In the Pardoner's Tale, the principal moral is to avoid greed. What is the irony in the Pardoner telling this tale?
The irony in the Pardoner telling the tale with the moral of avoiding greed is that he himself is greedy. The Pardoner is a corrupt figure who sells fake religious relics to gullible people in order to make money. He is aware of his own greed and hypocrisy, making his moralizing against greed highly ironic. Additionally, the Pardoner admits that the main purpose of telling this tale is to manipulate his audience into giving him money. Therefore, the Pardoner's own actions contradict the moral he presents in the tale, revealing his hypocrisy and ironic nature.
The irony in the Pardoner telling the moral about avoiding greed in "The Pardoner's Tale" lies in the fact that he is a character who embodies greed himself. To fully understand the irony, let's break it down step by step:
1. To identify the irony in the Pardoner's Tale, we first need to understand the Pardoner's character. The Pardoner is a corrupt church official who sells indulgences (pardons for sins) to people, claiming that they can buy their way into heaven. He is motivated solely by greed and takes advantage of people's fears and guilt.
2. In "The Pardoner's Tale," the Pardoner tells a story about three drunken and greedy rioters who set out to find and kill Death. However, they end up finding a hidden treasure instead. This discovery eventually leads to their downfall as they become consumed by their own greed and turn against each other, eventually dying due to their avarice.
3. The irony lies in the fact that the Pardoner, who is himself a greedy character, is preaching against greed and its consequences through his tale. While he tries to present a moral lesson about the dangers of greed, he fails to acknowledge his own immoral actions, thus highlighting his hypocrisy.
To summarize, the irony in the Pardoner's Tale is the Pardoner's preaching against greed while being a character driven by greed himself. This contradiction highlights the Pardoner's hypocrisy and adds depth to the story's moral lesson.