Pardoner's Flashcards
basically he saw all the pilgrims as corrupt, they were abusing the religious notion of pilgrimage. He was noted for saying that they were all, including the Pardoner, “Deficient in morality and some few (of them) outrageous to common decency”. Of course you can see this clearly demonstrated within the behaviour of the pardoner as he can be described as spiritually dead or lacking in spiritual life. I personally saw a link between this view and the perception of Faustus, he is “deficient in morality” in a slightly different sense. For example he completely rejects God (“divinity adieu”) and to an Elizabethan audience this was be extremely shocking (context!)
Joseph Strutt
felt that Chaucer himself had “criminal sympathies” and in a sense related to the characters within his tales. I didn’t really get this but I suppose it’s something you read and just learn. A possible link to Faustus is that we feel sympathy towards Faustus, particularly in the closing scene where his intelligent and tortured language to paint a picture of a talent man who has fallen through one fatal mistake.
Robert Grove
focuses a lot on the context of the Medieval times, in particular the plague. He suggests that the old man may have survived, the treasure is meant to be the victims of the plague (maybe that the victims are innocent and spiritually rich?) A possible link may be that Faustus’ treasure is knowledge whereas the old man (in Faustus) is redemption – a much more earthly aim. Beidler’s conclusion is a connection between the plague and sin. Bit wishy washy but oh well!
Beidler
basically says the old man represents mercy and the justice of God, the obvious link is to the old man is Faustus. Simple and useful.
Dean
he comments on the structure of the Pardoner’s Tale by saying it unravels at a quick pace and is an effective means of communication and the truth of humanistic behaviour. The link to Faustus is again quiet simple, the play is (supposedly) meant to show the perils of turning against God and also strongly holds the structure of a morality play. I say Faustus is supposedly meant to show the perils of atheism as you could suggest that Marlowe himself was an atheist, so it depends pending to your personal view really.
Harrington
talks of the lack of passion within the Pardoner (personally I didn’t really get this in the sense I thought he was wrong, but again it’s all subjective) and that the pardoner resembles the rioters as they both have no spiritual life and they both cannot see their own spiritual indifference (as does Faustus – until it is too late).
Pearsall
they take a philosophical approach to Chaucer and connect the theme of death to that of everlasting life and that the tale rejects the spiritual nature of Christ’s sacrifice and makes it purely physical. This idea could maybe be found in Faustus as he rejects the idea of a spiritual life and assumes it to be purely physical as he thinks hells a “fable”
Stevens and Falvey
the Pardoner displays his faults and failings and recognises them, whereas Faustus, whilst he has damning faults and failing, does not openly admit them. This is shown through his constant inner turmoil throughout the play.
Cook
Pardoner is filled with egotistical tendencies and is so obsessed with himself and his doings he is unable to look beyond his world and recognise what he is doing. In a similar way Faustus mirrors this behaviour, and in addition Faustus has plenty of time to make a significant difference to his predicament
Fritz
uses the phrase “self – invention” and the pardoner certainly is that. He acts to only aid himself which obviously goes against traditional Christian teachings and goes against agape (all loving behaviour enforced by Jesus).
Twombly
both say that there is a lack of evidence about the Pardoner’s sexuality. Firstly B states clearly that this idea itself is very subjective and therefore hard to evaluate. Secondly, G agrees that there is little evidence to suggest that the pardoner is gay, although Green does add that this would be very interesting if it were true.
Benson and Green
says that the phrase “a mare” shows that he is gay and that his earning as simply his way to gain forgiveness from the church, remember that the Old Testament and Leviticus was taking much more seriously so homosexuality would have been, on the whole, seen as a sin.
McAlpine
basically say the pardoner is a hermaphrodite
Rowland
the pardoner’s cheating within his life shows his deficiencies in his spiritual health.
Halverson
