ipl-logo

Theme Of Irony In The Pardoner's Tale

765 Words4 Pages

To fully appreciate the layers of irony in “The Pardoner’s Tale,” you must consider all types of irony. There are three types of irony: verbal irony is when something is said that contradicts the truth, or is the opposite of how the person speaking truly feels, situational irony is when events have an affect on a situation to make the outcome the opposite of what was expected, and dramatic irony is when the significance of actions and doings of the characters in a story are obvious but the characters within the story remain oblivious. Within “The Pardoner's Tale” in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, all types of irony are used throughout the story in order to show society uses deliberate ignorance to justify its wrong doings. Particularly, …show more content…

Being a high ranking member of the church, he teach’s a tale of greed to gain indulgences. The irony in this is the fact that he fuels his own with a lesson on the dangers of greed, “I only preach to satisfy my greed.”(433). In addition, the pardoner’s admittance to his hypocrisy and greed is a form of verbal irony within itself, “Yes, I myself can preach against the vice/ Of avarice that is my own device:/ for though I’m guilty of that very sin”(427-429). Both examples of irony present the pardoner’s knowledge of his wrong doings. 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 …show more content…

This is ironic as the pardoner tries to get the group to give him money after telling them how it was all a scam, “My holy pardon saves you from all this:/ If you will offer nobles, sterlings, rings,/ Soome brooches, spoons or other silver things,”(906-908). While he knows that they know his faulsities he deliberately ignores this in order to try and proceed with his con. Another layer of irony in this is that he promises pureness while he himself is not pure, “If you will give. You’ll be as clean and pure/ As when first born.--And, sirs, that’s how I preach.”(914-915). To sum up, Chaucer has littered irony all throughout “The Pardoner’s Tale”: in the prologue, tale, and epilogue. Chaucer has also use three different types of irony within the story: verbal, situational, and dramatic irony. All in all, the irony used was meant to show how society is deliberately ignorant at times for self gain, this is still occuring today as it did during Chaucer's time. In the words of Palpatine, “it’s ironic”(Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the

Show More
Related

How Does Frederick Douglass Use Irony In Slavery

134 Words | 1 Pages

Irony is one of the rhetorical devices in which it it uncovers the difference between the truth and something expected. Predominantly, it detects the misconceptions or the unfairness of a specific situation. (http://figurativelanguage.net/Irony.html) Most of the time, Frederick Douglass used irony in order to uncover the defect in the reasoning of the issue of slavery. For instance, in the third chapter, Douglass made a description about the obssesive care of his previous master named Colonel Lloyd on his horses.

Read More

Examples Of Verbal Irony In The Cask Of Amontillado

279 Words | 2 Pages

In the short story ,”Cask of Amontillado,” there are many examples of irony used by Poe throughout the story. In the story, the Narrator’s biggest challenge is to get revenge on Fortunato for “one thousand injuries,” but he has to plan how he’s going to do it successfully without getting caught. When the Narrator randomly runs into Fortunato, the author states that, “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met.” (Poe 59). This is an example of verbal irony because the Narrator didn’t mean it was lucky for Fortunato because he was just telling us how he vowed revenge on him.

Read More

The Pardoner's Tale Comparative Essay

1053 Words | 5 Pages

Each tale reveals moral lessons that attempt to prevent the reader from performing the same mistakes as the character. “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Reeve’s Tale” possess similar themes, distinct differences arise in the topics presented in each passage. “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Reeve’s Tale” illustrates how greed corrupts men, how sin leads to more sin, and how revenge drives men to undertake foolish feats. The differences between Chaucer’s tales allows for a humorous yet insightful

Read More

The Cask Of Amontillado Verbal Irony Analysis

600 Words | 3 Pages

The Ironic Truth Irony is a complex and important element of literature that can help discover hidden perspectives within characters or hide the truth in plain sight. The story by Edgar Allen Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado” is a great example the dark ironic twist that happen in the story. The main character, Montresor, is hell-bent on getting his revenge on the man who shamed him, Fortunato. The verbal and dramatic irony that is being used in the story “The Cask of Amontillado” helps hide the true intentions that Montresor has planned for Fortunato. Verbal irony happens when one character says one thing but actually means something completely different.

Read More

How Can Power Corrupted In The Pardoner's Tale

685 Words | 3 Pages

No,no, that’s never been my policy”(p,152, lines 100-114)! The Pardoner looks down upon peasants and gluttony. To which he is being hypocritical because he is greedy with gaining money. The misuse of trust is greatly displayed on how the Pardoner practically takes the earnings of people who are being tricked into believing they are

Read More

The Punishment In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

880 Words | 4 Pages

Chaucer wrote the book: The Canterbury Tales, in which a group of men going on a journey all tell a tale. Within each tale is a moral lesson as well as each tale consists of a corrupt action committed within the church and is conveyed by those kind of characters within the story. One of the tales that Chaucer tells in his book is called: The pardoner 's tale. Within this tale the pardoner (who is telling the tale) is a preacher who often gives sermons but admits that he does is solely for money and not to condemn people of their sins. (Greed)

Read More

Examples Of Greed In The Canterbury Tales

559 Words | 3 Pages

The story “The Canterbury Tales” by Geoffrey Chaucer talks about a guy named Pardoner. The author uses Pardoner to explain different themes of the story. Pardoner is one whom you can go to for forgiveness of your sins but with a price that was meant for him. He has yellow hair like wax that hangs smoothly like a hank of flax. Towards the back of his head were his locks that felt like rat tails and fell all the way down to his shoulders.

Read More

The Canterbury Tales Vs The Pardoner's Tale

761 Words | 4 Pages

The temptation of greed ended up killing the three men at the end of the tale. ”The Pardoner's Tale” provides a clear understanding that greed is a sin we all have to battle with in our lives, whereas the moral of the wife of bath's tale applies to people doing bad things. This tale teaches the reader a lesson about greed and how it can overcome people, making them do bad

Read More

Examples Of Greed In The Pardoner's Tale

599 Words | 3 Pages

“All they needed was a series of impressive looking letters and a confident manner in making the appeal” (Chaucer role of pardoner).The pardoner would go on to using the same tricks on everyone they saw near them. All they did was pull out the papers with the bishop's signature and use a confident manner to impress them. When the people of the villages found out about the scamming they would just ignore the pardoner's when they saw them. The pardoner’s were looked down upon the people all over the villages and all across the land. They would just simply ignore them or just keep on walking if they happened to come across a pardoner.

Read More

Literary Analysis Essay On The Crucible

630 Words | 3 Pages

Situational irony is created in the text through Proctor reciting “ thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image… You have said that twice, sir… Adultery, John”(Miller.II.12.). This is an example of Situational Irony because the only commandment Proctor couldn’t remember is the one he broke. Proctor’s inability to remember his commandments causes the community to question his faithfulness to his religion and in return creates conflict later in the trials when people question his judgment and accuse him of witchcraft.

Read More

Use Of Irony In The Hunger Games And The Lottery

1446 Words | 6 Pages

Irony is often used in literature to illustrate certain situations to the audience. In some pieces of literature that might be pointing out an unjust system, in others that might be to add a comedic effect, but whatever situation the author wants to illustrate, irony is very beneficial. Through small and witty, one-liners, or a bigger dramatic irony situation contrasting two very different situations, irony can be very beneficial for the reader to understand the story. Both “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins have a corrupt dystopian society. Through the use of irony, the author can portray the corruptness to the audience.

Read More

Greed And Hypocrisy In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

721 Words | 3 Pages

In the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer utilizes the immoral character of the Pardoner to tell the utmost moral tale through satirical devices, presenting the true greed and hypocrisy that runs throughout the Church, regardless of it attempt to cover it. Chaucer introduces the hypocrisy within the Church through the characterization of the Pardoner, as he is explained to be a man with, “flattery and equal japes./He made the parson and the rest his apes” (“General Prologue” 607-608). “Japes” are tricks, alluding to the Pardoner’s relics, as they are fake; yet, the Pardoner still sells these relics to the Church members as genuine treasures. This creates dramatic irony, because the character of the Church body is unaware of the situation bestowed

Read More

Examples Of Dramatic Irony In The Crucible

728 Words | 3 Pages

Without irony an author’s story will not be as interesting and will not keep the reader or audience’s attention for too long. Above dramatic irony was very sufficient because the reader knew about John’s affair, although Reverend Hale was unaware. This may have grabbed the reader’s attention more and lead them to suspension as to how or if Hale would find out. In my example of verbal irony, it was used in a form of sarcasm when it almost seems as if the outcome was backwards. For instance the innocents should live while the accused should be the one to die.

Read More

Literary Elements In Edgar Allan Poe

1208 Words | 5 Pages

Irony can be seen throughout the story in the words and phrases of the character. The irony can create a disturbing, yet slightly humorous scene with the audience not knowing what’s coming for the characters. In the short story, The Cask Of Amontillado, irony can be seen through the conversations of the two characters, Montresor and Fortunato. Although, Montresor is the character with most literary devices. Verbal irony can be seen in the story when Montresor told the “attendees” to stay in the house while he was gone.

Read More

The Cask Of Amontillado Dramatic Irony Analysis

484 Words | 2 Pages

In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” irony is applied throughout to help foreshadow future and give more of an insight to the readers, all while adding some humor. Irony is divided into three main types: dramatic, situational, and verbal. Poe uses dramatic irony when he has Fortunato dress as a jester, “a tight-fitting parti-striped dress and his was surmounted by the conical cap and bells” (Poe). The get-up makes Fortunato looks foolish and foreshadows his actions of following Montresor into the catacombs to taste some wine. Montresor even compliments the outfit and says “My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met” (Poe), but it was not Fortunato who was in luck, but Montresor who would gain profit of their meeting.

Read More

More about Theme Of Irony In The Pardoner's Tale

Open Document