satire

Satire

Making fun of some aspect of culture, society, and/or human nature in an attempt to improve it or inspire change.

Satire vs. comedy

Comedy aims simply to amuse its audience

Satire seeks to correct, improve, or reform through ridicule

• Uses laughter as a weapon against something that exists outside the work itself

Formal/direct satire

• The persona (speaker) uses first-person point of view

• This speaker may address the reader or a character within the work

Indirect satire

• Some format other than direct address to the reader

• Usually a fictional narrative, in which objects of satire are characters

Horatian satire

• Named for the Roman satirist Horace

• Tolerant, funny, sophisticated, witty, wise, self-effacing

• Aims to correct through humor. 

• Directs wit, exaggeration, and self-deprecating humor toward what it identifies as folly, rather than evil.

Juvenalian satire

• Named after Roman satirist Juvenal

• Angry, caustic, personal, relentless, bitter, serious 

• Provokes a darker kind of laughter; addresses social evil and points with contempt to the corruption of men and institutions through scorn, outrage, and savage ridicule.

• Often pessimistic, characterized by irony, sarcasm, moral indignation and personal invective, with less emphasis on humor 

Optimistic satirist

• Likes people, but thinks they are rather blind and foolish

• Tells the truth with a smile

• Cures people of their ignorance

• Writes in order to heal

• Uses Horatian satire

Pessimistic satirist

• Loves individuals, hates mankind

• Aim is to wound, punish, and destroy

• Uses Juvenalian satire

Diatribe/invective

• Direct attack

• Stated without irony or sarcasm

• Name calling, personal abuse, etc.

Farce

• Exciting laughter through exaggerated, improbable situations. 

• Usually contains low comedy: quarreling, fighting, coarse wit, horseplay, noisy singing, boisterous conduct, trickery, clownishness, drunkenness, slap-stick.

Caricature

• Distortion for emphasis

• Usually focuses on powerful subjects

• Emphasizes physical characteristics in order to make deeper criticism

What is the main purpose of satire, and how can an emotional aspect impact its effectiveness?

A satire wants to EFFECT CHANGE in the world, usually by going to an extreme degree of exaggeration/hyperbole.

If a satirist can elicit an emotional response from his reader, he can get them to listen to a more reasonable suggestion.

Grotesque

Creating a tension between laughter and horror or revulsion; the essence of all “sick humor” or “black humor.”

Understatement

A figure of speech in which a writer or speaker deliberately makes a situation seem less important than it is.

• A type of irony

Juxtaposition

The arrangement of two or more characters, ideas, or words side-by-side for the purpose of comparison, contrast, or character development.

Sarcasm

Taunting on a personal level by saying something and meaning the opposite.

Parody

Imitation which, through distortion and exaggeration, evokes amusement, derision, and sometimes scorn.

• Borrows a pre-existing form

• Types: burlesque + mock-heroic

Burlesque parody

• Vulgar

• Treats subject with ridicule, vulgarity, distortion, and contempt

Mock-heroic parody

• Grand diction, lofty style

• Takes a trivial or repellent theme and treats it with grandeur or feigned solemnity

Exaggeration

To enlarge, increase, or represent something beyond normal bounds so that it becomes ridiculous and its faults can be seen.

Hyperbole

Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

Absurdum

Taking something to an extreme to make a point.

Incongruity

To present things that are out of place or are absurd in relation to its surroundings.

Reversal

To present the opposite of the normal order (the order of events, standard order of something obvious.)

Situational irony

A contrast between what is expected and what actually occurs.

Verbal irony

When a writer or character says one thing but means the opposite.

Judgment

When character, intelligence, beliefs, decisions or preferences are questioned in a way that causes shame.

Play/wit

Mockery, imitation, and clever humor.

Misunderstanding

Intentional misinterpretation or misunderstanding of in a conversation, situation, or circumstance.