In Chaucer´s Canterbury the The Friar's Tale, a sense of irony is predominant. The exchanges affect the portrayal of the pilgrims in that we understand how Chaucer satirizes the characters. He tells us a plenty of information about practically all of them.
As a matter of fact, he seems to know details and events that he would be impossible have if he were meeting them for the first time. Many of the pilgrims do not deserve respect, but Chaucer never overtly condemns them. It is just an apparently a way of discrediting. For example, We learn much of the negative traits of the summoners only by understanding his ironic style.
