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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
An 8 page paper looking at these two vignettes from the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer in terms of their use of irony. The paper shows that the irony developed in the Nun's Priest's Tale is light and fun because of its subject matter and treatment, while in the Pardoner's Tale the irony is darkened by the odious character of the storyteller himself. Bibliography lists eleven sources. Kbchau~1.wps
Page Count:
8 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_KBchau1.doc
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
the whole, a pious lot. They bicker constantly; quarrels erupt between the Miller and the Reeve, the Friar and the Summoner, the Cook and the Host, the Pardoner and the
Host, the Wife of Bath and the Friar, the Wife of Bath and the Clerk, and the Shipman and the Parson. As we learn initially in the General Prologue and
then more intensively as each storyteller assumes center stage, these pilgrims do not seem driven by a deep desire to achieve peace with their God and their fellow man. They
far short of the ideal of the pilgrimage as a Lenten observance to immerse the mind and spirit in the contemplation of the Christian life and follow in the footsteps
of a saint. It is this discrepancy between what is, and what is supposed to be, that produces Chaucerian irony; this irony can be seen clearly through an examination of
Chaucers individual vignettes, in this case The Pardoners Tale and The Nuns Priests Tale. But what exactly is irony? Karl Beckson and Arthur Ganz, in their Literary Terms: A Dictionary,
define the term as "a device by which a writer expresses a meaning contradictory to the stated or ostensible one" (Beckson & Ganz, 119). William Flint Thrall and Addison Hibbard
add that "Irony is likely to be confused with sarcasm but it differs from sarcasm in that it is usually lighter, less harsh in its wording, though in effect [it
is] probably more cutting because of its indirectness. It bears, too, a close relationship to innuendo. The ability to recognize irony is one of the surest tests of intelligence and
sophistication" (Thrall and Addison, 248). J.A. Cuddon observes that the first use of the word irony in English occurs around 1502, in which it is used to refer to
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