| A | B |
|---|
| What is the theme of this tale? | Money is the root of all evil |
| How many rioters were there? | 3 young drunks |
| What time of day is it? | morning |
| Where are these young men? | drinking and gambling at a tavern |
| Whom does the boy say has died? | one of the three rioters' friends |
| Who has killed a thousand in the present plague? | death (personified as a person) |
| What is really responsible for all the deaths? | the Black Plague |
| To what plague is Chaucer referring? | the Black Plague or Bubonic Plague |
| What do the rioters plan to do? | kill Death |
| How committed are the rioters to each other and the plan? | They swear as brothers to protect each other to the death. They will die protecting each other. |
| The three men walk _____. | about a half a mile |
| Whom do the three men meet after walking about a half mile? | an Old Man |
| How do they treat the old man? | Very rudely and with disrespect |
| They ask the Old Man _____ | Why aren't you dead? |
| What does the Old Man say that is a threat? | They should treat old people the way they would want to be treated when they're old - "If you should live that long!" |
| What is "If you should live that long"? | foreshadowing |
| The three rioters accuse the old man of being a spy for _____ | Death |
| Where does the old man say the rioters will find Death? | Up the road, under an oak tree |
| What do the three rioters find at the tree? | They find 8 bushels of gold coins |
| What is the first rioter's plan to get the gold away? | one of them will go to town and buy food and wine and that night they will divide the gold and take it to their homes |
| What do the other two rioters plan while the third is away? | they plan to play-wrestle him when he returns with the supplies and then stab him to death |
| What does the young rioter who went to town plan to do in order to have all the treasure for himself? | He buys 3 bottles of wine and puts poison in 2 of them. Then he will have one left to drink after the other two are dead. |
| What does he tell the apothecary that the poison is for? | rats and a polecat (skunk) |
| What happens when the 1 rioters returns from town? | Everything they planned. The first two rioters kill the one who went to town. Then they drink the wine to celebrate and die from the poison. |
| The rioters swear to protect each other, but kill each other instead. This is one of the examples of _____ | irony |
| One example of irony is when ______ | they expect to be rich for the rest of their lives, but their greed causes them to die |
| The Old Man told them they would find Death (a person) under the oak tree, but instead they find _____ | their own deaths (irony) |
| Why is it ironic that the Pardoner preaches a story with this particular moral? | The Pardoner tells us that all he cares about in life is the gain of money (greed), but he preaches a tale against the evils of greed. |
| What does the Pardoner ask of the pilgrims when he finishes his tale? | He wants money to absolve them of their sins. |
| Why does the Pardoner expect the travellers to go along with paying him since he is corrupt? | The people want to make sure they will go to Heaven, so they will even pay a corrupt member of the Church to make sure that happens (they don't want to take any chances he's right and not pay him) |
| What moral does the Pardoner want us to draw from his tale? | That money is the root of all evil |
| What moral do you think Chaucer wants you to draw from the Pardoner's tale? | Money is the root of all evil. However, Chaucer also wants us to realize that supposedly holy members of the Church can be evil and corrupt like the Pardoner. |
