The Canterbury Tales: The Pardoner's Tale Mortality Quotes

The Pardoner's whole trade depends upon the inevitable mortality of the human being which, in a Christian context, makes him concerned about the destination of his immortal soul after death. But as he makes clear, the Pardoner isn't concerned about what happens to his listeners' souls, a nonchalance that enables him to earn a good living. This is a pretty provocative statement to a bunch of people on a religious pilgrimage, don't you think?

It's fitting that the event that sets in motion the plot of the Pardoner's Tale is the rioters' viewing a corpse being carried by. The tale begins with death and ends in the deaths of the three rioters themselves.

The fact that the rioters' friend was slain when drunk confirms the Pardoner's contention (in his mini-sermon) that drunkenness only leads to an evil end.

The tavern boy's characterization of Death as a "privee thief" implies that Death takes things that don't belong to him. This characterization is pretty interesting given the three rioters' subsequent decision to do just the same in their appropriation of four bushels of gold.

The tavern boy's reference to a readiness to meet death draws our minds back to the intention of the sermon—to inspire repentance in case of sudden death. Through this repentance, goes the logic, the Christian will prepare himself to meet death with a clean soul. The Pardoner is setting his audience up for his later sales pitch: y'know, any of you could fall off your horse and die at any second.

The point of the taverner's speech seems to be to emphasize the indiscriminate and extensive reach of Death, the fact that he kills people from all walks of life, from all ages, everywhere. Another subtle reminder from the Pardoner that the pilgrims should worry about death, too. Oh yeah, and buy his relics and pardons.

The rioter presents the decision to kill Death as one that's justified, tit-for-tat, in his promise to slay, "which that so manye sleeth." The reason why it's necessary for the three to swear a pact of brotherhood to accomplish this isn't clear, but it certainly emphasizes the betrayal the three commit when they decide to murder one another rather than share their gold. Their vow of brotherhood is a prime example of a false oath.

There's a lot of irony in this passage in light of the ending of the Tale, in which the three rioters do in fact die "for oother" in the sense of "on account of one another."

The Old Man's desire for Death to bring an end to his suffering reminds the reader of the necessity of the very thing the rioters are trying to destroy. It's yet one more example of how these three are completely misguided. We can't say for sure, but we doubt that the rioters and the Old Man are going to be living in the same afterlife neighborhood.

The rioter draws a line in the sand between the young and old, implying that the elderly are in cahoots with Death to kill the young. It's an allegorical medieval version of the generation gap.

The Old Man directs the young men to a tree in a grove. Once there, they find four bushels of gold, which eventually cause them to kill one another out of greed. So the Old Man is knowingly directing these three to their own deaths. Those pilgrims are probably counting out their coins right about now.

Here the Pardoner clearly reveals his livelihood's dependence on people's fear of what comes after death. Trying to sell his stuff to the pilgrims, he shamelessly exploits this fear by reminding them of the perils of the road. It reminds Shmoop of commercials for life insurance; you never know when you might drop dead, so you'd better make sure your family isn't stuck with "final expenses." You might call the Pardoner's merchandise "afterlife insurance."