Satire

1. Satire Noun. A literary manner which blends humor with criticism for the purpose of instruction or the improvement of humanity

2. The necessary ingredients • Comedy/Humor • Criticism, either general criticism of human nature or specific criticism of an individual or group. • Concealment (sometimes)

3. The Satiric Manner • Ironic/Sarcastic • Either good natured criticism or bitterly cynical denunciation • May offend some people through language or choice of topics

4. Types of Satire • Satirical literature can commonly be categorized as either Horatian or Juvenalian.

5. Horatian • Named for the Roman satirist, Horace, this playfully criticizes some social vice through gentle, mild, and light-hearted humor. It directs wit, exaggeration, and self-deprecating humor toward what it identifies as folly, rather than evil. Horatian satire's sympathetic tone is common in modern society.

6. Examples of Horatian Satire: • The movies Dr. Strangelove ("Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!") and Monty Python's Life of Brian ("He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!"), exaggerate the machinations of particular, socially relevant concepts in order to show their ridiculousness. • The Great Dictator, with its stirring climactic speech, is also an excellent parody-satire, contrasting Hitler's hateful message against the Jewish Barber's moving final speech. • Jonathan Swift's Gulliver’s Travels.

7. Juvenalian • Named after the Roman satirist Juvenal, this type of satire is more contemptuous and abrasive than the Horatian. Juvenalian satire addresses social evil through scorn, outrage, and savage ridicule. This form is often pessimistic, characterized by irony, sarcasm, moral indignation and personal invective, with less emphasis on humour.

8. Juvenalian Examples: • George Orwell's best known works, Animal Farm and 1984 are both examples of Juvenalian satire. Animal Farm, for instance, uses the allegory of farmyard animals to represent the various strata of Russian society and describes how they were betrayed by their conniving leaders which lead to dictatorial Stalinism. • Joseph Heller's Catch-22, another example of satire in literature, satirizes bureaucracy. The catch in the novel is that a pilot requesting an insanity check, hoping to be found too unstable to fly dangerous missions, can't be insane, because prioritizing one's safety and requesting the check is a rational decision that can only be reached by a sane mind. • Others include: Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal and the cartoon South Park.

9. Parody = a work of literature that mimics another work of literature, usually as a way of criticizing it. • Monty Python and the Holy Grail • Austin Powers • Scary Movie/Epic Movie • Gulliver’s Travels • Don Quixote • Wicked

10. Caricature = An exaggerated portrayal of the weaknesses, frailties, or humorous aspects of an individual or group.

11. Caricature Examples: • “Mr. Chadband is a large yellow man, with a fat smile, and a general appearance of having a good deal of train oil in his system. Mrs. Chadband is a stern, severe-looking, silent woman. Mr. Chadband moves softly and cumbrously, not unlike a bear who has been taught to walk upright. He is very much embarrassed about the arms, as if they were inconvenient to him” (Dickens Bleak House) • “Her nose was needle sharp, with nostrils as small and black as a mouse’s eyes.”

12. Invective • Invective is abusive or insulting language. Invective comes from the Latin invectus, which translates as "attack with words." It can be a word or phrase that is meant to insult or degrade. 

13. Invective Examples: • "A vile beastly rottenheaded foolbegotten brazenthroated pernicious piggish screaming, tearing, roaring, perplexing, splitmecrackle crashmecriggle insane ass of a woman is practicing howling below-stairs with a brute of a singingmaster so horribly, that my head is nearly off." (Edward Lear, "Letter to Lady Strachey")

14. Irony A contrast between the expected outcome and the actual way things turn out • Verbal: Nice day isn’t it? (When it rains) • Situational: A fire station burns down. • Dramatic: The audience knows Juliet is dead, but Romeo doesn’t.

15. Which type of irony? • “Upon the murderer I invoke this curse – whether he is one man and all unknown, Or one of many – may he wear out his life in misery to miserable doom!” (Sophocles Oedipus Rex) • “Water, water, everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink” (Coleridge “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”)

16. Hyperbole • Hyperbole, derived from a Greek word meaning “over-casting” is a figure of speech, which involves an exaggeration of ideas for the sake of emphasis. “Grandma is as old as the hills.” “I’m dying of shame.”

17. Hyperbole Examples: • “He cried all night, and dawn found him still there, though his tears had dried and only hard, dry sobs shook his wooden frame. But these were so loud that they could be heard by the faraway hills…” (C. Colloid, “The Adventures of Pinocchio”) • “I had to wait in the station for ten days-an eternity.” (Joseph Conrad, The Heart of Darkness)

18. Litotes: employs an understatement by using double negatives or, in other words, positive statement is expressed by negating its opposite expressions. “You are not as young as you used to be.” “He isn’t a bad singer.”

19. Litotes Examples: • Once he’s led you to Achilles’ hut, that man will not kill you—he’ll restrain all other men. For he’s not stupid, blind, or disrespectful of the gods. He’ll spare a suppliant, treat him kindly. (The Iliad by Homer, as translated by Ian Johnston)

20. Wit: • Quickness of intellect or liveliness of fancy; talent for saying brilliant or sparkling things, in an amusing way • Example: A humorous person slips on a banana peel; a witty person comments, "Nice form!"

21. Sarcasm: • Derived from French / Greek meaning “tear flesh” or “grind the teeth” • In simple words it means to speak bitterly. The literal meaning is different than what the speaker intends to say • Examples: • “I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.” (Mark Twain) • Nice perfume. Must you marinate in it?

22. 7 Kinds of Sarcasm: • Self-Deprecating Sarcasm – Expresses an overstated sense of inferiority and worthlessness. • Brooding Sarcasm – The speaker utters something polite. However, the tone of his speech has a marked bitterness • Deadpan Sarcasm – Expressed without emotion or laughter making it difficult for the listener to judge whether the speaker is joking or mocking. • Polite Sarcasm – When the listeners only realize that the kind remark was a sarcastic one after they have given it some thought. • Obnoxious Sarcasm – Makes people feel like punching the speaker in the face. It is not very funny and it gets under your skin. • Manic Sarcasm – Delivered in an unnatural happy mood that it makes the speaker look like he has gone crazy. • Raging Sarcasm – This kind of sarcasm relies mainly on exaggeration and violent threats.

23. Ridicule: • Making fun of a person or idea; mocking that makes an idea seem hilarious or ridiculous. • Examples: Those other cars look ridiculous. This is the only man's car here. Those clothes would make you look like a overdressed donkey.

24. Satirical Cartoons