Satire: An Satire: An OverviewOverview

Satire: DefinitionsSatire: Definitions“Satire is like a mirror in which [a

man] sees everyone’s face but [his] own.”~Jonathan Swift

Satire is a literary genre that uses irony, wit and sometimes sarcasm, to expose humanity’s foibles giving impetus to changes through ridicule. The author of a satire reduces the vaunted worth of something to its real- decidedly lower- worth.

Characteristics of SatireCharacteristics of SatireSATIRE IS NOT COMEDY, which just seeks to

entertain or amuse. Satire, while implicitly humorous, has a moral purpose.

1. Moral lesson2. Funny3. Shared community standard of correct behavior (which begets

the humor!)

Characteristics of SatireCharacteristics of Satire4. Implied concept of true correct moral behavior5. Topical to the reader6. Subtle or overt7. Attacks a target, as well as those who believe with the target.**The goal of satire is not just to

abuse, but rather, to provoke change or reform.

 

Characteristics of SatireCharacteristics of SatireAt the base of every great satire is a hardy sense of moral outrage

(plus a shared set of community standards.)

**When reading satire, the audience must ask, “what is the writer’s definition of correct behavior?”

Satire and the triangleSatire and the triangleSpeaker: Is it the

author or persona/mask?

Audience: Does it share morals with the speaker?

Subject: What is the moral under attack?

Types of SatireTypes of Satire DIRECT SATIRE

~First-person narrator~Speaks to audience or

another person (adversarial)

1. HORATIAN: -mocks human foibles

with a witty tone  2. JUVENALIAN: -Denounces human vice

and error in dignified or solemn tones.

INDIRECT SATIRE Most commonly:MENIPPEAN:

“The comic effect is achieved

NOT through direct condemnation but ratherthrough modes of

presentationand representation.”

Ex. Alice in Wonderland and Alice’s Adventures Through the Looking Glass

 

Traditional Techniques in Traditional Techniques in Satire:Satire:Invective: very abusive language

(non ironical), swearing and name calling directed against a person or cause. This is the least inventive tool. A long invective is called a DIATRIBE.

Traditional Techniques in Traditional Techniques in Satire:Satire:EXAMPLE OF INVECTIVE: Fawlty Towers

Traditional Techniques in Traditional Techniques in Satire:Satire:Caricature:

Exaggerating, for comic effect, ONE particular characteristic of the target.

Traditional Techniques in Traditional Techniques in Satire:Satire:Burlesque- ridiculous

exaggeration in language; creates a distance between the situation and the way the character acts or speaks. (Examples: if a king speaks like a workman or if a president speaks like a ranch hand.)

Traditional Techniques in Traditional Techniques in Satire:Satire:Mock Heroic: type of burlesque satire

that sets up an absurd distance between elevated language and common events.

The writer who employs mock-heroic stance assumes his audience understands epic speech as well the ridiculous pretension of trivial acts of people.

Mock-heroic is an excellent tool for use when mocking pride (false pride). Finally, Mock heroic is usually conveyed in rhyming couplets:

Traditional Techniques in Traditional Techniques in Satire:Satire:Example of Mock Heroic:Pope’s The Rape of the Lock

http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/rapelock.html

Traditional Techniques in Traditional Techniques in Satire:Satire:Another example of mock heroic:A satirical look at both the fairy tale

and the mock-heroic style is found in the film version of The Princess Bride, which satirizes classics like The Three Musketeers and Ivanhoe, when Inigo Montoya and Fezzik form sentences, together creating rhyming couplets:

Traditional Techniques in Traditional Techniques in Satire:Satire:Mock Heroic from Princess Bride

Inigo Montoya: That Vizzini, he can *fuss*. Fezzik: Fuss, fuss... I think he like to scream at

*us*. Inigo Montoya: Probably he means no *harm*.

Fezzik: He's really very short on *charm*. Inigo Montoya: You have a great gift for rhyme. Fezzik: Yes, yes, some of the time. Vizzini: Enough of that. Inigo Montoya: Fezzik, are there rocks ahead? Fezzik: If there are, we all be dead. Vizzini: No more rhymes now, I mean it. Fezzik: Anybody want a peanut? Vizzini: DYEEAAHHHHHH.    

Traditional Techniques in Traditional Techniques in Satire:Satire:Video clip from Princess Bride

Traditional Techniques in Traditional Techniques in Satire:Satire:Irony- a stylistic device of speech in which

the real meaning of the words is different from (and opposite to) the literal meaning.

Irony, unlike sarcasm, tends to be ambiguous, bringing two contrasting meanings into play. Often, irony works by an incongruity between an action or a proposal and the moral words used to describe it.

Irony becomes satiric when the real meaning appears to contradict the surface meaning (think: A Modest Proposal).

Traditional Techniques in Traditional Techniques in Satire:Satire:

See the example from The Onion and see if you can articulate the exact nature of the irony therein.

Traditional Techniques in Traditional Techniques in Satire:Satire:Lampoon- a very harsh personal

attack on a particular/ recognizable target characteristic, or general appearance.

Traditional Techniques in Traditional Techniques in Satire:Satire:

For example, Dick Cheney gets repeated lampooning related to his ethics and thus he is a repeated target of editorial cartoonist, Mike Luckovich’s lampooning:

Traditional Techniques in Traditional Techniques in Satire:Satire:Parody-refers to a style that

deliberately ridicules another style. The best parody writers possess the degree of skill as the art form they parody.

Traditional Techniques in Traditional Techniques in Satire:Satire:

One example of a parody surpassing the original is in This is Spinal Tap, which parodies the excessive touring life of heavy metal bands.

Traditional Techniques in Traditional Techniques in Satire:Satire:Parody example from This is

Spinal Tap

Traditional Techniques in Traditional Techniques in Satire:Satire:Reductio ad absurdum- (meaning:

reduction to the absurd or reduction to the impossible) The author agrees with the basic attitudes he wishes to satirize yet, through subtle wit, attacks the unproven premise or syllogism, OR reduces the logic of the speaker to its most basic forms, extrapolates the example to absurd extremes. Swift’s A Modest Proposal is a great example (skinning children in the name of boots…)

 

Traditional Techniques in Traditional Techniques in Satire:Satire:This handy fallacious

technique of disputation can be effective in making any logical argument appear ridiculous, when it may not be, by stretching it to an extreme which goes far beyond the body or intent or scope of the argument. 

Example 1:A. In America, citizens have the right

to bear arms.B. Oh, so it's OK with you for

hundreds of innocent kids to be killed each year with unregistered handguns?

Example 2:A. Everyone in a free country ought to

be able to live according to their own religious beliefs.

B. Oh, so it's OK for witches to dig up bodies to cut out gall bladders for ingredients for their magic potions?

From: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/2130-Fallacy-of-the-Week-Reductio-ad-Absurdum.html

Tricks of SatireTricks of Satire1. SET UP A TARGET- the

attackable conduct2. DISTORT THE TARGET- in order

to distort the target so that the audience still sees the “original”

but so the distortions are funny.

Tricks of SatireTricks of Satire3. LAMPOON THE DISTORTED TARGET- using “weapons of

satire,” begin an unrelenting attack (lampoon to target!). Such

weapons include:

a. rude, invective assaultb. overt physical humorc. subtle attacks on language and beliefs

Tricks of SatireTricks of SatireThe aim, here, is to deliver an

unrelenting attack on the target that the audience can laugh at, so that the audience’s shared response, its laughter, can effectively deal with the behavior that the satirist wishes to attack.

Tricks of SatireTricks of SatirePUSH TO THE EDGE- get to the irony-

satiric irony, people (the audience) might be reluctant to accept. They might have a natural need to counter or neutralize the satire. Some of the ways an audiences neutralizes:a. The literal read: dismiss the satire as absurdb. Reject it because it is too rudec. Reject it because it is “unfair,” not true to

lifed. Reject it because it doesn’t respond to the ironies

Final questionsFinal questionsHow do we measure the

effectiveness of a satire? Well, ask yourself: does it provoke its audience? Does the audience change as a result?