I found the Pardoner a very difficult character to get a read on; from the way in which he set up his tale, brazenly stacking up sins, I assumed he was confident and sardonic, and was heavily bracketing the tale in irony. The overwrought apostrophe "O glotonye, ful of cursednesse! O cause first of oure confusioun! O original of oure dampnacioun!" (498) seemed to suggest that, as did the futility of his tale. (Three men attempt to hunt down death, and summarily kill each other.) His reaction to the tale in particular seemed so overblown and vague "O cursed synne of alle cursedenesse! O traytours homycide, o wikkednesse! O glotonye, luxurie and hasardrye!" (895) that I assumed it was pure performance, with no small degree of sarcasm. However, his final action in the tale goes completely against that reading; his anger at the Host's reaction suggests one who is oblivious to his own hypocrisy, and is all a-flutter at the notion of blasphemy in general.

The kiss split into a 70:30 ratio of bizarre to interesting for me. The Pardoner essentially calls him out beforehand, with some fairly taunting words: "for he is moost enveloped in sinne"... "thou shalt kisse the relikes everychon" (942), the antagonist tinge to which suggests that they have some sort of history. Chaucer seems to be willfully passing over chunks of The Pardoner's history/psychology here and leaving readers in the dark.