In "The Pardoner's Tale" and "The Pardoner's Prologue" by Geoffrey Chaucer, the Pardoner reveals that he is a deceptive, greedy, and hypocritical man. The Pardoner who preaches and grants indulgences for a price, deceives the people with his preaching by "speak[ing] some words in Latin-- just a few -- to put a saffron tinge upon [his] preaching." (241) He also deceives the people into think that a bone dipped into a well can do a few unrealistic things, one of which is to cure jealousy. According to the Pardoner, if you "use but this water when you make his broth, and never again will he mistrust his wife." (242) The Pardoner uses his job solely for "the pence, and specially for [himself], for [his] exclusive purpose is to win." (243) He does not use his job to preach Christianity, he uses it for a profit out of his own greed. The Pardoner preaches how bad gluttony is and how it is "our first distress...[and the] cause of our first confusion, first temptation, the very origin of our damnation." (245) However, the Pardoner drinks "a draught of corn-ripe ale" right as he is about tell his tale, showing his hypocrisy. (244) The Pardoner's deceptiveness, greediness, and hypocrisy are revealed in his prologue and tale and describe him as a person.

    Through the Pardoner, Chaucer tries to show that the Church is corrupt, self-indulgent, and untrue to their principles. From the way Chaucer shows how the Pardoner deceives people into buying pardons/indulgences that have no meaning, he is trying to show how corrupt the Church is and their goal to gain money and deceive people by offering a way to grant a pardon for a price. The Church convinces and deceives the people by telling them that if they pay a certain fee, their sin will be pardoned, which obviously is not true since sins cannot disappear with a fee. The Pardoner who uses his job only for "the pence, and specially for [himself]," is used by Chaucer to show the greed and self-indulgence that the Church has. (243) They make people pay a fee to have their sins pardoned for profit of the Church. Chaucer utilizes the Pardoner's behavior to signify the Church's values and how they do not follow them. The Pardoner drinks "a draught of corn-ripe ale" although the Church teaches that gluttony is "the very origin of our damnation." (244,245) The Church in making pardons that cost a fee are not sticking to their own values of the Church. Chaucer points out the Church's corruptness, self-indulgence, and inability to stick to their own values through the Pardoner.