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Irony in Capek's The Fortune Teller

The story follows a police inspector, Mr. MacLeary, who employs his wife to investigate a fraudulent fortune teller, Mrs. Myers. Mrs. MacLeary visits Mrs. Myers under an alias and receives predictions about marriage and travel. Though Mrs. Myers is found guilty of fraud, her predictions for Mrs. MacLeary end up coming true - she marries a wealthy man from Australia and moves there with him before the year is up. The story concludes with the irony that the fraudulent fortune teller's predictions came true for the inspector's wife.

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346 views2 pages

Irony in Capek's The Fortune Teller

The story follows a police inspector, Mr. MacLeary, who employs his wife to investigate a fraudulent fortune teller, Mrs. Myers. Mrs. MacLeary visits Mrs. Myers under an alias and receives predictions about marriage and travel. Though Mrs. Myers is found guilty of fraud, her predictions for Mrs. MacLeary end up coming true - she marries a wealthy man from Australia and moves there with him before the year is up. The story concludes with the irony that the fraudulent fortune teller's predictions came true for the inspector's wife.

Uploaded by

Lalsab Pailwan
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
  • The Fortune Teller

THE FORTUNE TELLER

- Karel Capek

Karel Capek (1890-1938), was a famous Czeck novelist, playwright and


story writer. His short stories are marked by a gentle play of irony.

In this story a smart Dectective Inspector called MacLeary employs his


charming young wife to trap a Fraudulent fortune-teller called Mrs.
[Link] story of Mrs. Myers, a woman who comes to the attention of a
police inspector called Mr. MacLeary. Keen to know how she conducts her
business, Mr. MacLeary’s wife calls on Mrs. Myers at home and pretends
to be a single woman who desires to know her future.

In their meeting, Mrs. Myers predicts that Mrs. MacLeary (disguised as


Miss Jones) will be married before the year is up and will go on a long
journey. A man, it is claimed, will also try and stand in her way. Believing
these predictions to be false, Mrs. MacLeary reports these findings to her
[Link] has recently discovered that Mrs. Myers’ identity is also false:
her surname is, in fact, Meierhofer and she comes from Lubeck in
Germany.

As a result, Mrs. Myers is called to account for her business before the local
magistrate, Mr. Kelly, who finds her guilty of fraud and sentences her to
pay a fine of fifty pounds. The case of Mrs. Myers, it seems, is finally over.

It is in the closing paragraph of the story, however, that Capek uses irony
when it transpires that Mrs. Myers’ original predictions for Mrs.
MacLeary come true. Mrs. MacLeary does indeed marry a man before the
year is up: he is a millionaire from Melbourne and Mrs. MacLeary moves
with him to Australia, a place which requires a considerably long journey
from London.

Conclusion:

In this short story the prophesy of the old lady, the fake fortune teller that
she predicted a certain future for Miss Jones, or Mrs. MacLeary, comes
true. Although the judge orders her to go back to Germany and also
advises her not to practice anymore such fraudulent prediction as a
professional fortune teller, yet the greatest irony is that the prophesy of the
fake fortune teller comes true at the end and it takes the readers to some
unpredictable climax when Mrs. MacLeary is found to have been married
to a rich young businessman and have moved to Australia.

Thus a freakish forecast comes true in the life of the smart Inspector.

THE FORTUNE TELLER - Karel Capek Karel Capek (1890-1938), was a famous Czeck novelist, playwright and story writer. His sh
unpredictable climax when Mrs. MacLeary is found to have been married to a rich young businessman and have moved to Australi

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