Washington Irving's Use Of Humor In The Devil And Tom Walker

Washington Irving uses humor and hyperboles to satirize tempered women in his short story, “The Devil and Tom Walker.” To begin, Irving uses the exaggeration, “a female scold is generally considered a match for the devil.” This hyperbole is an exaggeration of a woman’s scold. Irving’s use of the hyperbole helps to satirize tempered woman because it compares a woman’s scold to the devil, which ridicules the woman. In addition to hyperboles, Irving uses humor to satirize tempered women. After noticing signs of his wife’s struggle with the Devil, Tom Walker jokes, “‘Old Scratch must have had a tough time of it!” This phrase creates humor because it is humorous how Tom mentions that the Devil was the one struggling when his wife fought with him