Presentation Transcript

1. Criticism and Satire in Literature English IV: Unit 3 – Humor & Satire

2. Satire is…. • Literary genre that uses irony, wit, and sometimes sarcasm • A manner of
writing that mixes a critical attitude with wit and humor in an effort to improve mankind and
human institutions.
3. Satire ... • Mocks or ridicules humanity’s vices or defects in order to expose foolishness in
all its forms • Purpose = Give impetus, or momentum, to change or reform through ridicule. •
Some writers specifically use humor to convey a serious message.
4. Satire in action
5. Types of Direct Satire • Horatian satire • Pokes fun at human foibles with a witty tone. •
Juvenalian satire • Denounces, sometimes with invective, human vice and error in dignified
and solemn tones.

6. Horatian Satire… • Is named after the Roman satirist Horatian. • Seeks to criticize,
rather than attack, immorality or stupidity. • In general, is gentler, more sympathetic, and more
tolerant of human folly. • Serves to make us laugh at human folly as opposed to holding our
failures up for needling. • Tends to ridicule human folly in general or by type rather than attack
specific persons. • Tends to produce a smile.
7. Horatian Satire in action
8. Juvenalian Satire… • Is named after the Roman satirist Juvenal. • Is harsher than
Horatian satire because it often attacks and shows contempt for people. • Often seeks to
address some evil in society through scorn and ridicule. • Has a more serious manner and
uses dignified language to attack erroneous thinking or vice. • Evokes feelings of scorn,
shock, and righteous indignation in the mind of the reader.
9. Juvenalian Satire…
10. How is this accomplished? Characteristics of Satiric Writing  • Irony • Hyperbole •
Litotes • Caricature • Wit • Sarcasm • Ridicule • Parody • Invective
11. Irony … • Is a reality different from and usually opposite to appearance or expectation •
Has 3 types: verbal, situational, and dramatic • Is seen in the surprise recognition by the
audience, often producing a comic effect, making irony often funny. • To be effective, must
have some sort of audience tip-off, through style, tone, use of clear exaggeration, or other
device.
12. Irony in action
13. Hyperbole is….. • Magnifying something beyond the limits of the truth • Deliberate
exaggeration to achieve an effect • Overstatement.
14. Hyperbole in action
15. Litotes is….. • Form of understatement that involves making an affirmative point by
denying its opposite.
16. Litotes in action • “Being tortured with fire must have been somewhat uncomfortable.” •
“Rap videos with dancers in them are not uncommon.“ • “There are a few Starbucks in
America." • “9/11 was a bad day.”
17. Caricature is… • An exaggeration or other distortion of an individual's prominent features
or characteristics to the point of making that individual appear ridiculous. • The term is applied
more often to graphic representations than to literary ones.
18. Caricature in action
19. Wit • Is most commonly understood as clever expression, whether aggressive or
harmless; That is, with or without derogatory intent toward someone or something in
particular. • Is also thought of as being characterized by a mocking or paradoxical quality,
evoking laughter through apt phrasing.
20. Wit in action
21. Sarcasm • Is intentional derision, generally directed at another person. • The term comes
from a Greek word meaning “to tear flesh like dogs” and signifies a cutting remark. • Sarcasm
usually involves obvious, verbal irony, achieving its effect by jeeringly stating the opposite of
what is meant so as to heighten the insult.
22. Sarcasm in action
23. Ridicule • The use of words intended to belittle a person or idea and arouse
contemptuous laughter. • The goal is to condemn or criticize by making the thing, idea, or
person seem laughable and ridiculous.
24. Ridicule in action
25. Parody • An imitation of an author or his/her work with the idea of ridiculing the author,
his/her ideas, or the work itself. • A parodist exploits the peculiarities of an author’s expression
—the propensity to use too many parentheses, certain favorite words, or other elements of the
author’s style.
26. Parody in action
27. Invective • Speech or writing that abuses, denounces, or attacks. • It can be directed
against a person, cause, idea, or system. • It employs a heavy use of negative emotive
language. • For Example: “I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most
pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of
the earth.” (Swift, Gulliver’s Travels)
28. Invective in action
29. Political Satire • “Requires special conditions for its appearance in strength” • from
Richard Hodgart’s Satire • According to Hodgart, such conditions “existed to the full in England
from about 1680 to 1820, and they have reappeared since in other parts of Europe, usually in
pre-revolutionary rather than revolutionary situations; and as commonly associated with
nationalistic as with social conflict” (77).
30. Four conditions for political satire • A degree of free speech either through design as in
Greece or England, or through inefficiency as in late eighteenth-century France and even in
Czarist Russia • A general readiness of the educated classes top take part in political affairs;
this need not imply existence of a democracy, but it does mean the spread of democratic
ideas • Some confidence on the part of the writers that they can actually influence the conduct
of affairs • A wide audience who enjoys wit, imagination, and the graces of literature and that
is sophisticated enough to enjoy their application to serious topics • From Richard Hodgart’s
Satire