Pardoner's Tale
Death finds rioters
The Pardoner's Tale is one of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in which three drunken revelers set out to kill Death and find gold instead, leading to their mutual destruction through greed.
The phrase sometimes alludes to stories where seeking fortune brings ruin, or to hypocritical moralizing—the Pardoner himself sells fake relics while preaching against avarice.
- indulgencesExcessive self-granted pleasures
- old manElderly male person
- riotersViolent public disorder participants
- sworn brotherhoodFormalized bond between non-relatives
- greedExcessive desire for wealth
Chaucer · gold coins · hypocrisy · Middle English · narrative poem · medieval church · exemplum · death · tavern · morality · sin · allegory · frame story · avarice · redemption · storytelling tradition · penance · Black Death
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