Within the structure the Pardoner explains his own faults then goes onto blaming others for their own. The structure of the Tale is hard to separate from the prologue because the theme of avarice and evil is expounded there in the Pardoner's own practices (Cooper 266). Many many use these ideas of a 'modern' sermon to argue a lack of formal structure in the Pardoner's Tale (Bloom 127). The qualifications to be medieval sermon were theme, protheme, the introduction to the theme, the division of the theme, the subdivision, and the discussion (Bloom 127). The type of medieval sermon it is, is still unclear, some say it’s a bad joke rather than a sermon and others say it’s a typical medieval sermon, saying that structurally it is but rhetorically it isn’t (Bloom 125). The structure of The Pardoners Tale is highly controversial because defining the relations of the Tale to a medieval sermon comes from assuming that the sermon was created uniquely which cannot be determined (Bloom 125). The prologue is broken up into 3 sections, “first section of his 'confession' is devoted to expounding his techniques the second, to making quite clear what his 'entente' is in preaching - to make money, or if the going gets rough, to 'spitte out venym', but certainly not to save souls the third section extends his avarice to cover his whole way of life, and also relates his vice to the processes of storytelling” (Cooper 262).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |