then goes onto offer eachpilgrim a place...for a price, of course.The Pardoner's place in Chaucer's idea of redemption becomes evident inthe epilogue of the tale.After offering the host the first pardon ("For he is most envoluped insinne" and, supposedly, theequivalent of Chaucer), the host berates the pardoner, saying, "I wolde Ihadde thy coilons inmyn hond,/ In stede of relikes or of saintuarye./ Lat cutte him of". Bythis, the idea of thepardoner as the most important man on the pilgrimage is brought to fruitionand Chaucer makes themain point of this tale: Salvation is not for sale. Another example of themedieval obsession withredemption.However, some did not accept this and questioned the church -- It waswhat they wanted otherthan "a holy life with a Old-Testament God"; That style of thinkingevenually lead to a "more gentle,mother-figure" as a goddess -- The Cult of the Virgin. The eminent questionthen becomes, "Whywould people change from a long-lasting, Old-Testament God to a mother-likegoddess ? The answeris simply because they thought their "new found Goddess" would never be asharsh on people as theoften criticized male like aspect of God. In both current Catholicism andthat of the medieval period,Mary is worshipped with more fervor than even God or Jesus. Church afterchurch was (and still is)erected in her name. Her likeness graced statues and stained glass with asmuch frequency as Jesus'bloody head. The worship of Mary is fervent, institutionalized, and approvedof by the Christian church.Is she not a goddess? Mary simply took the place of the female aspects ofthe spirit that were onceworshipped as Roman or Anglo-Saxon goddesses.The medieval period, stretching approximately from the late seventhcentury to the early sixteenth,was bound together under one constant--Roman Catholic Christianity. Butbeneath this "curtain ofChristianity" many legends were being formed and passed down, as old pagantraditions becameassimilated into a n...
