Transformation Essay

Transformation Essay

"A transformation pays homage to the original text and reinvigorates the original ideas and values by creating a text that appeals to a new audience."

My focus will be on Sam Raimi's transformation of Chaucer's The Pardoner's Tale to A Simple Plan. These texts are filled with contextual values of their time, Chaucer's novel is steeped in Christian morals and judgement and this is heavily laid on and apparent through the poem. Sam Raimi's film, even though it is based closely on The Pardoner's Tale, doesn't go into that and focuses on the emotional and psychological impact on the characters, playing on the audience's empathy, or lack thereof, rather than their fear of Hell. Both Chaucer and Sam convey the punishment for partaking in 'evil' or criminal acts but approach the same subject in very different ways, each appropriate to their own time and audience and each conveying the idea that greed is the root of all evil. It is vital to understand this context to delve into the deeper meaning and themes approached in both cases.

Chaucer looked at the way the church was being run and he decided that he would bring attention to the falsity that was going on. This lead him to write The Pardoner's Tale and this falsity is the focus of the poem. English life in the 14th century was dominated by the Christian religion and the higher members of the church had superiority over all people, especially the common peasants and serfs. This higher esteem is portrayed when the knight, even though he has heard everything the pardoner has confessed to, steps in to save him from the common people. They were respected and revered but Chaucer saw that a large amount of them were abusing their role and taking advantage of their power to further their own agenda. His poem follows one such religious figure, a pardoner whose job it was to travel to and preach in towns and villages. They were how the farmers and other tradesmen, who rarely went beyond a few miles of their home, could find out what was happening in the outside world. Chaucer wrote : "For myn entente is nat but for to wynne, and nothyng for correccioun of synne." (For my intention is only to make a profit, and not at all for correction of sin.). Here he was trying to communicate the effect that their high positions in society often lead to. This included them indulging in the very sins that they warned against, as they could ask for almost anything in return for their services.

Sam Raimi took the story of the three rioters and developed it into a film carrying over the idea that greed is the root of all evil and put this into a more modern context. The plot focuses highly on the psychological state of the characters whereas Chaucer's tale didn't even name them. The modern context made the film relatable to by the modern audience, the film doesn't involve religion and the ingrained punishment for 'evils' but instead goes down a darker path and explores the concept of having to live with what you have done in the name of greed. One thing carried over is the inner turmoil of the group, in A Simple Plan the two brothers kill the other person involved with them and this is like the original story in which two of the rioters kill the other one. Something that highlighted what greed does to you is how quickly the situation escalates to the point where they kill someone over the money and this adds tension to their situation as the characters begin to realise what they are prepared to do and they start to doubt their commitment to the plan.

The film continuously conveys a feeling of being trapped, in the form of the events that take place constantly escalating and complicating the situation, to the visual cinematography that is constantly putting bars in front