The Pardoner’s Tale: The Curse Of Gluttony

Food is the most elemental thing a human can have. Food is necessary for a person to survive but it is not good for a person to live for food. If a person eats and drinks all day without moderation it is considered gluttony. I think that gluttony is the moment when the food physically can't enter into the stomach because it is so full but the person still eats this because he wants. It is the feeling of never stopping. No matter how much you eat and how full you are you won't stop eating. Gluttony plays an important part in The Pardoner's Tale when it says: "O glotonye, ful of cursednesse! O cause first of oure confusioun! O original of oure dampnacioun, Til Crist hadde boght us with his blood agayn! Lo, how deere, shortly for to sayn, Aboght was thilke cursed vileynye! Corrupt was al this world for glotonye." (498-504) This act of eating in excess was considered a very important sin and even considered a curse. When the character mentions that it was a corruption that affected the entire world I thought if today there was the same problem. Actually if you think of it there are many people who are currently dying of hunger and thirst and they die because their body can't get enough energy to survive. I think that gluttony is certainly bad because you are eating the food that could be served to a person that needs that food more. In the other hand I think it is less bad than ordering large amounts of food and only eating a little because the rest gets thrown to the trash. The other subject that was addressed in this tale was the pardoner's role. When he says: "It is an honour to everich that is heer That ye mowe have a suffisant pardoner T' assoille yow in contree as ye ryde, For aventures whiche that may bityde. Paraventure ther may fallen oon or two Doun of his hors and breke his nekke atwo. Looke which a seuretee is it to yow alle That I am in youre felaweshipe yfalle," (931-938) This part I thought was very important because it showed a little about the church at the time. All throughout tale the pardoner had told about death and how it appeared out of nowhere came to the point where he said that in order for people to be safe and that death didn't get them they had to pay him and pay honors to his holy artifacts. This shows a lot to me how the church was in that time because it was a must to give them money to be safe and be able to go to heaven. I think that the main purpose of any religion is to guide you spiritually but most importantly to teach you how to be a good person. If you are a good person who harms no one and has a strong set of values then I think it is unnecessary to have to pay to the church because in that time the church was very corrupt and only wanted money.