Tomorrow is a satire on today, and shows its weakness.’ Edward Young. Satire is one of the genres of Greek origin (satyr) used in literature where there is a use of different elements like irony, sarcasm , ridicule, parody, burlesque, juxtaposition, exaggeration and so on to simply laugh upon the flaws in the society or to show the foolishness and decay in human personality, organizations and at different places.
Although satirical works tend to be very funny, their main object is to criticise the down follies in the surroundings using WIT as a weapon to draw the attention of the society.
Chaucer, Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and many other creative writers who were not primarily Satirists, did make use of this element in their works. For instance, Chaucer disliked the lack of morality in the church. He fired upon the authority simply by laughing at it in the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales.
Weapons used by a satirist.
‘Pen is mightier than ATOM BOMB.’
The simple but the mightier weapon used by the satirist is Invective – a violent attack in words. When one slaps or kicks the person, the wound caused by it, may disappear soon. But, when he is attacked with words and when the attack is published in the books, it remains for ever in the shelves of the library and in the minds of the audience.
The other weapon used by the satirist is Irony – language of opposite meanings. But, the most important weapon is to amuse and entertain the reader. As mentioned above, satire is to laugh upon the different flaws prevailing in the society, so this prime factor should be fulfilled to the fullest by the satirist.
The Term Paper on Pope as a Satirist
... the purpose of improving society. What sets satire apart from other forms of social and political protest is humor. Satirists use irony and ... being cunning and his systematic organization of action he planned attacks on his enemies. Moreover, he took revenge upon the Protestants ... so they cursed him great suffering and unhappiness. He used satire as his weapon to fulfill his revenge upon them. A good ...
Gulliver’s Travels. ‘Undoubtedly, philosophers are in the right when they tell us that nothing is great or little otherwise than by comparison.’(Gulliver’s Travels) Jonathan Swift Gulliver’s Travels is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman named Jonathan Swift. It is known for the Satire on the Human society. It is also well known as a parody of ‘traveller’s tales’.
The protagonist and the narrator of the novel is Lemuel Gulliver, a surgeon from Nottinghamshire, England. He loves travelling to different continents like Daniel Defoe’s character, Robinson Crusoe. This novel is written in four books. Gulliver goes on a voyage to four places. His first voyage is to a land named Lilliput where he sees the troop of tiny people of six inches height.
Then, he goes on a voyage to the land named Brobdingnag where the people are sixty feet taller than Gulliver. His next accidental voyage is to the floating island called Laputa. And then comes his last voyage to the land of Houyhnhnms.
Gulliver’s Travels is a multi-layered text. In the very first reading of the book, readers may feel that it is a fairy tale set in a frictional world written to amuse children. But, this book has a deep meaning.
The book is thus full of fancy ( secondary Imagination.) images. Swift has very bitterly criticized the man kind by making the horses their rulers in the Book 4 – Land of Houyhnhnms. This novel is a travelogue and a political allegory. This work stood the test of time, and even now, is remembered as the best satire ever written.
Gulliver’s Travels as a Satire. Jonathan Swift is well known as a satirist. His works like, The Battle of Books, A Modest Proposal, A Tale of a Tub, Gulliver’s Travels are his best satires which can be attributed. Gulliver’s Travels was written during the age of Reformation also known as the era of change.
It is a Menippean Satire. Gulliver is the mouth piece of Jonathan Swift through whom Swift has indicted politicians, scientists, philosophers and Englishmen in general. In Gulliver’s Travels, satire is exhibited through setting, narration, plot and characters. The first two Voyages throw light upon the follies or on the various facets of the English Society. The last two voyages criticize the human society in contrast with the Utopian concept.
The Essay on Gulliver’s Travel Satire
... satire has expanded in this section to cover the entire nation, and other European nations as well. A Voyage to Laputa: Pretensions to Knowledge Gulliver's ... of its corruption is insanity. So throughout Gulliver's Travels, Swift repeatedly satirizes human corruption and inadequacy ... target for satire appears when Gulliver tries to show the Brobdingnagian king the greatness of England; he succeeds ...
The Voyage to Lilliput. In Gulliver’s first voyage to Lilliput, he comes in touch with the troops of tiny tots, just six inches tall in their height. Here, The Land of Lilliput is the representation of England. Lilliputians are in an illusion that they have controlled Gulliver as he is tied and made to follow the norms laid by the King.
At the same time, Gulliver is also in an illusion that he too has controlled Lilliputians as they are very much afraid of him. The Lilliputians are astonished to see the food habits of Gulliver as he gulps the food of the whole nation is a morsel.
Hence, it causes famine in the nation. Like England, Lilliput is the small nation. Yet England had the capacity to rule on most of the nations of the world. All the nations that it ruled upon were quite powerful. But, they yet they managed to colonize the nations.
But, the way their captive Gulliver had to be set free as they were not able to comfort him, same way, England also had to free the captive nation. We find the same resemblance even in this case of colonizing Gulliver. Although Lilliput is a small nation like England, it is proud of the power and significance that it has. Both the nations don’t believe in the existence of any other world apart from that of theirs.
