Chaucerian Confession: Penitential Literature and the Pardoner

Author / Editor
Patterson, Lee.

Title
Chaucerian Confession: Penitential Literature and the Pardoner

Published
Medievalia et Humanistica 7 (1976): 153-73.

Description
Confessional literature illumines the Pardoner's performance by explaining the motives which lie behind it. Parallels with the "false confession" and an analysis of the pitfalls of despair and presumption suggest that the Pardoner is suffering from despair and trying to hide that fact from the pilgrims and himself.

Chaucer Subjects
Pardoner and His Tale.