The Pardoner's Tale Answers

1.) They heard that one of their friends had been murdered by a man named Death, who is also responsible for at least a thousand deaths.

2.) They were in search of the thief, Death, to seek justice for their friend but instead found his treasure trove.

3.) After the rioters discovered the loot pile, instead of informing any authorities, they mutually agreed to keep it for themselves. While the youngest rioter was way gathering supplies, the two oldest agreed to kill the youngest so the wouldn't have to split the loot three ways. The youngest while out bought poison and planned to use it on the eldest, when he returned the eldest killed the youngest and unknowingly consumed the poison, leaving three dead rioters.

4.) After the eldest rioters decided to kill the youngest, I thought that one of the two would end up betraying the other, leaving only one to claim the loot. I was somewhat surprised to read that the youngest rioter had hatched a plan of his own to kill the other two.

5.) The old man is different form the rioters in the way that he is not overly greedy and that is how he got away from them untouched, instead of keeping the loot pile for himself he used it to get away from the rioters by saying that Death was there, but instead it was the treasure that caused his downfall.

7.) Line 94 (verbal irony) the rioters swore to protect each other kill Death, but instead never found Death and killed each other.
(situational irony) The pardoner tells a story about how bad greed is, even though he is one of the greediest pilgrims in the story.
(Dramatic irony) The two eldest rioters unknowingly drink the poisoned wine after killing the third rioter.
Irony is important to a story, because it gives the read more information with out actually saying it and makes writing more interesting.

8.)The black death was killing millions and during the time many people believed that it was an act of god. People were desperate and willing to do or pay anything to get spared or a place in heaven, during their panic people were not looking closely to see if they were being conned.