Transcript SATIRE: An Introduction

SATIRE: An Introduction
Irony
SATIRE
Criticism
Desire for reform
or change
Components of Satire
• Irony
• Criticism
• Desire to see reform or change
All elements can exist separately, but when
joined together, the result is satire.
Ironic Component to Satire
• All humor has its foundation in irony.
Therefore, satire will be ironic.
• However… not all irony is humorous.
• Neither is all satire!
• Some of the most effective or memorable
satires have been painfully serious.
Types of Satire
• Horatian
– Satires that are light and humorous
– Named after Roman author Horace
• Juvenalian
– Satires that are dark, bitter, and often
disturbing
– Named after Roman author Juvenal
Subgenres of Satire
• Parody – humorous imitation of serious
subject
• Caricature – humorously exaggerates a
particular quality, feature, or
characteristic of a person or
a group
• Burlesque – treats a trifling subject in a
serious manner
• * These terms may overlap! It is more important to recognize that an
author is being satirical than to distinguish parody from burlesque
Satirical Characters,
part one – pessimists
• Pessimists: dissatisfied people who take
a gloomy view and expect bad things to
happen
• Misanthropes: pessimists who despise
the human race
• Cynics: pessimists who distrust the
sincerity and motives of other people
Satirical characters,
part two – optimists
• Optimists: cheerful people who generally
take a hopeful view of things and expect
good results
• Philanthropist: one who loves the human
race and works toward its betterment
• Pollyanna: named for an eternally happy
little girl from literature; example would be
Little Orphan Annie (“The sun will come
out tomorrow”)
Method used by Satirists
• Wit: quick perception, especially of the
incongruous, and verbal skill
• Sarcasm: irony, used intentionally to insult and
wound
• Repartee: ability to answer quickly and
pointedly, often with wit or sarcasm
• Often employ allusion, understatement,
hyperbole, and other forms of irony
• The ability to recognize these techniques distinguishes the reader
who “gets it” from the one who does not.
Killing the “Sacred Cows”
• Although satire runs the risk of offending
the audience, this does not deter serious
satirists.
• They believe unless the audience feels
uncomfortable about the topic, they cannot
achieve the goal of motivating the
audience to some sort of improvement.
• Because there is no topic off limits to a
satirist, political and religious subjects are
often found.
Timeliness and Topicality
• Satire tends to be timely and topical…
• What would be the point of a humorous
criticism of some remote historical or
social problem?
• Satire is aimed at those who know
something, and the uninformed audience
will rarely, if ever, appreciate the
achievement of the satirist.
Present-day Connections
• Do you know of any famous satirists or
their works?
• Can you think of examples of modern
satires (TV, movies, readings)?
• What topics would you use if you were
writing a satire?
How does satire relate to language
and literature?
• Language is a means of communication.
– Writers either say what they mean (literal)
– Or say something other than what they mean
(figurative)
– Literal language needs no special
interpretation beyond comprehension.
Figurative Language
• Unlike literal language, figurative language
requires interpretation.
• Comparative uses of figurative language
include metaphor, simile, personification,
allusion, synecdoche, metonymy, etc.
• Some figurative language is not comparative but
ironic. In this case we must examine what the
author said and deduce what the author meant.
Three types of irony
• Verbal irony – results from the discrepancy
between what is said and what is meant
• Dramatic irony – results from the
discrepancy between what the reader
knows is true and what a character
believes is true
• Situational irony – results from the
discrepancy between what one expects
will or should happen and what actually
does happen
Sarcasm
• Many rhetorical terms exist in rhetoric to
distinguish between types of verbal irony.
The most common term is sarcasm.
• When a writer is being sarcastic, he is
saying something other than what he
means, but also with the special intent of
causing pain.
• Sarcasm comes from the Greek and
means “to tear the flesh”
Emotional effect of irony
• Important to note that irony usually has an
emotional effect on the reader rather than
an intellectual one.
• Instead of causing us to think about what
is being said, irony triggers an almost
automatic emotional response, usually
either laughter or tears.
Wit
• Wit refers to quickness of mind and sharp verbal
skill.
• It incorporates the ability to comprehend,
especially to note the incongruous, and to
express oneself succinctly and accurately on a
topic.
• It is different from intelligence and knowledge,
suggesting an intellectual brilliance and delight
in its ability to entertain.
Famous wits
•
•
•
•
•
•
Winston Churchill
George Bernard Shaw
Mark Twain
Oscar Wilde
Moliere
Alexander Pope
Maxims
• Maxims are short remarks, usually no
longer than a sentence, that offer a bit of
wisdom.
• Many famous maxims illustrate a cynical
view of human behavior.
• Not necessarily examples of quick wit, but
do offer keen insight.
• Not always funny, but usually make us nod
our heads in agreement.
Examples of Maxims
• To refuse praise means that you want to be praised
twice.
• There are those who would never have been in love, had
they never heard about love.
• We are so accustomed to disguising ourselves from
others, that we end by disguising ourselves from
ourselves.
• Ridicule hurts our honor more than does dishonor itself.
• We admit our small failings in order to persuade other
that we have no greater ones.
• We easily forgive our friends those faults that personally
do not touch us.
Epigram
• An epigram is a short, comic remark, usually
containing some surprise at the end (the
surprise containing the humor).
• Perfected by the Roman writer Martial in the first
century.
• Most of Martial’s epigrams were written to insult
people.
• In the original Latin, most of Martial’s epigrams
were usually composed as elegaic couplets
including puns
Examples of epigrams
• Swans sing before they die – ‘twere no bad thing
• Should certain people die before they sing!
» Coleridge “On a volunteer singer”
•
•
•
•
God bless our good and gracious king,
Whose promise none relies on,
Who never said a foolish thing,
Nor ever did a wise one.
» John Wilmot “Impromptu on Charles II”
Parody
• Parody is the humorous imitation of a subject.
• It provides satirists with one of the principal
means of achieving the satirists goals – to
illustrate and suggest correction of society’s
flaws.
• The imitation can be either subject matter or
style, but to be a parody the writing needs the
element of humor.
• Colloquial synonyms for parody include spoof,
take-off, and send-up.
Parody of a famous poem
Upon Julia’s Clothes
By Robert Herrick
Whenas in Jeans
By Paul Dehn
Whenas in silks my Julia goes,
Then, then, methinks, how
sweetly flows
The liquefaction of her clothes.
Whenas in jeans my Julia crams
Her vasty hips and mammoth
hams
And zips-up all her diaphragms,
Next, when I cast my eyes, and
see
That brave vibration, each way
free,
O how that glittering taketh me!
Then, then, methinks, how
quaintly shows
(Vermilion-painted, like the rose)
The laquefaction of her toes.
Caricature
• Caricature, popular in satire and in visual art, is a portrait
characterized by a particularly exaggerated feature.
• Often found in political cartoons, where artists highlight
and distort one feature, a hairstyle, or another physical
attribute, and the cartoon viewer is expected to
recognize the subject through that one exaggerated
feature.
• Caricature is hard to see in short excerpts because a
good novelist treats characters consistently, and so in
prose, unlike in cartoons, the effect is usually cumulative
rather than immediate.
• A satirical writer will often sacrifice a realistic, balanced
view of a character in favor of an exaggerated caricature
in order to achieve the satire’s desired effect.
Burlesque
• When we feel that a writer is not taking a
subject seriously enough, or the converse,
that the writer is mocking the subject by
giving it more serious treatment than it
deserves, we are usually observing a
satirical technique called burlesque.
• Found in Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of
Penzance” or in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s
Travels.