l thing that we may lere,Som wit, and thane wol we gladly here(ll. 35 38)It is thus possible to deduce that the unsoundness of the Pardoner's morals is known to the company before he begins his cynical confessions. He may pose as a holy man when he is swindling the peasantry of some remote hamlet; but hypocritical airs and graces would be absurdly futile among his present companions. That there has been no attempt at such posturing is made clear enough by the host, the gentles, and the Pardoner himself. The host calls on the Pardoner for a merry tale; the Pardoner assents with an alacrity which warrants vehement suspicion, and the gentles protest that they want no ribaldry, and insist on something elevated and instructive. This is significant enough of the impression the Pardoner has made on his traveling companions.Furthermore, the hosts response to the Pardoners tale is symptomatic of the group. After the Pardoner completes his tale, he displays his false relics and asks for contributions. His act is intriguing for he makes no acknowledgement of his hypocrisy. Only a few lines before, in his Prologue, he exposed the fraudulence of his whole operation to the Pilgrims. However, his attempt to sell pardons to the Pilgrims is a source of resentment for the host and the host reacts by stating that: I wolde I hadde the coilins in myn handIn stede of relikes or of saintuarye.Lat cutte hem of: I wol thee helpe hem caryeThey shall be shrined in an hogyes tord.(ll. 664 667)Our perception of the Pardoner is most complete as we are fully aware of the incongruence between the various audiences. We see the Pardoner for who and what he truly is and can form a perception of him based on both the peasants and the pilgrims knowledge of him. The Pardoner is described last in the General Prologue and this correlates to the Pardoners position in the human chain: he is morally deprived. Furthermore, the use of irony is obvious in the word gentil (l. 671)...
