Use Of Irony In The Pardoner's Tale

The definition of a hypocrite is someone who puts on a false appearance, and not surprisingly hypocrisy sums up the pardoner through his tale by Geoffrey Chaucer. The moral “greed is the root of all evil” is portrayed in “The Pardoner’s Tale” using verbal, situational, and dramatic irony. When the young man tells the apothecary, “Sell me some poison if you will/ I have a lot of rats to kill” (Chaucer 130), he is expressing verbal irony. The apothecary believes that the young man really does need to kill some rats, however the young man knows he will be killing his so-called friends. Chaucer’s use of verbal irony helps prove not only how greed can make a man act, but it also shows how one sin can lead to another. The Pardoner achieves his obsession with greed by preaching against it through his tale. Situational irony is evident in “The Pardoner’s Tale” as well when Chaucer mentions, “No longer was it death those fellows …show more content…
The three men truly believe that they will get the gold, but that is definitely not what pans out. Chaucer’s use of situational irony proves that where there is greed there is evil. Dramatic irony plays a vital role in “The Pardoner’s Tale” when the watchman unveils, “I’ll put my dagger through his back/ While you and he are struggling, as in game” (Chaucer 130). The audience learns in the next paragraph that the young man plans to kill the watchmen as well. Dramatic irony is extremely effective due to the fact that the audience knows that all three men will die while no one gets the gold. This further proves that greed is evil, and that no one is safe from it. Chaucer uses three types of irony throughout “The Pardoner’s Tale” to prove the pardoner’s hypocrisy, as well as to show the readers that not only does he put up a front, but Chaucer believes that the pardoner’s greed is the reason he his