, is beyond forgiveness.