In the story The Widow of Ephesus by Gaius Petronius and the poem “True Love” by Judith Viorst, the authors portray love through the use of satire and irony. They do this though a series of ironic twists, humorous accounts, and life experiences.A satire is a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn. In The Widow of Ephesus, the narrator recalls a tale of love in which an apparently faithful woman discredits her vows of marriage after her husband's death. She is tempted into this by a handsome young man, who attempts to save her life after she decides to entomb herself with her dead husband. This was not a very smart decision on her part, but she does it for love, and as a result, she is taken advantage of through her hunger for food. Instead of staying by her vigil of love, she falls in love with another man in her husband’s tomb. This story is told to the crew of a ship that the narrator is riding on, he tells them this story to expose the follies of woman, and their adoration of love, to the exclusion of all else. He states “Women are impetuous in love and would even neglect their own children while having an illicit affair.” He also stated that no woman he had ever known had the strength to resist a handsome man. He proves this through the story, and furthermore, embarrasses a girl on the ship, Tryphena, who exhibits the same nature as she had an affair with Encolpius, the narrator, and is currently sleeping with Lichas, the man Encolpius had once robbed. Her two faced and impetuous nature is just the example Eumolpus depicts in the story, but still, it is her love for the Lichas that made her behave so stupidly. In the poem “True Love” by Judith Viorst, a wife is telling how she knows it is true love between her and her husband because of the way they behave to each other in everyday situations. What makes these situations humorous is the fact that an unmarried...
