SOME NOTES ON SATIRE:
Satire is usually meant to be funny. Its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit as a weapon.
Direct social commentary via satire - the writer tackles serious issues, often incurring the wrath of the crowd (often the very people the satire is directed at - e.g. THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, OSCAR WILDE. (poking fun at the upper classes, a comedy of manners - outward respectability and conformity...keeping up appearances)
A writer is trying to tell humans how NOT to act.
When writing about satire, ask yourself -
TOOLS OF SATIRE
Satire is usually meant to be funny. Its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit as a weapon.
Direct social commentary via satire - the writer tackles serious issues, often incurring the wrath of the crowd (often the very people the satire is directed at - e.g. THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, OSCAR WILDE. (poking fun at the upper classes, a comedy of manners - outward respectability and conformity...keeping up appearances)
A writer is trying to tell humans how NOT to act.
When writing about satire, ask yourself -
- what was the author's intention?
- who/what is the target of the satire?
- what language does the author use? What 'tone' does this create?
- what specific tools of satire has the author used? (check list below)
TOOLS OF SATIRE
- strong irony
- exaggeration
- parody
- juxtaposition
- comparison
- analogy
- double entendre/puns (The title: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST...)
- subversion
- reversal (depicts flaws in commonly-held attitudes that benefit one group over another)
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