Greed is the Root of all evil
Greed comes in all shapes and sizes. Greed is a lurking, sneaky monster that prowls for its next victim. People fall into the clutches of the monster such as the rioters do in the Pardoner’s Tale. In this tale, greed is showcased as being the root of all evil. The Pardoner shows how the monster, Greed, kills all three of the rioters. Geoffrey Chaucer warns his audience of the dangers of evil, greed, and desire. This theme, greed is the root of all evil, is apparent in lines 186-194 as it overtakes the rioters thoughts and fills them with evil desire.
The section begins with line 186 saying, “And so the Fiend, our common enemy.”Chaucer is referring to the devil, Greed, as the Fiend. Greed is the common enemy to…
Chaucer describes the Fiend as our common enemy because greed is a every human’s downfall. In this tale, the greed is all three of the rioter’s adversary. The continuing line stays, “was given power to put in his thought”. Greed is given power to put its evil thoughts into the rioters head. Greed overtakes the rioter’s thoughts and fills them with selfish desire and sinful plans. Greed has just found its newest victim. “That there was always poison to be bought,” explains the thought Greed puts into the rioters head. Poison has the potential to kill humans and can be bought at local apothecaries. It is a simple solution to kill the others as it is easily assessable. This line suggests to the perfect plan for the rioter to achieve wealth and fame. With these words in line 189, “and that with poison he could kill his friends,” Chaucer illustrates the plan to kill the others. Greed plants the idea of killing the friends into the rioters head. He would use the poison to kill his friends. This thought is sent by the devil due to the greed of the rioter. All three rioters want the treasure to themselves and because of this greed, evil desire overtakes the rioters every…
