Satire

1. THE DAILY SHOW JON STEWART Satire Poking fun at human foils and silly behaviors in hopes of bringing about a change.

2. Implications for Satire • . “One must get out of the habit of measuring man against an ideal.” Einstein

3. Northrup Frye on Satire • Satire must have a degree of fantasy [because the author is selecting absurdities to satirize, realism is distorted. If irony is portrayed in a totally plausible way, we have tragedy]. • The grotesque items an author chooses reflects his or her moral judgment and contains the satire. • “Satire breaks down when the irony is too oppressively real to maintain fantasy.”

4. Three Essentials of SATIRE: • 1. wit or humor founded on fantasy or a sense of the absurd /grotesque • 2. an object of attack • 3. defined societal values Northrup Frye

5. Wit • Wit – [V. and N. OE – Consciousness] Originally meant to learn or to know. • Verb – “The peril of this place I better wot than you.” Edmund Spenser • Noun – “I am well in my wits, fool as you are.” Shakespeare – 12th Night

6. Changing Connotation • Chaucer – Intellect and Intelligence • Shakespeare – Wisdom or Fancy • John Donne (17th Century) – Fancy, originality and agility of poetic expressions. • Austen/Swift – Judgment, reason, ability to articulate universal truths.

7. A Literary Genre • Purpose: To Expose Human Folly In Order To Bring About Change • Fine Line Exists Between Ridicule for Ridicule’s Sake and Satire. • Comedy Just Exposes Folly • The Satirist is a Moralist Who Wants A Better Society • Even The Most Pessimistic Satirist Is An Optimist • The Satirist Does Not Poke Fun At Unchangeable Characteristics Such As Physical Deformities

9. Tone: Bitter or Light? • Satire is bounded by two extremes: • pure invective • romance • when the satire moves to the romance end, it must be pulled back by certain literary devices – • Frye maintains that most often the device is allegory that has a “mythos” to it.

10. Two Categories Of SatireDirect and Indirect • Direct Satire • 1st Person Narrator Who Directly Addresses the Audience or the Adversary • Horatian - Pokes Fun of Humble Foils With a Witty Tone • Juvenalian Satire – Denounces Human Vice and Error in Dignified and Solemn Tones

11. Indirect Satire • Mennippean Satire • Most Common • Stock Characters • Loose Narratives • Non Sequitur • Centers on Esoteric and Erudite Ideas

12. “A Modest Proposal” • A Classic Argumentative/Persuasive Essay • A Classic Example of Direct Satire

13. Classic Argumentation • Three Types of Thesis Statements • Claim of Fact • Marijuana is (or is not) an addictive drug. • OJ is guilty of murder • Claim of Policy. • The Iraq War is Illegal • We need a cabinet position to oversee all intelligence agencies • Claim of Value • Abortion is immoral. • A woman should have the right to choose whether to have children.

14. Classic Argumentation • Presents Need for Change and Begins to Establish Trustworthiness • Presents Proposal and Continues to Promote Trustworthiness by Overcoming Possible Objections (Warrants) • Shows Advantages for Change and Reinforces Trustworthiness

15. Elements Of Effective Argumentation • Trustworthy Speaker • Balance of • Logos (facts) • Ethos (values/ethics) • Pathos (emotions)

16. Homework – Due Tuesday • Read and annotate “A Modest Proposal” for the following: • Structure of a class argumentative essay • Devices of Satire • Shifts in Tone • Audience • Purpose

17. Group Satire • Decide on a topic worthy of satire (Must not be unacceptably offensive) • Decide on Category: Direct or Indirect(Menippean) • Decide on tone (Horatian, Juvenalian) • Is it the same for all characters? • Write the Satire and Create a Visual? • How can I employ devices of satire?

18. Claim of Policy???? • I do therefore humbly offer it to public consideration …. the remaining hundred thousand may, at a year old, be offered in the sale to the persons of quality and fortune through the kingdom; always advising the mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump and fat for a good table.

19. Classical ArgumentationStep 1 • Presents Need for Change • Describes the Irish towns “crowded with beggars of the female sex” • We need a “fair, cheap, and easy method of making these children sound, useful members of the commonwealth.” • Establishes Trustworthiness • “But my intention is very far from being confined to provide only for the children of professed beggars…”

20. Step 2 – The Proposal • “That the remaining hundred thousand [children] may at a year old be offered in sale to the persons of quality and fortune through the kingdom.” • Overcomes possible objections: • “I grant this food will be somewhat dear…” • “I have already computed the charge of nursing a beggar’s child…”

21. Step 3 – The Advantages • “I have too long digressed, and therefore shall return to my subject. I think the advantages by the proposal which I have made are obvious and many, as well as of the highest importance.” • “For first..” • “Secondly…” • “Sixthly…” • “Many other advatages might be enumerated.” How can I employ devices of satire

22. Swift’s Satire • Presents facts but they are punctuated with loaded diction (pathos)that should cause suspicion: • Women murdering babies • Women referred to as “breeders”

23. Analysis of “A Modest Proposal” • Number your paragraphs from 1-31 • As a group analyze your assigned paragraphs for • Purpose and Rhetorical Devices that achieve that purpose • Speaker • Audience • Target(s) of Satire and Tone Toward the Target(s) • Include ASR that Supports Your Analysis

24. Paradox

25. Pride and Prejudice Group Work • Choose a satiric passage from your assigned chapters and identify the page numbers • Type or download it into a word document. • Identify the elements of satire in the passage • Frye’s tenets of satire • Literary devices • Determine the tone (invective to romanatic) • Use tone handout • Write a thesis statement about that passage. • Send it to me on messages in Blackboard.

26. Homework • Choose one of the critical articles in the text to read for Monday. • Summarize the article and identify the thesis