Satirical techniques—used to make a comment or criticism about a particular subject or character.

Exaggeration - To enlarge, increase, or represent something beyond normal bounds so that it becomes ridiculous and its faults can be seen. Caricature is the exaggeration of a physical feature or trait. Cartoons, especially political cartoons, provide extensive examples of caricature. Burlesque is the ridiculous exaggeration of language. For instance, when a character who should use formal, intelligent language speaks like a fool or a character who is portrayed as uneducated uses highly sophisticated, intelligent language.

Incongruity - To present things that are out of place or are absurd in relation to its surroundings. Particular techniques include oxymoron, metaphor, and irony.

Parody - To imitate the techniques and/or style of some person, place, or thing in order to ridicule the original. For parody to be successful, the reader must know the original text that is being ridiculed.

Reversal - To present the opposite of the normal order. Reversal can focus on the order of events, such as serving dessert before the main dish or having breakfast for dinner. Additionally, reversal can focus on hierarchical order—for instance, when a young child makes all the decisions for a family or when an administrative assistant dictates what the company president decides and does.

Satire—sarcasm, irony or wit used to ridicule or mock

Satirical styles:

Direct satire- is directly stated

Indirect satire- is communicated through characters in a situation

Types of Satire:

1. Horatian—light-hearted, intended for fun

2. Juvenalian—bitter, angry attacking

3. Minnepian –cheerful, intellectual humor that makes fun of mental attitudes and biases rather than specific individual groups

Satirical Devices:

1. Irony—the actual intent is expressed in words which carry the opposite meaning. It is lighter, less harsh in wording than sarcasm, though more cutting because of its indirectness. The ability to recognize irony is one of the surest tests of intelligence and sophistication. Irony speaks words of praise to imply blame and words of blame to imply praise. Writer is using a tongue-in-cheek style. Irony is achieved through such techniques as hyperbole and understatement.

A. Verbal Irony—simply an inversion of meaning

B. Dramatic Irony—when the words or acts of a character carry a meaning unperceived by himself but understood by the audience. The irony resides in the contrast between the meaning intended by the speaker and the added significance seen by others.

C. Socratic Irony—Socrates pretended ignorance of a subject in order to draw knowledge out of his students by a question and answer device. Socratic irony is feigning ignorance to achieve some advantage over an opponent.

D. Situational Irony—depends on a discrepancy between purpose and results (e.g., a practical joke that backfires).

2. Travesty—presents a serious (often religious) subject frivolously, reducing everything to its lowest level. “Trans”=over, across “vestire”=to clothe or dress; presenting a subject in a dress intended for another type of subject.

Eg. Young Frankenstein by Mel Brooks mocks Mary Shelley’s original work Frankenstein

3. Burlesque—ridiculous exaggeration achieved through a variety of ways. For example, the sublime may be absurd, honest emotions may be turned to sentimentality. STYLE is the essential quality in burlesque. A style ordinarily dignified may be used for nonsensical matters. It doesn’t target a specific work but societal norms.

Eg. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

4. Parody—a composition imitating another, usually serious, piece of work designed to ridicule in nonsensical fashion an original piece of work. Parody is in literature what the caricature and cartoon are in art.

Eg. Saturday Night Live or Scary Movie

5. Farce—exciting laughter through exaggerated, improbable situations; usually contains low comedy: quarreling, fighting, coarse with, horseplay, noisy singing, boisterous conduct, trickery, clownishness, drunkenness, slap-stick.

Eg. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

6. Invective—harsh, abusive language directed against a person or cause. Invective is a vehicle, a tool of anger. Invective is the bitterest of all satire.

7. Sarcasm—a sharply mocking or contemptuous remark. The term came from the Greek word “sarkazein” which means “to tear flesh.”

9. Malapropism—a deliberate mispronunciation of a name or term with the intent of poking fun.

Eg. Mrs. Malaprop in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s play “The Rivals”. Mrs. Malaprop is known for her humorous misuse of words that sound similar to the ones she intends to use. One famous instance is when she says, “He is the very pineapple of politeness,” instead of "pinnacle of politeness"1.