Matsuda,
Takami. “Death, Prudence, and Chaucer’s Pardoner’s Tale.” The Journal of
English and Germanic Philology, vol.
91, 1992, pp. 313-324.
Takami Matsuda contends that the Pardoner’s practical approach to forgiveness and salvation signals the advance of pragmatic attitudes towards individual salvation during the late medieval period. Matsuda draws from a broad cross-section of historical contexts to make his argument; he provides examples from both ancient and medieval art, philosophy, patristic teachings, and didactic texts. In particular, Matsuda examines the history of the doctrine of purgatory and its cultural context in regards to The Canterbury Tales. He argues that the doctrine of purgatory supports the “reduction of spiritual issues to worldly issues,” which effectively allows the Pardoner to extract money from people in a worldly manner while also offering them forgiveness in a spiritual manner (Matsuda 318). Furthermore, the doctrine of purgatory encouraged practical preparation for death, including such practices as “donation and prayer for increasing one’s chances of salvation” (Matsuda 320). Such practical considerations, Matsuda argues, not only benefit the Pardoner financially but also indicate a societal shift towards greater religious pragmatism.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/27710686