The Pardoner's Tale: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Pardoner's Tale: Analysis of Major Characters" explores a range of complex figures that shape the narrative, each representing various facets of human experience and moral ambiguity. Central to the tale is Giles Hermitage, a middle-aged novelist struggling with personal loss and the repercussions of his relationships. His emotional journey is intensified by his interactions with Helen Chichester-Redfern, a determined elderly woman who seeks to manipulate Giles into writing about her past, ultimately revealing themes of regret and redemption.
Dinah, Helen's daughter, adds another layer to the narrative; despite her disciplined exterior and musical talent, her emotional detachment highlights the theme of superficial connections in human relationships. The fictional characters within Giles's novel mirror his struggles, particularly Gus Howkins, whose journey through love and betrayal reflects the chaos of modern life. Meanwhile, characters like Jake Driver and Julia Sanders Delmore present a dynamic interplay of love, power, and loyalty, showing how personal choices impact broader relationships.
Overall, the analysis invites readers to consider the interplay of desire, desperation, and the quest for meaning, offering a rich tapestry of human behavior and moral questions that resonate across cultures.
The Pardoner's Tale: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: John Wain
First published: 1978
Genre: Novel
Locale: Spain, Tangier, and the imaginary Bu-Tata, in Uranga, Africa
Plot: Psychological realism
Time: The early 1970's
Giles Hermitage, a moderately successful novelist. A stocky, graying bachelor of fifty, he is generally untidy in appearance. For seven years, he has lived contentedly in an English cathedral town, disappearing from life's problems alternately into his work and into the arms of his mistress, Harriet. When Harriet breaks off their relationship, he realizes how important she is to him, and he is shattered. Only his meeting with a dying woman, Helen Chichester-Redfern, and her daughter, Dinah Redfern, who becomes his mistress, gives him interest in living. After the death of Helen, when Dinah deserts him, Giles is tempted to commit suicide. He must first complete his novel, however. Once it is completed, he is providentially saved by a letter from Harriet that sends him to join her in Australia.
Helen Chichester-Redfern, an old lady. Although frail and thin, and obviously very near death, she is still strong-willed and surprisingly energetic. Her letter to Giles, praising his work and asking to meet him, brings him out of his despair over Harriet's departure. After a series of visits, he discovers her real purpose: She wishes him to write a book about her husband's desertion of her, which will ruin his reputation. When Giles promises to do so, she dies.
Diana (Dinah) Chichester-Redfern, the daughter of Helen Chichester-Redfern. A slender, attractive girl with brown hair and green eyes, she is always neatly dressed and precise in her actions. She is a highly disciplined professional guitarist. Although she is lusty and promiscuous, Dinah has no real feelings for anyone. Her attentiveness to her dying mother and her own Anglo-Catholic rituals are as devoid of emotional contact as are her sexual episodes with Giles.
Gus Howkins, a fictional character in the novel that Giles is writing. A middle-age Londoner who is bored with his business, a press-cutting agency, and bored with his wife of fourteen years, Gus is catapulted into a life of high drama when he rescues a young woman from drowning. He falls in love with her, loses her, finds her, and eventually is accused of kidnapping and of conspiracy to extort money from her husband. Finally, he returns to his wife, Daphne.
Daphne Howkins, the wife of Gus Howkins in Giles's novel. Repentant about the affair that gave Gus an excuse to divorce her, she besieges her husband, pleading with him to take her back.
Julia Sanders Delmore, a former actress, a character in Giles's novel. A pretty young woman, she has brown eyes, dark hair, and a pale complexion. When Gus first sees her, staring at the sea as the tide moves in, she is stunned by the discovery of her husband's flagrant infidelity. After he rescues her, she clings to him and becomes his mistress. She is actually torn between her love for two men, however: her husband and her brother. When her husband gets her brother out of trouble and exerts his old charm on her, she returns to him.
Jake Driver, also called Jake Delmore, Julia's husband in Giles's novel, a television actor who has recently become a star. A loud, brutal, egotistical man, he enjoys dominating his wife and his subordinates. When her brother attempts to defraud him, he is willing to send him to prison. He evidently loves or needs his wife, however, enough to make an arrangement to get her back.
Cliff Sanders, another character in Giles's novel, the older brother of Julia Delmore. He is small and dark-haired, with a weak, mean face and an expression that is both sly and inquisitive. At thirty-five years of age, he already has a lengthy criminal record. He is completely unscrupulous, and only his stupidity keeps him from being a real threat to society. His inept attempt to extort money from Jake Driver results in the arrest of both Julia and Gus. They are released, however, partly because the authorities can see Cliff for what he is.