Geoffrey Chaucer uses examples within The Pardoners Tale to show that greed is the root of all evil. An exemplum is a story within a story that typically teaches a lesson, Chaucer uses several so that the Pardoner can emphasize the dangers of greed. Before he begins his tale, he attempts to sell the "holy relics" to pilgrims and states that he can do nothing for sinners beyond redemption, although they might try. The Pardoner's exemplums are sermons on the effects of greed and drink in an attempt to frighten pilgrims into repentance before Death overtakes them. The opening part of the story is about drunken fathers lying with their daughters. The second half of the story is about three drunken men who search for Death but instead find gold which leads to their deaths. Greed takes over the men and they plot against each other, greed ultimately leaves them dead. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The prologue is divided into 3 sections: "the first section of his 'confession' is dedicated to the exposition of his techniques; the second, to make it clear what his 'understanding' is in preaching: to make money , or if things get difficult, to 'spit poison', but certainly not to save souls; the third section extends his greed to cover his entire way of life, and also connects his vice to the processes of narration" The structure of The Pardoners Tale is very controversial because defining the tale's relationships to a medieval sermon comes from the assumption that the sermon was uniquely created, which cannot be determined. What kind of medieval sermon it is is not yet clear , some say it is a bad joke rather than a sermon and others say it is a typical medieval sermon, saying that structurally it is but rhetorically it is not. The requirements for being a medieval sermon were the theme, the proteme, the introduction to the topic, the division of the topic, the subdivision and the discussion. Many use these "modern" sermon ideas to argue a lack of formal structure in the Pardoner's Tale. The structure of the Tale is difficult to separate from the prologue because the theme of greed and evil is exposed there in the Pardoner's practices. Within the structure the Pardoner explains his own faults and then continues to blame others for his own. Although the Pardoner is not holy, they are recognized as a clerical group, so Chaucer uses a sermon for his tale: "The sermon, then and now, is an important part of the Christian liturgy" (Hallissy 213). The Pardoner's main point throughout the tale is that greed is the root of all evil, placing this in his prologue and exemplum (Hallissy 213). The Pardoner's sermon appears to be a manuscript fragment that differs from the other tales. In the story, a dark and secret force that punishes evil arises naturally and with a mysterious rightness from the evil actions themselves. One of the themes of the story is greed and how it affects someone's ability to make certain decisions. The Pardoner sets the precedent for the entire tale by being a greedy man himself and attempting to sell his holy relics and graces so that they are prepared for Death, "The ritual of selling grace becomes a habitual fraud, and this becomes a compulsion." The Pardoner deliberately uses his homiletic skills to persuade his audience to demonstrate their ability to overcome their sins by purchasing grace from him to be safe. In the prologue he shares his complaints and states the fact that he and others,. 2019.