The pardoner delivers a moral story illustrating that greed underlies all wickedness. He portrays the three youths as avaricious, lustful, loud, and disrespectful. The pardoner highlights their sinful traits through words like pestilence, insolent, evil, gluttony, and treacherous. The story demonstrates how their greed causes their downfall. Their foolishness is evident when they vow to kill Death. The pardoner describes them as “drunken” and filled with “rage” at making this “gruesome oath.” These word choices emphasize that the trio embodies the seven deadly sins.
