Pardoner's Tale

I think the most interesting parts of the pardoner's tale are the beginning (where he details the sins of gluttony, gambling, and swearing oaths) and the end (where he is called out as a fraud by the host himself).

It is true that we can see something of the speaker's character as each tells their tale, and the pardoner is no exception. He is corrupt and so are the characters in his tale. I thought it was very funny that the pardoner promises to tell a moral tale...and then at the end of the tale, he disregards the moral!

I disagree with the previous post: I think the moral of the story (and the message given by the description of the pardoner's lifestyle) is that appearances can be deceiving - those you would expect to be trustworthy (such as a pardoner, with the Pope's support) are not necessarily so: to err is human, and everyone, clergy or not, is human.