The Pardoner in "The Pardoner's Tale" personifies death as
an "old, old fellow." He meets three drinkers while they are out searching for
him--death.
The three are drinking in the tavern in the
morning, before 9 a.m., and when they hear that still another person--a friend of theirs
from the past--has fallen victim to death during the current plague, they vow to kill
death. They meet him on the road in the form of the old man. They are extremely rude
to him, and he sets them up for their deaths--to meet him
literally.
They repeatedly swear their loyalty to each
other. The Pardoner/narrator says at one point:
They made their bargain, swore with
appetite,
These three, to live and die for one
another
As brother-born might swear to his born
brother.
Of course, death
gets its way when the three betray each other and are killed by one another. The
personification of death as the old man forms one part of the tale's allegory. This is
an often-told tale that Chaucer makes his own by adding irony. Not only do the three
kill each other after swearing loyalty, but the tale, which demonstrates that "greed is
the root of all evil," is told by the Pardoner, who uses it to separate listeners from
their money.
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