A Pardoner?

The pardoner says “I yow assoille, by myn heigh power, (I absolve you, by my high power,)” (913) to sell the relics and pardons he has. Can a person forgive others for their sins? My answer is no, because no one can ever be a representative of a god. There is no such thing as “high power” which gives him the authority to pardon others.

He is no different from the other people. He is not a holy god. He criticizes “glotonye, luxurie, and hasardrye (gluttony, lechery, and dicing)” (897) and yet he himself shows one of those aspects in his behavior. He claims his “hooly pardoun may yow alle warice, (holy pardon can cure you all,) So that ye offre nobles or sterlynges, (Providing that you offer gold coins or silver pennies)” (906, 907) He would never forgive a person who does not pay and that indicates his greed for money. The hypocrisy proves that he is nothing close to holiness.

This makes me think of the pardoner as nothing but a very convincing salesman. When he talks to people he cares more about selling more pardons than the act of pardoning itself. He tells the tale of the three rioters and gives a speech of how people should ask for pardons just to advertise his “business”. He makes himself sound very plausible using the example. Salesmen sometimes tend to exaggerate or even fake the functions and efficiency of the product they sell. The pardoner does the same thing, he takes the pardon which may not have any effect and makes it the way to be absolved by god.

The pardoner is a great speaker but he is never really a pardoner. He is just a person trying to earn money the easy way.