I am fascinated by the old
man. On first read he seemed like a personified death (which did not seem to be
too great a stretch considering death has already been personified by the
tavern keeper and the three friends) come to toy with these three fools. Yet,
on a second read I am not so sure. Apparently this man is extremely old and
looks it. One of the riotoures asks him why he is so old, either the asker is
super short sighted and dumb (well… I suppose he is) or the man looks like he
has been walking from Flanders to India and back for a couple hundred years (I made
that number up). It is probably a mixture of both. From his following speech,
it seems like this man has trouble dyeing, though I have to say is situation is
a little confusing. I am having a hard time telling how much is literal and how
much is poking fun and the fool’s impertinent question.
The line that is throwing
me off is 727, “Ne deeth, allas, ne wol nat han my lif!” I am pretty sure I know
each individual word, but when combine with the triple negative and separated
subject it gets tricky. Right now I am operating under the reading that he is
saying death will not have his life, which is why he spends his time knocking
on the ground saying “Leeve modor, leet me in!” (731). He wants to die but
cannot for whatever reason. If this is the case then it presents an interesting
moral for the story. The presence of this old is not so much about drinking and
gluttony (as much as the pardoner pushes that), it seems like he is really
there to show the value of a timely death. It is foolish to try and “sleen this
false traitour Deeth” (699); for one thing it is impossible and second because
it is a bad idea to begin with.
