"The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg"
             One can see irony throughout Mark Twain's short story "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg." The town of Hadleyburg had a reputation as the most honest and upstanding town around. It had kept this reputation for three generations and was so proud of its reputation that they wanted the reputation to continue. Therefore, parents taught their children from when they were babies about being honest, and they kept temptations away from them, in order that this characteristic of honesty would become apart of their very being. The other towns around Hadleyburg were jealous of Hadleyburg's steadfast reputation of honesty and incorruptibility.
             Over time Hadleyburg did become corrupted by a vengeful stranger who had been insulted by someone as he was passing through the town. The stranger wanted to take revenge, even more so he wanted that everyone in the town should be affected by his plan he said, "I will corrupt the town." In his note attached to the sack of money which he left at the Richards home he wrote, "This is an honest town, an incorruptible town, and I know I can trust it without fear." The Richards were one of the nineteen most respected couples in town. When Mary Richards told her husband Edward about the story of the sack with the mysterious note attached to it, her husband contemplated the situation at hand then read the note and said to his wife, "Why were rich, Mary, rich; all we've got to do is bury the money and burn the papers." Edward went on to say if the stranger should return to town and ask where his money is, so we will answer him we do not know what he is referring to.
             Mary expressed her surprise that the stranger chose Reverend Burgess, one of the most disliked people in town because of a crime he committed, to deliver the money. Then Edward explained to his wife that B...