How Is Chaucer's Use Of Irony Used In The Canterbury Tales

There are thousands of literary elements that can be transferred to everyday life. Some examples are theme, metaphors, and symbolism. Chaucer decides to use irony to teach a lesson, specifically, in The Pardoner’s Tale. He, Chaucer, uses the idea “Radix Enim Omnium Malorum Est Cupiditas” (Latin for “money is the root of all evil”) to effectively show irony. Not only is there irony about how The Pardoner tells a story about greed, but there is irony in the tale that The Pardoner tells too.

The thought of swimming pools filled with money may fill some people with complete contentment. The world is filled with people who believe this is ok and commonly find ways that they may reach their goal. However, to groups this is considered a sinful injustice. Even in literature there are many times that the greediest of people are considered the antagonist. The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffery Chaucer, contains a short story known as “The Pardoner’s Tale” that addresses the issue of greed using irony to create an entertaining story.

In the ¨Prologue¨ of The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer uses diction and details to uphold the idea that greed and negative morals can be shown in all social classes. Despite being at opposite ends of the social pyramid, both the Reeve and the Friar share immoral behaviour. Chaucer’s selection of words highlights the greedy and immoral nature of the Reeve and Friar in relation to their social status. Chaucer describes the Reeve´s personality with words such as “cunning” and “deceit” (Chaucer 604).

Horatian or Juvenalian? (Discussing Chaucer satire in Canterbury Tales) In Canterbury Tales Chaucer uses people to tell stories about the hypocrisy of the church, the patriarchy, and the class structure. Chaucer uses different people to voice what he thinks is wrong with the society. Chaucer uses satire to get his point across, there are two kinds of satire juvenalian and horatian.

It is clear that Geoffrey Chaucer was acutely aware of the strict classist system in which he lived; indeed the very subject matter of his Canterbury Tales (CT) is a commentary on this system: its shortcomings and its benefits regarding English society. In fact, Chaucer is particularly adept at portraying each of his pilgrims as an example of various strata within 14th century English society. And upon first reading the CT, one might mistake Chaucer's acute social awareness and insightful characterizations as accurate portrayals of British society in the late 1300s and early 1400s. Further, one might mistake his analysis, criticism, and his sardonic condemnation of many elements of British culture for genuine attempts to alter the

In the story Canterbury Tales The prologue Chaucer explains how he really feels about how things are being ran and how things in the story make him upset about certain places. Chaucer is a man of his word, he likes taking people for his made up stories and make the characters say things that could get Chaucer in trouble, so his made up characters say them so people who get upset by them don’t come and beat up Chaucer. There are three types of places that Chaucer likes using satire. He uses satire in the church, men ruled over women and the difference between class.

How often is it that one thing is said, but means something different? This is often called sarcasm, or satire. There are two different types of satire: Horatian satire, and Juvenalian satire. Horatian is a more gentle type of sarcasm, while Juvenalian is a blunter, or meant to cause harm, type of sarcasm. Both forms of satire are used in Geoffrey Chaucer’s great work Canterbury Tales.

The Sarcasm in Canterbury Tales The Discussion of Satire in Canterbury Tales There is two different versions of satire used in Canterbury Tales. There is horatian and juvenalian satire. Juvenalian satire is when someone says something to you and you don't think it’s funny

During Geoffrey Chaucer’s career, society was changing and the rigid division of people into three traditional social categories called estates had begun to break down. The First Estate included those who fight, or aristocrats and knights; the Second Estate included those who pray or the members of the clergy and monastic orders; the Third Estate included those who work, or peasants and merchants. Women were part of these social categories, but they also had their own estates: virgins, wives, and widows. This system allowed for little social mobility, despite an individual’s relative wealth or education. The traditional estates of the Middle Ages are disrupted by use of satire in “The General Prologue,” of Chaucer’s, The Canterbury Tales.

The Canterbury Tales is a story in which Geoffrey Chaucer began writing in 1836 and never finished. The author was very sneaky as he mentioned ways to mock the Church. He wasn’t fond of how corrupt the Church and religion in general was becoming in his day an age. All that mattered was money, not the people. Chaucer utilizes his satirical comments and remarks against the Prioress, the Monk and the Friar to show that the Church has become detrimental, in lieu of being a place of hope and charity.

Irony is an element which is found all throughout the best and worst pieces of literature. This is an element of literature which gives the reader an understanding of the story. In Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales”, he uses three distinct forms of irony which add to the story. Irony is basically the expression of one’s meaning by using language to signify the opposite. In this story, Chaucer uses dramatic, situational and verbal irony all throughout his story. By incorporating these kinds of ironies, Chaucer is able to paint a picture through his story. This in turn adds to the overall theme of the story.

Irony is a popular tool that is used in literature to ridicule another character or idea, although it is not commonly used to ridicule to church as it is in The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale. During medieval times, the church was still cherished and most members of society attended church regularly. The Wife of Bath decided to challenge the church and the ideals of woman through her use of irony in her satirical prologue and tale. The satirical style of this work make it entertaining and give it a chance to win the contest in the tale.

Geoffrey Chaucer famous for his work called The Canterbury Tales, it is composed of 24 tales. Chaucer died before he could finish the series. Chaucer himself was very opinionated. Throughout his work, he mentioned his views and problems with society. In all the tales there is a sense of sarcasm or satire.

Chaucer’s work in Canterbury Tales shows his view on the pilgrims that he traveled with. Canterbury Tale’s was Chaucer’s way of ironically calling out individuals in a jocular way. The monk is described as “a lord full fat and in good point” (Chaucer 200). This type of irony is not how a monk should be, a monk should be thin and resemble the essence of the poor, but simple does not represent this statute.

The Canterbury Tales, the most famous and revolutionary work of Geoffrey Chaucer, is a collection of twenty-four tales presented in the form of a story-telling contest by pilgrims who are traveling from London to Canterbury. In my viewpoint, The Canterbury Tales can be understood as a representation of the English society at Chaucer's time as it documents several of the social tensions of life in the late Middle Age. The choice of setting the tales as part of a pilgrimage allowed the author to cover a wide range of social roles with varying hierarchical positions and occupations. Therefore, the tales depict a number of the evolving themes by that time in many segments of the society, such as the ones presented in The Wife of Bath tale: the