Thus ended been thise homycides two,
And eek the false empoysonere also.
O cursed synne of alle cursednesse!
O traytours homycide, O wikkednesse!
O glotonye, luxurie, and hasardrye!
Thou blasphemour of Crist with vileynye
And othes grete, of usage and of pride!
Allas, mankynde, how may it bitide
That to thy creatour, which that the wroghte
And with his precious herte-blood thee boghte,
Thou art so fals and so unkynde, allas?
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Pardoner’s Tale. The Pardoner is a master weaver of hypocritical words and par excellence seller of falsity – for profit! Nowhere is this better exemplified than in his final parade of all the sins involved in his deadly tale, by which he hopes to get the pilgrims to see themselves as the doomed revelers murdered by sin and in need of his salvation – at a price! He creates an atmosphere of fear and sin, hoping to loosen the pilgrims’ purse strings so that they will buy his path to salvation and make him richer.