Three Unitites in the Pardoner's Tale

The Three Unities in The Pardoner’s Tale

The three unities used in “The Pardoner’s Tale” are that of place, time, and action. Together these three unities combined give the story a semblance of truth. Geoffry Chaucer uses the three Unities to enhance the story so that it is more believable; they also are the source of the success of the tale.

Chaucer’s use of unity of place helps to make the story more believable with out the added background information of a longer story. The tale starts at the tavern where the three rioters are hopelessly drunk, and then they travel half a mile down the road to where they meet the Old Man, whom directs them to the tree in the grove nearby. The only other place in the story is the town that is a mile from the tavern. Under the tree is also where the tale ends, where all three rioters die underneath it. Geoffry Chaucer expertly uses this unity to enhance this story and give it detail, in a short amount of time. The three rioters “made it towards this village with the page” (Line 46). Here is when the rioters set out on their journey to kill death. This is after they swear to stand by each other no matter what, like brothers. When they “had not fully gone half a mile” (Line 51). They met the Old Man, who would eventually be their end. The rioters they find the gold florins in the grove that the Old Man mentions. The youngest of the rioters goes off and buys poison to kill the other two rioters. In the end all of the rioters die “and they perished both” (Line 232) under the tree, half a mile from the start of their quest, and half a mile from the village. The entire story took place in a small area only a mile long, unity of place helps to make the tale more believable. Allowing the reader to connect with the rioters without the added time or space of all of the background information that usually goes with a story of this caliber.

Unity of time is used along with unity of place and unity of action to make the story better and...