Geoffrey Chaucer has many themes sprinkled throughout his Canterbury Tales. One of the most common, if not interesting, is irony. He has a ton of buffoons and since irony is usually played out upon buffoons, he had lots of opportunites to show it. Irony is also a common theme because it can be funny and have a moral message. Three stories I chose to exhibit this theme are: The Wife of Bath's Tale, The Friar's Tale, and The Pardoner's Tale. Theses are three prime examples of irony.
The Pardoner's Tale is about three rioters who are sitting at a bar one day, when they decide to go kill Death. They're a little tipsy and they're in a rage, so they accuse everyone they see of being Death. Eventually they meet an old man who directs them to a tree where Death is. They travel to the spot and under the tree they find a large treasure - which they believe to be a reward. They send one of their number to go find some wine and food to have lunch with. Then the two remaining guys plot to kill the third, so they can have more money. Meanwhile, the third guy poisons the wine in order to kill the other two, for the same reason. After the two kill the one they sent to get food they celebrate by drinking; and are killed. It's ironic that the rioters thought they were being rewarded with treasure for tearing up the countryside, when in fact they were being punished. For more irony, they were searching for Death, and they found it, but it was in each other.
There is, in Avicenna's long relation
Concerning poison and its operation,Trust me, no ghastlier section to transcend
What these two wretches suffered at their end.Thus these two murderers recieved their due,
So did the treacherous young poisoner too.It's kind of funny that they were searching for themselves all along.
The tale the Friar relates to the group is about a Summoner. It's an evil Summoner who seeks bribes from people so he won't give them a church summons. He roams the countryside exploiting his power. In his travel he meets a yeoman who is actually the devil in disguise. They get to talking and the Summoner begins to compare his evils to those the yeoman says he commits. After a while the yeoman reveals his identity just before they come across a horse and carriage stuck in the mud. The driver of the carriage says,
"Hi, Badger, Scot! What care you for the stones?
The Fiend," he cried, "take body of you and bones,As utterly as ever you were foaled!
More trouble you've caused me than can be told!Devil take all, the horses, cart, and hay!"
This summoner thought, "Here shall be played a play."The summoner asks the devil why he doesn't send the horses to hell. The devil replies it's because the driver didn't really mean it. They move on and come on an poor, old lady. The summoner demands money, but she doesn't have any - just a pan. He threatens to take away her pan if she doesn't pay, so she curses that the devil take him away. The summoner is then taken to Hell because she really meant it. It's ironic that the way the summoner lived, evilly, is the way he died, by evil incarnate.
The Wife of Bath's Tale is about a Knight of the Round Table. He very unchivalrously rapes a lady and is sentenced to death. The queen says she will spare him if he can find the secret of what every woman really wants within a year. A year goes by and he doesn't know the answer, so on the way to court he asks an old woman what the answer is, an she tells him; in exchange for whatever she wants of him. He goes to court, tells that all a woman wants is sovereignty, and gets off the hook. But, the old lady is there and she wants him to marry her, so he does. They go home after their wedding night and the old lady asks why he won't sleep with him and he says it's because she's old and ugly. This no ordinary lady though, she can turn herself into a beautiful, young woman too. She then says that either he can have a old, ugly, trustworthy wife, or a young damsel who might run away.
Now choose which you like better and reply."
This knight considered, and did sorely sigh,But at the last replied as you shall hear:
"My lady and my love, and wife so dear,I put myself in your wise governing;
Do you choose which may be the more pleasing,And bring most honour to you, and me also.
I care not which it be of these things two;For if you like it, that suffices me."
"Then have I got of you the mastery,Since I may choose and govern, in earnest?"
"Yes, truly, wife," said he, "I hold that best."Then the knight kisses her and she turns into a beautiful and loyal wife. It's ironic that by going against the grain of all Medival thinking the knight got what he wanted. That shows Chaucer disliked the way women were treated back then.
There were other instances of irony in the many tales we read, but these three were different from each other in their settings and in their ways of getting the point across. The Pardoner's is about how greed is ironic, the Friar's is about how evil is ironic, and the Wife of Bath's is about how love is ironic. Chaucer definitely wanted to include irony in his tales because it was humorous, had moral value, and showed people his veiws on greed, love, and the most prominent aspect of his time; the Church.
