Pardoners Tale Context

Question 1

Lazaro - Satirical traditions

Answer 1

“various forms of satirical compositions from the oral tradition [which] occupy a prominent site”

Question 2

Lazaro - social satire

Answer 2

a “masterpiece of social satire on hypocrite pardoners and their own sinful conduct stigmatised by corruption

Question 3

Lazaro - three audiences

Answer 3

• “Three different audiences are represented… his courtly audience, the pilgrims gathered in a tavern… interacts with a mixed crowd… consequently, there are three levels of oral performance… a speech within a speech within a speech”

Question 4

Lazaro - Elizabethan Play

Answer 4

• This mirrors the Elizabethan play, in which the villain edges to the audience to unmask himself.

Question 5

Lazaro - What defines the prologue?

Answer 5

little grammatical subordination – most of the sentences are coordinated with the conjunction and. – 9 ands in the first 18 lines.

Question 6

Williams - Nominalism

Answer 6

• Pardoner uses radical nominalism that causes us to question the function of language in revealing truth and the objective existence of the truth

Question 7

Williams - Poetry and philosophy

Answer 7

• Pardoner is an enemy of orthodox medieval philosophy and poetry – challenges theory of universals

Question 8

Williams - Systems of communication

Answer 8

• All signs are systems of discourse – matters is their ability to communicate, not what they actually say

Question 9

Williams - vicious man, virtues

Answer 9

• A vicious man can tell a virtuous tale, he claims, and it is clear that this implies the ability of a vicious man to know that the content of the tale is, indeed, virtuous. Intellect separate of will. This illustrates moral fiction – “there is no sin”. In this view, the repentance related to sin is illusionary, and the words, objects and ideas employed to produce this illusion are of little consequence, as long as they are believed.

Question 10

Williams - Physiognomy

Answer 10

• The Pardoner’s lack of virility is used a physiognomy - his physical endowments reflect his intellectual and moral condition – perverse

Question 11

Hamilton - messenger of death

Answer 11

• The old man is conceived as death’s messenger by some, however the Wandering Jew idea holds some more weight

Question 12

Hamilton - death

Answer 12

Bubonic Plague – the funeral procession outside the tavern

Question 13

Hamilton - elegy

Answer 13

• Memento Mori – the image of the Old Man, accused of being an “espeye” to death
• Old Man bares resemblance to the Elegy of Maximian, which pays homage to the gates of mother earth