Written in the 14th century by Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales burst onto the literary world and quickly established itself as one of the first English masterpieces. His poetic verse often masked the disdain Chaucer possessed for the hypocritical behaviors that were (and in many ways still are) present among religious leaders. Throughout this lyrical writing, Chaucer attacks the opulent monk, the corrupt friar, and the flirtatious nun. However, the Pardoner is one of Geoffrey Chaucer's most difficult characters to understand. Chaucer did not have much faith in the monastic church which was so prevalent in his day, and this is very prevalent in the character of the Pardoner; a man who did not practice what he preached, abused his power and reveled in the love of money. Although he preached against greed, corruption, gluttony, and lust, the Pardoner of the Canterbury Tales possessed the very qualities he spoke against. Although this “pardoner of sin” preached that money and possessions were not the path to heaven, the reader discovers early in Chaucer's general prologue that the Pardoner is nonetheless obsessed with his possessions. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer states, “For in his wallet he kept safe.” (Chaucer) The properties that this pardoner valued most, he kept carefully stored in his wallet. His only thought was to protect his possessions from the outside world. Dr. Walter Clyde Curry, former professor of English at Vanderbilt University, wrote in The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, that [the Pardoner] is a derelict rascal wallowing in hypocrisy and possessing colossal impudence. . after hearing his shameless scam. ...... middle of paper ...... the Pardoner beckons his audience, as he has done so many times before, for poms and pennies, so that he can grant them blessings . The overtly unsympathetic character of the Pardoner gives the reader insight into how Chaucer viewed the Church, or rather how Chaucer viewed the hypocritical attitudes and behaviors of members of the Church. Instead of making the common good their top priority, the Pardoner of the tale had ulterior motives for accomplishing his work, which were greed, gluttony, and power. Rather than doing what was right, the Pardoner used a bit of hand magic to hypnotize his listeners and cheat people out of their money. With so much corruption within the church, Chaucer felt that there would be little or no help for the church to improve its methods and be what God originally intended a church to be, a place for heal souls..