"Radix malorum est cupiditas"(Chaucer 243), the root of all evil is greed. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses witty and sneaky language to show the tricky nature and deceitfulness of human behavior, so that humans can realize their flaws and attempt to fix them. He displays irony in, "The Pardoner's Tale", through pardoner's behavior, the pardoner's story, and human nature overall.

In the "Pardoner's Tale", the author is able to show the ironic behavior of the pardoner through his actions. An example of this is through the pardoner's statement that, "I preach for nothing but for greed of gain / And use the same old text, as bold as brass, / Radix malorum est cupiditas" (243). Here he uses irony by having the pardoner is say that greed is the root of all evil, while the pardoner himself exhibits the flaw of greed, which he is preaching against. This can apply...