The Pardoner's Tale: Irony Nearly every aspect of the Pardoner's tale is ironic. Irony exists within the story itself and in the relationship between the Pardoner and the story. The ending of the story presents a good message despite the Pardoner's devious intentions to swindle money from the other pilgrims. By using irony in the Pardoner's tale, Chaucer effectively criticizes the church system. The irony begins as soon as the Pardoner starts his prologue. He tells the other pilgrims that his sermons reflect how money is the root of all evils, "radix malorum est cupiditas." He actually preaches against his own problems and sins.