The Pardoner's Tale

Name____________________________________________ Period _________________ Score ___________“The Pardoner’s Tale”Study GuideThe Prologue to the Pardoner’s Tale1. What is the explicitly stated theme of The Pardoner’s Tale?2. What does the Pardoner come straight out and tell the pilgrims before he begins his tale?3. What does he intend to gain from his sermons?The Tale4. What does he mean by “rioters”?5. Why do the three rioters hear a hand-bell clink?6. Whose coffin is going by?7. Who killed him? How did he die?8. What literary technique does the author use in his portrayal of “Death”?9. To what does line 76 specifically refer?10. What do the rioters decide to do?11. How do the rioters treat the old man?12. The old man offers a different view of Death. What is Death to him?13. Where does the old man tell the rioters they can find Death?14. What do the rioters find there instead?15. What is ironic about lines 186-192?16. What is their plan for hauling the gold away? (i.e. what is each man going to do?)

17. What do two of the men plan to do to the third?18. What does the third man plan to do to the other two?19. How is poetic justice achieved?20. So…. What did they really find under the tree?21. What does the Pardoner attempt to do after his tale is told?22. Describe examples of irony in the story. Consider:‣ The relationship between the Pardoner and his tale.‣ The relationship between what the rioters set out to do and what they actually did.‣ The offer the Pardoner makes to the pilgrims after his tale is done.