Deception and Tall Tales

I find it ironic that the three drunks go looking for death and find "him" when they least expect it. I'm unsure. The Pardoner warns his listeners that excess of alcohol "doon[s] the devel sacrifyse...by superfluitee abominable/" (469-471). As we all know, being in a drunken state obscures our thinking, and caused us to make some pretty bad decisions. An example is when the Pardoner describes the "dronkon Loth unkindely lay by his doughters two, unwittingly; so dronke he was, he instead what he wroghte/" (485-487). As we can see from this passage, drinking beyond one's capacity clouts our judgement and we are no longer ourselves--- and can't be distinguished between "a man that is out of his minde and a man that is dronkelewe" (494-495). He also says that gluttony is "cursedness...o cause first of oure confusioun!/" (498-499). He is saying that gluttony is the stem of our problems. Not knowing when to stop is the reason Jesus had to come down from heaven and rescue us because Adam and Eva ruined it all. Adam and Eve created the original sin: gluttony.

The Pardoner goes on to describe the three bandits, as I call them, because they seek to steel the treasure from under the tree at night. The treasure doesn't belong to them, but they feel it is theirs for the taking and devise a plan to take it. I definitely see symmetry to the Bible where Adam and Eve visit the tree of knowledge and eat the forbidden fruit. The bandits are not meant to touch the treasure, and they're foolishly looking for a man called Deeth who has slain their friends. I also find it interesting that they are gluttons of wine, which is derived from grapes---a fruit that is excess in the form of alcohol is forbidden by God.

The point I was making earlier is that this glutton for alcohol prohibits the group from seeing things clearly and all each of them can see is a path to make himself richer. They all plot to kill each other to take the treasure and Deeth, who has killed their friends. I find it funny that they've broken every single commandment, maybe except for coveting their neighbor's wife. The failure of all of their drunken plans to escape unscathed with the treasure proves that we should not do any thinking when we're drunk. They cannot even tell that they are knocking on death's doorstep by going on a hunt looking for "him"and stealing something that doesn't belong to them. By the end of the story, they all die and find exactly what they were looking for---Deeth. He crept upton them in the night, like a true thief, which they weren't able to do because they're drunk.

I also find the old man interesting. I've given it thought and I can't come up with a reason an old man is used in the story other than an example of vanity, which isn't a commandment, but is scorned upon in the Christin community. The old man has to live a feeble and miserable life because no one wants to switch places with him. Who wants to be old and ugly? NO ONE. Another theory I had is that he's the devil. The devil is deceitful and relishes in the downfall of man. Just as the snake lured Eve to the tree, the old man lead them exactly to the oak tree where they all died and will face eternal damnation for their sin. Or maybe he's God. A lot of people picture him as this old White guy with White hair, and that's what he seems to look like. That's all I could come up with... :/