A paper which discusses how heavily Geoffrey Chaucer uses ironic devices to undermine his characters in his book, “The General Prologue”.
The paper examines how Chaucer holds differing degrees of sympathy between the pilgrims in “The General Prologue”. He ironically ridicules the characters with which he shares the least sympathy, so it is therefore possible that one traveler may be illustrated in a mildly ironic or heavily satirical fashion whilst another may be exempt from such irony. The paper shows therefore that this suggests it would be too sweeping to classify the entire general prologue as mildly ironic or heavily satirical, but that it would be more appropriate to evaluate separate instances, as they will differ hugely in their irony content.
“In writing The General Prologue, Chaucer aims to undermine an expanding genre of corruption. Behind much of his writing there is an air of contempt regarding a general abuse of power or position for personal gain, and he characterizes members of various key professions, whether it be ecclesiastical, administrative, agricultural or medicinal. He uses irony and satire to reveal weakness and corruption in such characters, rendering them pathetic, and also includes more virtuous characters, such as the Knight who play a more exemplary role in The Prologue.”