Many have speculated that the Tale of the Three Brothers written into the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling is a loose interpretation of The Pardoner’s Tale in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. The main theme between both tales is the disappointment that arises when one sins and tries to cheat Death.
The Tale of the Three Brothers is based on a legend of the three Peverell brothers and is found in the fictional book “The Tales of Beedle the Bard.” Three brothers of the wizarding world use magic to cross over a river. An entity of Death bitterly offers each one a gift for outsmarting him. The first one, being power-hungry, asks for a wand more powerful than any other in existence so he may win every duel he takes part in. The second brother, being arrogant, asked for the power to recall the dead in order to humiliate Death further. The third brother was wise and humble and did not trust death so he asked for a gift that would enable him to travel without being followed by Death. …show more content…
The second brother went mad from longing for a girl he brought back from the dead and so he committed suicide to be fully with her. The third brother was able to evade Death for many years until he welcomed Death as an old friend and they departed from life together.
In contrast, The Pardoner’s Tale is about three friends that seek out Death for murdering a friend of theirs while he drunkenly slept. When they encounter an old man wandering around, he advises them where Death is from line 761 through 763. “…To finde Deeth, turne up this croked wey/For in that grove I lafte him, by my fay/Under a tree, and there he wol abyde…” By assuring them that they will find Death, he makes an ominous foreshadowing of the three men meeting their demise under the oak tree he describes in the lines