The pardoner's tale questions answer key

The Age of Chaucer from The Pardoner’s Tale from The Canterbury Tales Poem by Geoffrey Chaucer Translated by Nevill Coghill RL 3, RL 4, RL 6, RL 10 text analysis: exemplum An exemplum is a short anecdote or story that illustrates a particular moral point. Developed in the late Middle Ages, this literary form was often used in sermons and other didactic literature. One famous example is Chaucer’s “The Pardoner’s Tale,” which focuses on the subject of greed. As you read the selection, pay attention to the actions of the characters and to the narrator’s description of his own practices. Review: Irony reading skill: predict When you predict, you make guesses about what will happen next in a story based on text clues and your own prior knowledge. Predicting helps you become engaged in the story and motivates you to read on. To make predictions about “The Pardoner’s Tale,” use the following strategies: • Note foreshadowing, or hints about future plot events. • Think about the words, actions, and personalities of the three rioters to predict their behavior throughout the story. As you read, record your predictions and any helpful text clues in a chart like the one shown. Later, complete the chart by explaining the actual outcomes of the story’s events. Predictions Text Clues The rioters will experience trouble. The tavern boy warns them about the plague. Outcomes What has the power to corrupt? In the introduction to his tale, the Pardoner states, “Radix malorum est cupiditas,” which is Latin for “The love of money is the root of all evil”—a passage from the Bible. The expression suggests that the desire for riches often seduces people into abandoning their moral principles. Today, as in Chaucer’s time, greed and other elements of human weakness often trigger grave acts of corruption. DISCUSS With a small group of classmates, list several examples of corruption. Discuss the factors that you think prompted people to commit corrupt acts. Compare your conclusions with those of other groups. Examples of Corruption 1. Corporate scandals 2. 3. 4. vocabulary in context To see how many vocabulary words you already know, substitute a different word for each boldfaced term. 1. The miser demonstrated his avarice by amassing coins. 2. She used harsh words to castigate his awful behavior. 3. The two enemies came together for a secret parley. Complete the activities in your Reader/Writer Notebook. the canterbury tales NA_L12PE-u01s32-brPardon.indd 169 169 12/15/10 7:30:06 PM The pardoner’s prologue Geoffrey Chaucer background In the medieval church, a pardoner was a clergy member who had authority from the pope to grant indulgences—certificates of forgiveness—to people who showed great charity. In practice, however, many pardoners— such as Chaucer’s pilgrim—were unethical and sold their certificates to make money for the church or themselves. 5 10 15 20 25 170 “My lords,” he said, “in churches where I preach I cultivate a haughty kind of speech And ring it out as roundly as a bell; I’ve got it all by heart, the tale I tell.