Apparently deeply affected by the Physician’s sad and gruesome tale of Virginia, the Host praises the Physician by using as many medical terms as he can muster. However, he rejects the Physician’s moral to the tale and substitutes one of his own: Thus the gifts of fortune and nature are not always good (“The gifts of Fortune and Nature have been the cause of the death of many a person”). Thinking that the pilgrims need a merry tale to follow, the Host turns to the Pardoner. The more genteel members of the company, fearing that the Pardoner will tell a vulgar story, ask the Pardoner for a tale with a moral.
The Pardoner then explains to the pilgrims the methods he uses in preaching. His text is always “Radix malorum est cupidatis” (“Love of money is the root of all evil”). Always employing an array of documents and objects, he constantly announces that he can do nothing for the really bad sinners and invites the good people forward to buy his relics and, thus, absolve themselves from sins. Then he stands in the pulpit and preaches very rapidly about the sin of avarice so as to intimidate the members into donating money.
He repeats that his theme is always “Money is the root of all evil” because, with this text, he can denounce the very vice that he practices: greed. And even though he is guilty of the same sins he preaches against, he can still make other people repent. The Pardoner admits that he likes money, rich food, and fine living. And even if he is not a moral man, he can tell a good moral tale, which follows.
