SatireAn Introduction

"Satire is like a mirror in which [a man] sees everyone’s face but [his] own.”

~Jonathan Swift

• Satire is a technique employed by writers to expose and criticize foolishness and corruption of an individual or a society by using humor, irony, exaggeration or ridicule.

Satire is not comedy

• Satire, while implicitly humorous, has a moral purpose.

• Moral lesson

• Funny

• Shared community standard of correct behavior

A satirical look at both the fairy tale and the mock-heroic style is found in the film

version of The Princess Bride, which satirizes classics like The Three Musketeers

and Ivanhoe, when Inigo Montoya and Fezzik form sentences, together creating

rhyming couplets:

Inigo: That Vizzini, he can *fuss*. Fezzik: Fuss, fuss... I think he likes to scream at *us*. Inigo: Probably he means no *harm*. Fezzik: He's really very short on *charm*. Inigo: You have a great gift for rhyme. Fezzik: Yes, yes, some of the time. Vizzini: Enough of that. Inigo: Fezzik, are there rocks ahead? Fezzik: If there are, we'll all be dead. Vizzini: No more rhymes now, I mean it. Fezzik: Anybody want a peanut?

Satire and irony are interlinked.

Commonly Used Satiric Devices

• Hyperbole

• Invective

• Inversion

• Irony

• Sarcasm

• Understatement

• Incongruity

• Deflation

• Linguistic Games

• Parody

Some Examples