Shaila Sabusa
British Literature
Mr. Conole
September 19, 2012
Errors of Mankind In both medieval and modern society humans have always made second guesses on their actions to think if they did or did not do the right thing. Even in out two stories the characters do bad things and our author’s “attempt to define the good man and good women of their age with a Christian context. Whereas Chaucer’s microcosmic group contains all classes of the church and secular personages, O’Connor limits her “pilgrims” to one lower-class family.” (Blythe, Sweet 1) The author’s may seem that they have no connection ever to the people who don’t understand the meaning behind it. And that is that not all humans are perfect. Although Chaucer’s tale and O’Connor’s short story are centuries apart they share the same warning in their theme which cautions us to beware of the evil doings and sins around us. The two stories connect also by the deficiency of how well things may seem but come out to be another. Like “To deceive mankind for his business,” (Reiss) is how the pardoner did his business. In “The Pardoner’s Tale,” the pardoner admits in his preaching that he preaches for money: But let me briefly make my purpose plain;
I preach for nothing but for greed of gain
And use the same old test, as bold as brass,
Radix malorum est cupiditas
And thus I preach against the very vice
I make my living out of –avarice. (Chaucer 131)
The pardoner’s point seems clear. That people can be deceiving with their looks if one did not know him. The audience infers this to be a way of honesty in which all case it is but this tale also gives us the example of how greed can cause many bad situations to occur such as death. The punishment for greed sets three rioters on a quest to find death and kill it but end up losing their lives by death (greed). In which case, “Flannery O’Connor’s “A good Man is Hard to Find” parallels Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales but as a mirror. The resulting contrast is a strong commentary on modern society’s lack of spirituality,” (Blythe, Sweet 1) but also wants us to get the message of changing modern society and bringing back its beliefs and religious factors back in modern days of modern lives. The grandmother’s character in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” tells and shows us how narrow-minded she can be. “They view the grandmother as a self-absorbed prejudice women” struggling with the shift from the antebellum values of lineage and gentility to those of a cash oriented culture” (Owens 1) … Her prejudices are common among older southern individuals remember who times before the civil rights movement. In modern society as these two quotes have said are losing the spiritual touch, they are losing the connection of choosing from right and wrong and doing things the right way which may seem hard but is easier in the long run. She portrays that people who do not like the change will always have something that they will go against in and don’t seem its right for one to do such a thing.
The irony in “The Pardoner’s Tale” is how death and greed have a combination in life. As said in the tale: