Sunday, October 31, 2010

Wait! Did he just say what I think he said?

Lines 236-239

“Allas! a foul thing is it, by my feith,
To seye this word, and fouler is the dede,
Whan man so drinketh of the whyte and rede,
That of his throte he maketh his privee,
Thurgh thilke cursed superfluitee.”

By saying (in my own words) that man turns his mouth into a toilet by drinking so much white and red wine does the Pardoner mean that the actual wine is so “unholy” that it metaphorical turns your mouth into a toilet? Or does he mean that by drinking so much wine you are likely to throw up, turning your mouth into a receptacle for the “stuff” that would have most likely gone into the toilet?
I think my second conclusion is far more thoughtful. However, because he is preaching about religion he probably means that wine directly corrupts whatever it touches.

Also, I understand the first four lines perfectly, but I only have a rough understanding of the last line. I know that “superfluitee” means overindulgence, which fits with the Pardoner’s whole gluttony theme here. But I’m not sure what “Thurgh thilke cursed” is supposed to mean.

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