Ironical religious activities of Sir Roger
Question: What ironies do you find in the religious activities of Sir Roger?
Introduction
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) is a famous writer in the history of English essays. Sir Roger is one of the well-known characters of Addison’s daily magazine ” The Spectator” which lasted from 1711 to 1712. The irony is a literary device in which there is a contrast between expectation and reality. The irony is associated with both tragedy and humor. Sir Roger’s religious activity is packed up with ironies.
The irony of the character Sir Roger de Coverley’s religious activity
The papers ” The Spectator’ ‘dealing with Sir Roger’s religious activity present a subtle irony from a different point of view.
The irony in character
Sir Roger is a good man but full of oddities and these oddities are presented in an ironic light. But the irony is always good-natured and never malicious. The essay ”Sir Roger at church” is expressed that he was a landlord of the church but he arranged several types of decoration for the congregation for the parishioners’ satisfaction. But the irony is here that the parishioners are not so much interested in the congregation.
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The irony is in the description of the behavior
Sir Roger de Coverley is a gentleman so he does not involve in any political issues we find that Sir Roger heard two opposing parties in the country court and told them with the air of a man who would not give his judgment rashly. so, this situation lies in irony.
Situational irony
In the essay ”Sir Roger at the church” we get a number of instances where the straightforward narration clearly has an ironical purpose, Sir Roger sometimes stands up when everybody else is upon their knees to count the congregation, or see if any of his tenants are missing.
Conclusion
In fine, we can say that the essay ”Sir Roger at church” denotes the several types of irony that are belonged to contemporary England.
