irony in the pardoners tale
... Geoffrey Chaucer demonstrates this statement in “The Pardoner’s Prologue” and “The Pardoner’s Tale,” from The Canterbury Tales. In order to convey his message of the inevitability of Death, Chaucer manipulates the device of irony throughout the tale, appearing in the form of irony of situation, verbal irony and dramatic irony. Chaucer uses many instances of situational irony to effectively deliver his message to the readers. ... Throughout the tale, they search for Death, but do not encounter it. ... The audience would have never expected such an outcome, adding to the irony. ... Chaucer makes use of verbal irony in “The Pardoners Tale” in order to enhance suspense and surprise. ... ” This is verbal irony, for the audience knows that there is poison in the wine, and that there is discrepancy in the boy’s intended meaning. Chaucer applied the device of verbal irony in order to emphasize the suspense and surprise by the foreshadowing it creates.