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Irony in “The Pardoner’s tale” Geoffrey Chaucer is indeed one of the greatest English poets. His masterpiece The Canterbury Tales is noted one of the finest works of literature in the world. Chaucer used the setting of a pilgrimage to Canterbury, where Archbishop Thomas a Becket was murdered, as a frame story to tell the tales of each of his memorable and vividly drawn characters. One noted tale is that of the Pardoner, in …

…evil greed. By entrancing the audience and enticing them to repent, the pardoner is committing the equivalent of what he deems sinful. The pardoner preaches “Greed is the root of all evil”, as avarice is his only objective. Lastly, the pardoner looks to satisfy his own corrupt intentions by selling pardons for money. The moral of the story is that love of money causes corruption and death, all of which the pardoner knows to well.