Criticism and Satire in Literature

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