The type of irony in the Franklin’s Tale is situational. Dorigen (the wife) makes a deal that seems impossible to complete, but when it happens with the help of a “magician” she must fulfill her side of the deal. At the time, and in Old Testament Bible days, when deals or oaths were made they were to be fulfilled if one was able to provide their half of the deal. However, when everyone is inability to do their end of a deal they are forgiven, something that is also a Biblical teaching.
When something that seems impossible to do must be done for something in return; if one end is fulfilled but the other cannot, one of two choices must be made. Either the person who cannot do their part of the oath will not be trusted as much or will be forgiven by the other, who is called “the bigger person” nowadays. This teaching is still the same today, although just as people of those times were not as forgiving the same is with those of now. This teaching of keeping promises is a very common thing when we are unable to produce our end of the deal, the other is left on how the outcome is to go. The outcome of which may also affect our own depending on what happens. With the deed seeming impossible, it may really be so. Such is the case for the Apollo missions to the moon. Everyone thought it was impossible and yet before that decade ended, JFK’s promise to the people he made was done. A seemingly impossible promise, fulfilled and with it the want to do what cannot be done. Nothing is impossible, it’s just how it’s possible is the question.
When something that seems impossible to do must be done for something in return; if one end is fulfilled but the other cannot, one of two choices must be made. Either the person who cannot do their part of the oath will not be trusted as much or will be forgiven by the other, who is called “the bigger person” nowadays. This teaching is still the same today, although just as people of those times were not as forgiving the same is with those of now. This teaching of keeping promises is a very common thing when we are unable to produce our end of the deal, the other is left on how the outcome is to go. The outcome of which may also affect our own depending on what happens. With the deed seeming impossible, it may really be so. Such is the case for the Apollo missions to the moon. Everyone thought it was impossible and yet before that decade ended, JFK’s promise to the people he made was done. A seemingly impossible promise, fulfilled and with it the want to do what cannot be done. Nothing is impossible, it’s just how it’s possible is the question.