ipl-logo

Examples Of Personification In The Pardoner's Tale

611 Words3 Pages

Chaucer’s Use of Irony and Personification Geoffrey Chaucer has a crater on the moon named after him. Here on Earth, he’s most famous for the Canterbury Tales. One of the best known stories in the collection is “The Pardoner’s Tale.” One reason it is so popular is because Chaucer uses personification and irony throughout the tale. Death is personified by every character in the story. Personification is when a writer gives human qualities to nonhuman things. The first example of personification occurs when the tavern knave describes the death of their friend to the three rioters. He says, “There came a privy thief, they call him Death… He speared him through the heart, he never stirred.” (Chaucer, ll. 67-69) By saying that, he was referring to death as a human that killed his friend. The next …show more content…

I’ll search for him…and we will kill this traitor Death, I say!” (Chaucer, ll. 85-93) The rioters wanted to search for Death and kill him. Another time when Death was personified was when the rioters came across an old man that told them, “Well sirs, if it be your design to find out Death, turn up his crooked way towards that grove, I left him there today under a tree, and there you’ll find him waiting.” (Chaucer, ll. 154-1588) Chaucer also uses irony in the story. Situational irony occurs when someone does the opposite of what they are expected to do. An example of situational irony is how the rioters say they are going out to kill Death and Death killed them instead. Another example of situational irony is when the rioters vow to be brothers and protect each other and they all kill each other in the end. The rioters say, “The three of us together now, hold up your hands like me, and we’ll be brothers in this affair, and each

Show More
Related
718 Words | 3 Pages

An example of personification used would be, “grass quivered again”(97) To state my evidence, the story without the animals talking would be boring and confusing. This proves the them because without there would be no excitement it would just be plain old boring. In the story, The author uses personification when the animals are talking and doing something else human like, “Give me the egg, Rikki-tikki. Give me the last of my eggs, and I will go away and never come back,” she said, lowering her hood.(93) This shows, that first of all Nagaina is talking and animals can not talk in real life and this is an example of personification.

Read More
1007 Words | 5 Pages

Here, Death offers a cynical, yet truthful, view on the world; "I can promise you that the world is a factory. The sun stirs it, the humans rule it. And I remain. I carry them away."

Read More
657 Words | 3 Pages

Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado” is the narrative of a man named Montresor who seeks vengeance against a man named Fortunato. Fortunato insults Montresor. Next, Montresor meet Fortunato at a carnival, eventually luring him into the catacombs of his home to bury Fortunato alive. Moreover, different types of irony are portrayed in this short story. Dramatic irony consists of the character in the story knowing less about his or her situation than the reader.

Read More
599 Words | 3 Pages

Greed is one of the worst things a person can have in his or her characteristics during the Middle Ages. The representation of being greedy made you get looked upon by the people in many bad ways. A good example of this is “The Pardoner's Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer. “The Pardoner's Tale” shows that the idea of not being greedy in order to enhance the characterization of the Pardoner, as he used the church to his advantage to earn money.

Read More
541 Words | 3 Pages

No one can defeat Death There once was a young woman, who strived to be immortal, this caused her to bind herself away from the world for years. She decided one day that she had conquered death by changing her fate and goes to venture the town where she met a strange man, who insults her, filled with anger she decides to go after him where she faces death. A very similar situation is portrayed in “The Masque of the Red Death” with the character Prince Prospero, who believes that he has changed his fate by locking himself in his palace for years but this doesn’t end well for him as he faces death in his own home. In “The Masque of the Red Death”, written by Edgar Allen Poe, irony and symbolism to is used prove that death is inevitable.

Read More
630 Words | 3 Pages

Shawn Jande Ms. Clancy American Literature B3 15 November 2015 The Crucible Analytical Essay Imagine, being accused of a crime you didn’t commit by your neighbors and friends out of jealousy, and desire. This is what many people in the town of Salem had to go through during the time of the Salem Witch Trials. People's motives such as: gaining and maintaining power, and aspirations for what other people had caused them to make irrational, and atrocious decisions. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, desire and power drive characters to create chaos in the community.

Read More
765 Words | 4 Pages

However, he still cast a willful blindness to his sins. Within the tale, three friends set off to find and kill death, “With this false traitor death we’ll do away:/ The slayer of so many we shall slay”(699-700). This is a use of dramatic irony as the audience knows that not only can they not kill

Read More
545 Words | 3 Pages

Personification is the attribution of human qualities to non-human entities. For example, when describing how she views the trees she compares them to herself giving them human-like features showing personification. This is shown in the text when Esperanza states “Four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows like mine Four who do not belong here but are here. Four raggedy excuses planted by the city. From our room we can hear them, but Nenny just sleeps and doesn't appreciate these things.

Read More
970 Words | 4 Pages

The illusion of death has wondered and astonished many for years. This doesn 't exclude the fantastic author Shakespeare. Throughout the play, Shakespeare focuses on death and how society glorifies it. He often uses metaphor and analogy in order to make death seem more welcoming. Turmoil and confusion can internally destroy any country.

Read More
807 Words | 4 Pages

One example of personification is when comes to visit Grant after work: “A little farther over, where another patch of cane was standing, tall and blue-green, you could see the leaves swaying softly from a breeze.” (Gaines 86) The use of personification is effective because it allows the reader to visualise. In this instance, it creates an image of the leaves swaying in the wind.

Read More
1278 Words | 6 Pages

Geoffrey Chaucer was an author, known as the father of English poetry for his recognition in all his literary works. He wrote the Canterbury Tales, which are multiple stories composed into one to create a form of poetry. "The Pardoners Tale" is the most recognized work of art he put together out of these multiple stories. The story is told in first person, which makes use of the story to lecture against the individuals who are ignorant, and profane. In this short tale about eagerness, but also death, Chaucer uses three forms of figurative language such as irony, personification, and symbolism to tell a story of three rioters.

Read More
884 Words | 4 Pages

In the infamous tragedy of the play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare, the theme and influence of death are poignantly prevalent through the course of the play. The use of death in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is portrayed through 3 instances of the deaths of 4 major characters, Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio and Tybalt, in which the context of each death, are relative to the cause and development of their demise. Shakespeare capitalizes on the sophistication and complexity of death along with its varying impacts in relation to the context in which guides their tragedies. The death of Romeo is the result of his intense love and passion for Juliet as he refuses to exist in a world without his true love, “ The lean abhorrèd monster keeps thee here in dark to be his paramour? For fear of that, I still will stay with thee, And never from this palace of dim night depart again.”

Read More
781 Words | 4 Pages

Death affects the story and evolves through all three Theban plays as its own distinctive entity. Both as a concept and a deity recognized by the characters, death plays a role in the direction of the narrative by influencing motivations, fears, and desires. In turn, each play gives death a different form just as it does with Oedipus or Creon by exploring the characterization of death and the implications of what kind of entity “Lord Death” is. In Antigone, the first Theban play written by Sophocles, death is a looming presence that marks a hard ending. Death is a destination for Antigone and it represents the end of her family, of her suffering, and of every mortal man.

Read More
818 Words | 4 Pages

In conclusion, Chaucer used many different literary devices to convey the meaning of his story to his readers. However, the strongest literary tool that was used was symbolism. This techniques that was used by Chaucer brought life and meaning to this tale, which allowed the story to flow and stay clear to the readers. This tale was very interesting and engaging for readers and not only provided them with enjoyment, but also provided them with a sense of

Read More
402 Words | 2 Pages

“The Pardoner’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer, the three rioters originally planned to travel to kill Death. After traveling less than half a mile, The three rioters met a poor, old man; the old man told them where they could find Death. The three rioters followed his directions and found not Death but a pot of gold coins under a tree. After, discovering the gold coins, they secretly plotted to kill each other, hoping to keep the treasure to only himself. Because of this, the role of the gold coins acted as the source and main cause of their death.

Read More

More about Examples Of Personification In The Pardoner's Tale

Related Topics

Open Document