The Pardoner

Okay, apparently the Pardoner is universally held to be contemptible, hypocritical and "grotesque" (Glenn Burger quoting Donald Howard), but I really like him, not (only) because he does gay kissing at the end. More than that-- I felt like the text was asking me to like him. That might be my own fancy at work. I just feel like, whatever his criminality and misanthropy, his great candor would be enough to illustrate Chaucer's favor. The fact that his entire story is quoted-- it's so boldly insincere and yet so frank.

He reminds me of Marmeladov, the confessional and unrepentant alcoholic in Crime & Punishment: "Yeah, I am a cheeky villain; I suck; it's all good."



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