Literary Devices
SATIRE
1. Humor:
Exaggeration or overstatement: Something that does happen, but is exaggerated to absurd lengths.
This is the most common type of satire. For example, a caricature, the formalized walk of Charlie
Chaplin.
Understatement: A statement that seems incomplete or less than truthful given the facts. Think
sarcasm with the intentions of evoking change. For example, Fieldings description of a grossly fat
and repulsively ugly Mrs. Slipslop: She was not remarkably handsome.
Incongruity: A marked lack of correspondence or agreement.
Surprise: Twist endings, unexpected events
2. Sarcasm: A sharply mocking or contemptuous remark. The term came from the Greek word sarkazein
which means to tear flesh.
Sarcasm is one kind of irony; it is praise which is really an insult; sarcasm generally invovles malice, the desire
to put someone down, e.g., "This is my brilliant son, who failed out of college."
3.
Irony: Literary device conveying the opposite of what is expected; in which there is an incongruity or
discordance between what one says or does, and what one means or what is generally understood. It is
lighter, less harsh in wording than sarcasm, though more cutting because of its indirectness.
The ability to recognize irony is one of the surest tests of intelligence and sophistication. Irony speaks words
of praise to imply blame and words of blame to imply praise. Writer is using a tongue-in-cheek style. Irony
is achieved through such techniques as hyperbole and understatement.
Verbal Irony: Simply an inversion of meaning
Dramatic Irony: When the words or acts of a character carry a meaning unperceived by himself but
understood by the audience. The irony resides in the contrast between the meaning intended by the
speaker and the added significance seen by others.
Situational Irony: Depends on a discrepancy between purpose and results. Example: a practical joke
that backfires is situational irony.
Irony is often confused with sarcasm and satire:
Satire is the exposure of the vices or follies of an individual, a group, an institution, an idea, a society, etc.,
usually with a view to correcting it. Satirists frequently use irony.
Characteristics of Satire
Satire at its heart is concerned with ethical reform. It attacks those institutions or individuals the satirist
deems corrupt.
It works to make vice laughable and/or reprehensible and thus bring social pressure on those who still
engage in wrongdoing.
It seeks a reform in public behavior, a shoring up of its audience's standards, or at the very least a wake-up
call in an otherwise corrupt culture.
Satire is often implicit and assumes readers who can pick up on its moral clues. It is not a sermon.
Satire in general attacks types -- the fool, the boor, the adulterer, the proud -- rather than specific persons.
If it does attack some by name, rather than hoping to reform these persons, it seeks to warn the public
against approving of them.
Satire is witty, ironic, and often exaggerated. It uses extremes to bring its audience to a renewed awareness
of its ethical and spiritual danger.
Sometime if the satirist is in danger for his or her attack, ambiguity, innuendo and understatement can be
used to help protect its author.
