Chaucers Canterbury Tales - Comparing The Pardoners Tale...

Irony in The Pardoners Tale and The Nuns Priests Tale Irony is the general name given to literary techniques that involve surprising, interesting,or amusing contradictions. 1 Two stories that serve as excellent demonstrations of irony are The Pardoners Tale and The Nuns Priests Tale, both from Chaucers The Canterbury Tales. Although these two stories are very different, they both use irony to teach a lesson. Of the stories, The Pardoners Tale displays the most irony. First and foremost, the entire telling of the story is ironic, considering just who is the teller. The Pardoner uses this story to speak out against many social problems, all of which he himself is†¦show more content†¦The Nuns Priests Tale is also laden with irony, the most obvious of which is the characters themselves. The story begins by telling of an old woman who owns several farm animals, but while the woman is described as a poor old widow, who led a patient, simple life, (1 6) while the animals are described as royalty. For example, the animals had regal names and titles, yet the woman had none at all. The first concrete example of irony, occurs after Chanticleer has told Pertelote of his dream, and she makes fun of him. Chanticleer says Mulier est hominis confusio, which he tells her means Woman is mans delight and all his bliss, but in reality means that woman leads to the destruction of man. Although Chanticleer means to tease her, it becomes ironic when Pertelotes advice for Chanticleer to ignore his dream ends up leading to his downfall. His downfall occurs when Chanticleer is tricked by the fox into his trap, but what is ironic is the downfall of the fox. When the fox has caught Chanticleer he says to him, that misfortune will come to those who talk when they should be quiet, but this lack of silence from the fox leads to his loss. The fox had captured Chanticleer by flattering him until he did something foolish