The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

by Mark Twain

The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg: Situational Irony 1 key example

Section 3
Explanation and Analysis—The Real Treasure:

There are two treasures in "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg": one literal (the sack of gold that the stranger leaves in town) and one metaphorical (the unassailable virtue of honesty in Hadleyburg's nineteen prominent citizens that turns out, by the end of the story, to be quite assailable indeed). The tension between these two treasures presents a central irony of the story: despite being in possession of one treasure, Hadleyburg's Nineteen fall over themselves to seize the other—which turns out to be fake. 

In Reverend Burgess's speech to the crowd in Section 3, before he unwittingly reveals every one of the Nineteen save Edward Richards to be a fraud, Twain plays on this metaphorical characterization of the town's honesty as treasure: