The Pardoner's Ironic Tale

      The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, is a collection of stories told by a fellowship of people on a pilgrimage. The first story told is by the Pardoner, a man described as very cunning. The Pardoner’s tale is ironically a tale about how greed ruins people. Irony is also shown in this story by three drunken men on a quest to find and kill Death; pledging to fight and kill for one another.  

The story opens with three rioters learning of a young mans fatal end caused by Death. The three men get very upset that Death is killing so many of their young people. Together they set out to find and kill him. It is ironic that only the readers understand that they will not be able to find an actual being named Death to kill.  The readers might feel that the men are being foolish throughout the story. 

A second ironic situation in the Pardoner’s tale, is when the rioters pledge to protect one another. Soon after this declaration they find a large sum of money and automatically start plotting against each other. It is ironic that they promised to kill and fight for one another but so quickly allow money to turn them against each other. The reader may feel that the three men inevitably found Death once all of their plotting was carried out.

The Pardoner’s telling of the story, itself, is very ironic. Chaucer describes the Pardoner as a very devious and scheming man. It may not seem ethical that the Pardoner can tell a story with a moral lesson such as the destruction of greediness, when he is a greedy man. He is a man of the church who is dishonest like many others in The Canterbury Tales. One of Chaucer’s main goals is to uncover the corruption in the church. 

     The Pardoner’s tale has many ironic situations throughout its duration. The relationship between his tale and himself is ironic. Irony is also shown in his story by the three men searching for Death and pledging to fight and kill for one another. The reader can conclude that the three rioters did allow greed to be their final destruction. They may also see that the Pardoner may have the same fate. 

Pygmalion Themes

      A theme is a central idea or lesson about life that a story conveys. The play Pygmalion, written by George Bernard Shaw, explores many complex themes throughout its duration. These themes allow us to consider a variety of ideas such as identity, social status, linguistics, manners, and love. Appearances versus reality is a prominent theme in this play. Another controversial theme is presented through one of Pygmalion’s main characters, Higgins, who has his own philosophy on both manners and love. 

Pygmalion examines the theme of appearances versus reality mainly through the character of Eliza Doolittle. Professor Higgins tries and with remarkable success passes Eliza off as not just a duchess but a princess. The ability to fool society easily about her identity raises questions about appearances. In the Victorian era social status was viewed as natural and largely fixed. Although, Eliza simply learned the ways of the upper class and was accepted. There was never a question about where she came from. Eliza’s reality was that with a new social standing she could not simply go back to selling flowers. Appearances are again blurred with the Eynsford Hill family. They held on to their name as their source of social standing in society. The family was distinguished because of where they came from, not by what they had done. The reality is that the Eynsford Hill family was slowly running out of money and had no skills to fall back on. 

Professor Higgins’ philosophy on manners and love causes readers to contemplate their own views on the topics. Higgins is a professor of linguistics. In spite of his brilliant achievements, his manners are usually those of the worst sort. Although, he comes up with a justification for his behavior. Higgins says that he treats every soul equally. In his mind it is wrong to treat anybody, regardless of sex or class, as if he or she were less than human. I completely agree with the outlook Shaw gives Higgins. Everyone deserves to be treated equally, not as if they are above or below another human. A motto I try to live by is “treat others the way you want to be treated”. Higgins’ manners are just as strange as his views on love. With such an odd passion for language Higgins is convinced that he will never find a woman to love. His reasoning is that a woman could never have the same interest or views as he does. I believe Higgins means that during a relationship partners worry more about making each other happy and not about what makes themselves happy. 

Appearances versus reality and Higgins’ philosophies are two central themes that I believe cause readers to reconsider their own views. It also allows its readers to explore different outlooks on all social classes. Pygmalion is not only entertaining but almost educational. So many new ideas and topics are discussed throughout this play.

This Girl's Goals

      A Goal is defined simply as the object of a person's ambition or effort. As we seniors start our last year of high school, it seems we are questioned daily about our goals. Our helpful teachers are trying to motivate us to start taking the steps toward our life ambitions. Most students have thoughts running through their minds, such as: "when does this class end?", "whats for lunch?", or "can we just watch a movie?". The teachers challenge us to have thoughts such as: "what am I going to do after high school?", "which college should I attend?", or "will I get a scholarship?". Now that we have been given the task to get all of our dreams and ambitions down on paper we are forced to be mature and start working toward our goals. 

During my senior year, I plan to live life to its absolute fullest before the harsh realization that I need to grow up ways me down. I want to go to concerts, learn to paddle board, visit my brother in college, dance my heart out at homecoming with my best friends, meet new people and like every other high school senior, I plan to graduate. Graduating I know is a seemingly easy goal that almost every senior achieves, but I want to graduate with a 4.0 grade point average and a twenty nine on my ACT. I can complete this goal by focusing in class and studying hard. I hope to receive an academic scholarship to the University of South Alabama for nursing. I will have to apply early and hopefully have a couple of teachers help me with recommendations and writing my essay. To accomplish this it is going to take discipline and hard work, but I have always wanted to be a nurse and I know that whatever I set my mind to I can achieve. 

Four years after high school I would like to be finishing college. I regularly talk to my brother about his struggles in college and how he overcomes them. I know now with the extra support and help from my family that college will not be as intimidating. This goal will easily be done by completing every assignment to the best of my ability. Another goal I have for the following years after college is to get a job. I would like to work at either Thomas Hospital in Fairhope or the University of South Alabama Medical Center. I believe once I finish school that getting a job will not be a problem due to my education but I also understand that being in one of those two locations may not be possible. Either way, I hope to complete two years of work at one hospital and then do travel nursing. I believe traveling and doing what I love will be life changing. 

After I have traveled enough with nursing, I would love to settle down somewhere. I have always loved the mountains because of the colder weather and beautiful scenery. I would love to have a cabin on the side of a mountain surrounded only by pure nature. As every other teenage girl, I want to find the right man to begin that chapter of my life with. I believe that even if my family was financially stable enough for me to stay at home, that I would still do nursing just because it is what I love. Helping others for a living, I believe would make me happy for all of my years. 

To conclude, I understand that as a teenager trying to make it through high school, we can’t always see the big picture. Though, if one really thinks about his or her future they will realize there are so many things to be excited about. We are moving forward in our lives and beginning a beautiful new chapter. The goals we set will give us something to work for and also look forward to. Happy dreaming everyone.