Pardoner's Tale Essay

        A Pardoner's Tale, and Irony Throughout

       The term irony is described as a state of affairs or an event that seems contrary to what one expects. Irony is a rhetorical device or an event characterized by a conflict, between what the expectations of a situation are and what actually happens. The story of a Pardoner’s Tale can be used to emphasize a moral point to its readers. Throughout all of Pardoner’s Tale, we get a glimpse at multiple forms of irony, including verbal, dramatic, and situational.

The first form of irony displayed in a Pardoner’s Tale is verbal irony. Verbal irony is distinguished from other forms of irony, it is produced intentionally by the speaker.   Most instances of verbal irony are labeled by research subjects as sarcastic, suggesting that the term sarcasm is more widely used than its technical definition suggests it should be. In the beginning of the story, the three brothers swore to one another "Hold up your hands, like me, and we will be brothers in this affair, and each defend the others." The verbal irony is revealed when the the three brothers swore to protect each other and destroy death, but ended up killing each other. Although they expressed a clear intention, the outcome was completely unexpected, as they had all received the same penalty. The result of this event was entirely different from what the reader presumed would happen. 

The second form of irony is dramatic irony. Dramatic irony is defined as irony that occurs when the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the story. In the story, the three brothers encounter an old man, poor and unkempt, who foreshadows to them that death can be found under a tree, revealing to the characters that their death would occur under a tree. Although the man has just explained to the characters the fate that awaits them, it does not occur to them that the man’s statement was literal. Even after they begin to plan each other’s demise they still cannot fathom his statement was referring to themselves as the death he tried to warn them of. The two remaining brothers drink the poisoned cup in celebration, while the reader is fully aware that it is poisoned. 

The third and final form of irony is situational irony. Situational irony describes a sharp difference between the expected result and actual results in a certain situation. It is most broadly defined as a situation where the outcome is incongruous with what was expected, but it is also more generally understood as a situation that includes contradictions or sharp contrasts. The situational irony in a Pardoner’s Tale plays out when the three brothers go out to kill death and in their own greed they end up killing one another. They all find death under the tree, but not in the sense they mean to. 

In conclusion, irony is a consistent theme portrayed within a Pardoner’s Tale, whether it be verbal, dramatic, or situational. Chaucer uses a small portion of humor within his irony throughout the entire story, and displayed his message flawlessly. Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a literal masterpiece that will remain in history forever.