The Purpose and Method of Satire

By Robert Harris ~ ​Virtual Salt​, August 20, 1990

To say that satire does not need to include a moral lesson or didactic purpose is wrong because the very
essence of satire is aggression or criticism, and thoughtful criticism has nearly always implied a reference
to a systematic measure of good and bad. An object is criticized because it falls short of some standard
which the critic desires that it should reach. Normally the standard is objective, though it can be
subjective and personal to the sairist. Inseparable from any definition of satire is its corrective purpose,
expressed through a critical mode which ridicules or otherwise attacks those conditions needing
reformation. Criticizing, mocking, exaggerating, understating--all the satirist's principal tools--imply a
normative set of values. To expose someone or something because it "doesn't measure up" clearly
assumes reference to a measure. Thus, I believe there is no satire without a corrective purpose.

Accordingly, the best definitions of satire should be formulated from a combination of its corrective intent
and its literary method of execution. A reasonable definition of satire, then, is "a literary manner which
blends a critical attitude with humor and wit to the end that human institutions or humanity may be
improved. The true satirist is conscious of the frailty of institutions of man's devising and attempts
through laughter not so much to tear them down as to inspire a remodeling" (Thrall, et al 436).

The best satire does not seek to do harm or damage by its ridicule, unless we speak of damage to the
structure of vice, but rather it seeks to create a shock of recognition and to make vice repulsive so that the
vice will be expunged from the person or society under attack or from the person or society intended to
benefit by the attack (regardless of who is the immediate object of attack); whenever possible this shock
of recognition is to be conveyed through laughter or wit: the formula for satire is one of honey and
medicine. Far from being simply destructive, satire is implicitly constructive, and the satirists themselves,
whom I trust concerning such matters, often depict themselves as such constructive critics. In his "Verses
on the Death of Dr. Swift," for example, Swift denies any malicious intent in his works, and affirms his
purpose was correction:

As with a moral View design'd

To cure the Vices of Mankind:
His vein, ironically grave,
Expos'd the Fool, and lash'd the Knave.
....................
Yet, Malice never was his Aim;
He lash'd the Vice but spar'd the Name.
No Individual could resent,
Where Thousands equally were meant.
His Satyr points at no Defect,
But what all Mortals may correct. . . .
(ll. 313-16, 459-64)

In the ​Intelligencer​, Number III, Swift also disclaims malice as a motive, while again proclaiming the
purpose of satire as the correction of vice and the reinstatement of virtue: "There are two Ends that Men
propose in writing Satyr; one of them less noble than the other, as regarding nothing further than the
private Satisfaction, and Pleasure of the Writer; but without any View towards ​personal Malice​: The other
is a ​public Spirit​, prompting Men of Genius and Virtue, to mend the World as far as they are able. . . .
But, if my Design be to make mankind better; then I think it is my Duty; at least, I am sure it is the
Interest of those very ​Courts​ and ​Ministers​, whose Follies or Vices I ridicule, to reward me for my good
Intentions."

1
It is important to note in the above quotation that Swift says the satirists aim "to mend the World ​as far as
they are able,​ " not that they hope for any kind of perfection or believe in the complete corrigibility of any
man. Ideally, of course, the satirist would like to see a return to the practice of morality which he feels has
been abandoned by society; but he is aware that not only to stop the decay of civilization but also to
reverse the trend of decay and to move toward a true moral progress is almost a futile attempt, because it
calls for a complete moral regeneration of man, and such a regeneration is virtually impossible. So the
practical hope and aim of the satirist is that his barbs will be sufficiently irritating to stop or at least slow
down the increase of evil, even though it cannot be reversed. In his "Apology" prefixed to a ​Tale of a Tub
in 1710, Swift says in discussing his purpose and method of this "useful and diverting" satire, "Why
should any Clergyman of our Church be angry to see the Follies of Fanaticism and Superstition exposed,
tho' in the most ridiculous manner? since that is perhaps the most probable way to cure them, or at least to
hinder them from further spreading" (Pagliaro 332). Pope echoes this in a letter (which I will quote later
at greater length) by saying of his satire, "I hope to deter, if not to reform." Perhaps the very nature of the
society that makes the satiric approach necessary precludes much hope for a great reformation; the
cynicism that so frequently surfaces in satiric works surely shows that the writers had no delusions about
returning paradise to earth through their efforts. Although satire intends always to be corrective, it can
guarantee only to expose vice and hypocrisy, and to demonstrate the pernicious effects such vices have
when allowed to continue; the satirist's goals can be effected only to the extent that the audience responds
to the attack.

It may be objected here that not all satire is meant to be corrective, because satirists occasionally attack
foibles or failings basic to man's nature which cannot be changed, or for which change is unlikely. But it
can be argued in reply that such satire of inexpugnable vices is still corrective, for it seeks to establish
proper moral attitudes toward those vices. For example, if it be impossible to rid men of jealousy or
egotism, the satirist will try to make men despise those feelings, resist them, and cease encouraging them.
In cases where the satirist ridicules man because of the necessity for eating or elimination, or some other
condition basic to man, he seeks to correct man's view of himself--to reduce mankind's pride by
reminding him of his limitations and his humble human lot.

Derived by implication from this corrective purpose, the theme of satire must be the maintenance of
standards, the reaffirmation of values, and the necessity of reform. According to Maynard Mack, "Satire .
. . asserts the validity and necessity of norms, systematic values, and meanings that are contained by
recognizable codes" (85). Satire is inescapably moral and didactic (in the best sense of that unfortunately
slandered word) even when no definite, positive values are stated in the work as alternatives to the gross
corruptions depicted by the attack. The satirist does not need to state specific moral alternatives to replace
the villainy he attacks because the morality is either already present in the lip service his target pays to
virtue, or it is apparent by implication. ​The satirist presupposes an educated readership which will easily
be able to discover the implicit morality without any help other than a few ironic hints from the writer.​ (In
at least on instance, however, the satirist produces a positive example by setting himself up as a "model of
moral perception and behavior" [Waingrow 513].) Thus Pope can impute moral reform to Gulliver in
spite of that traveler's blundering ignorance and blind bigotry;

You, like the ​Samian​, visit Lands unknown,

And by their wiser Morals mend your own.
Thus ​Orpheus​ travell'd to reform his Kind,
Came back, and tam'd the Brutes he left behind.
You went, you saw, you heard: With Virtue fraught,
Then spread those Morals which the ​Houyhnhnms​ taught.
(Pope, ​Verses​ ll. 17-22)

Satire is indeed so thoroughly concerned with justice, morality, and virtue, that it has a number of striking
resemblances to the basic ethical viewpoint of Christianity. Both satire and Christianity believe strongly
2
in the fallen nature of man, believe that right conduct is not possible for a man without a guide (cf. ​Tale of
a Tub)​ , believe that pride is the most pernicious vice (cf. ​Gulliver's Travels)​ , and believe that reason itself
is all right, but that when men pretend that reason can be the sole arbiter of all truth, moral disaster is
imminent (Price xi-xiii). Edward and Lillian Bloom say that the satirist must love or at least care for
mankind to take the trouble to attack and (hopefully) correct his wickedness (115-137). We could say that
this is the satirist's practical application of Christ's injunction to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44, Luke
6:27-28), because genuine concern for another's welfare when it does not affect us personally is one of the
basic indications of disinterested love.

Pope affirms in several of his poems that his concern for man and virtue is disinterested. He says of
himself in "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" (ll. 342-43), "That not for Fame, but Virtue's better end,/ He stood
the furious foe, the timid Friend. . . ." This is expanded upon in "Imitations of Horace, II.i":

Hear this, and tremble! you, who 'scape the Laws.

Yes, while I live, no rich or noble knave
Shall walk the World, in credit, to his grave.
TO VIRTUE ONLY and HER FRIENDS, A FRIEND
The World beside may murmur, or commend.
.......................
Envy​ must own, I live among the Great,
No Pimp of Pleasure, and no Spy of State,
With Eyes that pry not, Tongue that ne'er repeats,
Fond to spread Friendships, but to cover Heats,
To help who want, to forward who excel;
This, all who know me, know; who love me, tell. . . .
(ll. 118-22, 133-38)

Without regard to where he finds it, Pope feels compelled to combat vice and work for the establishment
of Truth and Virtue, out of concern for himself and for man in general; those in superior moral positions
have a duty to be standard bearers for the race and to resist or reprove every unpropitious act which would
tend to lead man farther down from his already poor state. The satirist does not selfishly attack anyone
who disagrees with him (though there are exceptions); rather he undertakes to oppose evil because it is
evil, without consideration of whose evil it is or against whom it was perpetrated:

And must no Egg in ​Japhet's​ Face be thrown,

Because the Deed he forg'd was not my own?
.....................
Ask you what Provocation I have had?
The strong Antipathy of Good to Bad.
When Truth or Virtue an Affront endures,
Th' Affront is mine, my Friend, and should be yours.
Mine, as a Foe profess'd to false pretense,
Who think a Coxcomb's Honour like his Sense;
Mine, as a Friend to ev'ry worthy mind;
And mine as Man, who feel for all mankind.
(Pope, "Epilogue" ll. 189-90, 197-204)

And such, I think is the moral stance behind all satire, or at least that of the Augustans. (It is conceivable
that someone could satirize virtue or morality in an attempt to "correct" social behavior by instituting the
values of free love, which values are present in the so-called counter culture, but generally speaking the
satirist has always aligned himself with the timeless, traditional notions of virtue and morality.) Why the
moral stance behind satire remains ​implicit​ so often is dictated by the satiric method, which in turn is
3
necessitated by the structure and nature of social corruption. This use of implicit morality becomes more
understandable in connection with the method of satire and the rationale behind it.

The reason the satirist doesn't merely write moral tracts encouraging people to virtue, and the reason he
feels justified in displaying anger and indignation at the common follies and vices of men is that the
satirist's world is not one of basic good accidentally gone astray, in which every man would seek good if
he know how or were shown the way, but rather it is one of unseeing fools and unsightly knaves who
either claim to possess virtue already, or who have already rejected it, claiming that vice is (or is as good
as) virtue. It is a world of hypocrisy, in which social standing, church membership, titles and degrees,
peer praise, lip service to morals, and wealth are all used to hide evils of the first order. In such a world of
hypocrites and pretenders, simple moral encouragement would be totally inefficacious. The satirist,
therefore, will display his critical attitude and implicit morality through irony ("Another Thing to be
observed is, that there generally runs an Irony through the Thread of the whole Book. . . .," Swift on ​Tale
of a Tub,​ quoted in Pagliaro 333), often by creating a narrator who appears to be as much a hypocrite as
the target of the work, but who exposes himself and the target by his lack of true perception or inability to
hide his hypocrisy. Examples of this kind of narrator are Gulliver, the Modest Proposer, and the narrator
of ​Tale of a Tub​. The satirist sneers at the knavish dissimulators through his irony both to expose them
and to give them affront; irony serves to expose the villain so that the audience can shun him, and to make
the villain squirm so that he may mend his actions.

But at the same time, this "ironic method" is ​necessitated​ by the hypocritical society the satirist wishes to
attack and reform, because it is the only fruitful method: people pay no attention to moralizers.​ Since the
hypocrisy demands this particular approach, it is not surprising that the satirist takes hypocrisy for granted
in his works. The theory is, then, that for the satiric mode to be corrective, certain values must exist which
people do not follow, but which values they claim to or want to follow. When the hypocrisy of their
situation is drawn to attention publicly (for knaves) or privately (for fools) the targets should have a desire
for reform. As Dr. Johnson said, "People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed."

It follows that general satire (aimed at large segments of people) must presuppose and approve of the
morals in a widely spread value system. When these values are at odds with behavior, the satirist tries to
bring them back in line again or at least prevent the gap from widening. If the lip service values no longer
exist in the society, there is no hope for correction in the satiric mode--when the hypocrisy is gone and
people are evil openly without opposition, the satirist must either cease writing or be content with merely
a satiric record of his disapproval:

See, all our Nobles begging to be Slaves!

See, all our Fools aspiring to be Knaves
The Wit of Cheats, the Courage of a Whore,
Are what ten thousand envy and adore.
All, all look up, with reverential Awe,
On crimes that scape, or triumph o'er the Law:
While Truth, Worth, Wisdom, daily they decry--
'Nothing is Sacred now but Villany.'
Yet may this Verse (if such verse remain)
Show there was one who held it in disdain.
(Pope, "Epilogue" ll. 163-72)

Once we become a world of knaves, there will be no room for satire. Fortunately, every age including our
own (so far) has been content merely to remain on the brink of complete knavery, total disaster, and
absolute ruin, and the eighteenth century was no exception: Satire was therefore not only possible but also
needful.

4
Since social pressure seems to be one of the few forces to which fools and knaves will bow, the satirist
can more effectively operate by enlisting the readers of the satire to aid him in bringing behavior back in
line with publicized values. The satirist by himself is virtually impotent to change the vicious behavior of
any particular target, for the satirist as himself is just another small, opinionated prude, and is easily
dismissed by any remark that might pass for wit. The target must correct himself when he discovers he is
under attack, or he must be driven to correct his behavior when hundreds of his peers join the satirist in
ridiculing him or by ostracizing him from their society (see Kinsley 137-55).

But social pressure cannot operate when the satire is aimed at widespread folly or vice, as when a whole
country or class joins in a universal debauchery; in such cases the reader himself is the target. When the
reader is aggressed, he must be moved to change or correct himself by embarrassment for or shock at
recognition of his guilt: his crimes must be presented in such a way that they appear truly odious to him,
bringing about a willing change (as opposed to the forceful change of the knave).

This general satire, aimed at many, is more common and more important than specific attacks on single
persons, since the satirist's ideal is the reformation or regeneration of a whole society. The general
correction of vice is the primary aim because the satirist can live with a few very evil men more easily
than he can with ten thousand somewhat less evil men who are pulling his world toward doom: A world
with Satan alone would perhaps be more bearable than one with a legion of his followers all aspiring to
his post. In addition, the less evil are more likely to be corrigible than the totally corrupt.

It is for the above reason that specific targets in satire are often used to instruct and correct the general
populace--the specific knave becomes a type which is to be rejected by the audience wherever those
typical qualities are met. So, certain kinds of abusive satire, such as might be directed against Curll,
Shadwell, or Bentley, are not aimed at correcting those men, who are viewed as incorrigible knaves by the
satirist, but they are attacked in order to dissuade the public from patronizing, approving of, or associating
with them; they and everyone possessing their vices are to be ostracized by the audience. When impaled
by the satirist then, these individuals should serve as a deterrent in general to the vices they have. Pope
makes the use of the personal attack for this purpose clear in a letter to Dr. Arbuthnot:

I would indeed [manifest my disdain and abhorrence of vice in my writings] with more
restrictions, and less personally; it is more agreeable to my nature​, which those who know it not
are greatly mistaken in: But General Satire in Times of General Vice has no force, and is no
Punishment: People have ceas'd to be ashamed of it when so many are join'd with them; and 'tis
only by hunting One or two from the Herd that any Examples can be made. If a man writ all his
Life against the collective Body of Banditti, or against Lawyers, would it do the least Good, or
lessen the Body? But if some are hung up, or pilloried, it may prevent others. And in my low
Station, with no other Power than this, I hope to deter, if not to reform. (Pope to Arbuthnot,
August 2, 1734)

The application of the satiric method can be quite broad because satire itself is more of an attitude or
stance, than a genre or type of literature: "It is not bounded by form and structure but exists as an
approach to a situation which can be present in any of the many literary forms" (Haas 2). There are
several characteristics which distinguish satire, however; as I said above, it must be ironic in tone to cope
with the hypocritical situation of the reprobates in the world, and for the same reason it tends to be
hyperbolic in form to force recognition of vice upon the guilty. (Hyperbole or irony alone does not
constitute satire: a critical element must be involved.)

Another characteristic of most satire is the use of wit to make the attack clever, or humor to make it
funny. Satire, like all literature and poetry, must be intellectually rewarding, be reasonably well written,
and especially must entertain in order to survive--and in the particular case of satire, in order to be
received at all. The basic mood of attack and disapproval needs to be softened to some extent and made
5
more palatable; wit and humor serve this end by making the criticism entertaining, and even attractive. In
the words of that old philosopher, Swift, "As Wit is the noblest and most useful Gift of humane Nature, so
Humor is the most agreeable, and where these two enter far into the Composition of any Work, they will
render it always acceptable to the World" (quoted in Pagliaro 338).

Certain specific literary techniques and constructions lend themselves easily to satire because they can
contain a measure both of wit and humor, and of the necessary irony or satiric association; among them
are exaggeration, distortion, understatement, innuendo, paronomasia, zeugma, ambiguity, what I call "the
list," simile, metaphor, oxymoron, parable, and allegory. A brief example of each of these will perhaps
help illustrate the versatility of the satiric method, and the numerous ways the satirist can present his
criticism. It is important that the satirist vary his critical approach with as many devices as possible, for
people very soon grow weary of criticism of themselves.

Since irony is the overriding and guiding principle behind satire, and is everywhere apparent in it, no
"examples" need be given. As I mentioned, irony informs the whole work because it is the necessary
means of aggressing hypocrites. It is not therefore one of the "techniques" of satire, but, like the purpose
of correction, is part of the essence.

Though not essential like irony, exaggeration is one of the most commonly used techniques in satire,
since the depiction of an extreme or blatantly vicious case is one of the best ways to get the target to
recognize or admit that a vice exists at all: recognition must precede correction. The satirist brings his
description of a wrong to its logical extreme, or at least exaggerates by overemphasis in order to make the
unseeing see, and the seeing-but-complacent oppose and expunge corruption. To say simply that men are
evil will be wasting breath in an age of perversity, so the satirist turns up the volume: "He was perfectly
astonished with the historical account I gave him of our affairs during the last century, protesting it was
only a heap of conspiracies, rebellions, murders, massacres, revolutions, banishments; the very worst
effects that avarice, faction, hypocrisy, perfidiousness, cruelty, rage, madness, hatred, envy, lust, malice,
and ambition could produce" (​Gulliver's Travels​ II.6). And the Brobdingnagian King's estimate of
humankind seems to be slightly inflated also: "I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the
most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the
earth" (​G​.​ T.​ II.6). By such overstatement, the reader is to understand that he has probably allowed a few
too many failings in himself or other men to go by unnoticed, and henceforth he must adjure himself to
pull in the reins a bit.

Akin to exaggeration is distortion--changing the perspective of a condition or event by isolation

(separation from its ordinary surroundings), or by stressing some aspects and deemphasizing others.
Gulliver's description of cannons and their decimating power (II.7) and his description of warfare (IV.5)
are instances of distortion by isolation. When the machinations of war are removed from political and
economic causes, or reasons of any kind, and even from the passions of the soldiers, the resultant
mechanical bloodshed is horrifying indeed. Gulliver's description of "dying groans, limbs flying in the air,
smoke, noise, confusion," and so forth is much like a Royal Society paper, cold and unemotional. The
message of the heartlessness of war wagers who see battles as political expedients and men in mechanical
terms, becomes shockingly clear when not masked or diluted by tempering concerns.

Understatement is the converse of exaggeration and is useful in cases where the evil is already so great
that it can scarcely be exaggerated. The mention of the evil by understatement serves to call attention to
its true degree. Thus the idea of insensitivity to brutality is well conveyed in a noted passage from Swift:
"Last Week I saw a Woman flay'd, and you will hardly believe, how much it altered her Person for the
worse" (​Tale of a Tub I​ X). With 17,000 murders in the United States yearly, and abortions numbered in
the millions, exaggeration of the statistics would probably prove ineffective. Understatement is a possible
alternative.

6
Innuendo is a valuable tool for the satirist because it allows him to implicate a target by a completely
indirect attack. This is especially useful when the target is dangerous, for it is often possible to deny the
insinuation. Pope's "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot" contains an example:

I was not born for Courts or great Affairs,

I pay my Debts, believe, and say my pray'rs,
Can sleep without a Poem in my head,
Nor know, if ​Dennis​ be alive or dead.
(ll. 267-70)

If called to account, Pope could always claim that the last three lines only ​seem​ to be connected to the first
line by an unhappy poetic mistake. The first line doesn't end in a colon, so any connection or criticism
must be in the mind of the reader.

Ambiguity is likewise useful because the intention can always be denied, but it also serves to make the
satiric comparison more pointed, by making difficult any distinction between the target and the object to
which it is compared. For example, insanity is a common charge of the satirist (see Thorpe 87), who often
sees the madness of "free" men equaling or surpassing that of confined lunatics. Swift makes this point
aptly in ​Tale of a Tub ​when the narrator is touring Bedlam (sect. IX): "Is any Student tearing his Straw in
piece-meal, Swearing and Blaspheming, biting his Grate, foaming at the mouth, and emptying his Pispot
in the Spectator's Faces? Let the Right Worshipful, the ​Commissioners of Inspection​, give him a
Regiment of Dragoons, and send him into ​Flanders​ among the ​Rest.​ " The phrase "among the ​Rest"​ is
conveniently vague so that we wonder if "the ​Rest​" is supposed to refer to the rest of the generals or the
rest of the madmen. The "Men of Taste," of course, soon realize that there is no difference between the
two in the satirist's mind, so that his ambiguity is really a rather clear accusation.

Any construction capable of conveying a double meaning is likely to be employed in satire, since multiple
meanings form the basis of much of satire.​ So even the pun can be used satirically, and surely has been,
though in my limited reading I have been unable to locate an Augustan example. I therefore offer a
modern example by an anonymous poet, from a poem "In Praise of the Whole Generation of Modern
Authors." The pun in this case (raze/raise) works better aurally than in text, but it will serve I hope:

Oh Joy! to know that now the future stands

In such o'erreaching and all grasping hands!
To them we firmly pledge the public good,
That they may raze through Space, what Time withstood.

Zeugma (or, as in the following example, syllepsis) has satiric worth because of its structural equating of
things of greatly differing value. Note how effective it is in the third and fifth lines of this quote from
"Rape of the Lock: Canto II":

Whether the Nymph shall break ​Diana's​ Law,

Or some frail ​China​ Jar receive a Flaw,
Or stain her Honour, or her new Brocade
Forget her Pray'rs, or miss a Masquerade,
Or lose her Heart, or Necklace, at a Ball;
Or whether Heav'n has doom'd that ​Shock​ must fall.
(ll. 105-10)

The purpose of Pope's zeugma here is to ​show that "modern" girls think losing one's honor and soiling
one's dress are disasters of exactly equal import​: conveyed thus cleverly, the message is much ​more
powerful than whole pages of proofs.
7
One often used satiric technique which apparently has no name, I call "the list": it is a list of items,
people, or ideas generally similar, except for one or two incongruous items, which the satirist is
aggressing. The attack is thus quite similar to that in zeugma, for the satirist claims that the incongruous
elements belong in the list as they are considered of the same value either by his target or by himself.
Again satirizing modern girls, Pope uses the list to show their attitude toward religion and the Bible; and
the two-line list seems to say more than a good deal of prose explanation:

And now, unveil'd, the ​Toilet​ stands display'd,

Each Silver Vase in mystic Order laid.
.....................
Here Files of Pins extend their shining Rows,
Puffs, Powders, Patches, Bibles, Billet-doux.
(Pope, "Rape" I.121-22, 137-38)

The Bible not only shrinks in significance to the level of dressing table clutter, but it also seems almost
buried in the midst of everything else: To the modern girl, it is probably not as useful as a Powder, nor as
interesting as a Billet-doux, so it will be seldom avidly sought out.

The list can also show the satirist's own attitude toward something by placing the item among appropriate
elements. Thus Pope gives his opinion of the quality of Lord Hervey's verse:

Half Froth, half Venom, [he] spits himself abroad,

In Puns, or Politicks, or Tales, or Lyes,
Or Spite, or Smut, or Rymes, or Blasphemies.
(Pope "Arbuthnot" ll. 320-22)

Similes and metaphors are easily constructed as satiric weapons, especially when they are extended,
because the satirist can ​describe a very fitting irony in detail, or draw out a comparison or contrast,
allowing the audience to see how the thing ​aggressed is like a thing of which they disapprove or scorn.
That is, similes and metaphors give the satirist freedom to yoke together entire concepts of totally
different natures to produce a self-critical statement. In section VII of ​Tale of a Tub​ we find a fine
example of simile: "​Digressions​ in a Book, are like ​Forein Troops ​in a ​State,​ which argue the Nation to
want a​ Heart​ and ​Hands​ of its own, and often, either ​subdue t​ he ​Natives​, or drive them into the most
unfruitful Corners​." And here I must insert my favorite simile, again from Swift: "I conceive therefore, as
to the Business of being ​Profound,​ that it is with ​Writers,​ as with ​Wells;​ A Person with good Eyes may
see to the Bottom of the deepest, provided any ​Water​ be there; and, that often, when there is nothing in
the World at the Bottom, besides ​Dryness ​and ​Dirt​, tho' it be but a Yard and half under Ground, it shall
pass, however, for wondrous ​Deep,​ upon no wiser a Reason that because it is wondrous ​Dark.​ (Swift,
Tale​ "The Conclusion")

"A Meditation Upon a Broom-Stick" uses a prolonged metaphor comparing man with a broom for a dual
satiric purpose: To parody Robert Boyle's ​Meditations,​ and to aggress some of mankind's pretensions.
There is a shorter metaphor in ​Tale of a Tub​ (sect. XI), where the narrator is discussing the several
"handles" by which a reader may be grasped: "​Curiosity i​ s one, and of all others, affords the firmest
Grasp: ​Curiosity,​ that Spur in the side, that Bridle in the Mouth, that Ring in the nose, of a lazy, an
impatient, and a grunting Reader."

Oxymoron used satirically makes for a pointed emphasis on some contradiction in the target's philosophy,
such as a Modern Author's joy at leaving the idealism of the past behind: "No silly perfect visions plague
us now" ​seems to indicate that the writer is a fool, since visions (ideals) cannot be silly and perfect at the
same time.​ A better example comes from Dryden's "Absalom and Achitophel, Part I" (ll. 593-94): "The
8
city, to reward his pious hate/ Against his master, chose him magistrate." Here the poet rejects the idea
that hate can be put to good use, or is to be approved of. The fact that the words "pious" and "hate" don't
fit together shows this.

Parable and allegory, the final elements I will include here, both have the same benefits as simile and
metaphor, for they can ​conduct a prolonged discussion on two levels of meaning while at the same time
inherently comparing and contrasting those levels without further comment.​ The parable of the fat man in
the "Preface" to ​Tale of a Tub​ is a particularly effective example. And the comparison of prefatory
material to fat, a carcass, and guts, is not only critically efficacious, but, to put it bluntly, often rather
correct. The satiric message is more likely to be remembered in the parable because of the vehicle of the
story and its use of physical realities (such as the meeting, the park, and people) to represent the concepts
presented.

Tale of a Tub​ also offers a good example of allegory, that of the three brothers, their coats, and the will.
The religious allegory is a long one, making up nearly a third of the tale, but it is well contrived, for it not
only works on both levels (as any good allegory must) but it works ​satirically​ on both levels, too. Swift
aggresses both the religionists who add ceremony to their faith (especially Roman Catholics) and the fops
who insist on adding decorations to their clothes, and who are constantly changing fashions. With both
tenor and vehicle under attack, the satirist gains twice the effect with half the effort.

It is perhaps by now apparent that almost all of these techniques have one element in common: each
provides a way to say two or more things at one time, and to compare, equate, or contrast those things,
usually with heavy irony. The application of the ironic method of satire uses those techniques which most
easily allow the presentation of irony: the several techniques also provide variety, concision, and an
opportunity for employing wit and humor. The essential meaning of a satire is seldom if ever consistent
with a literal interpretation, yet the literal interpretation is extremely important for what it says ​about​ the
essential meaning, and about the target or audience ​which can be reached only in an indirect way.

Men's vices are a threat to the civilization in which the satirist lives, and the satirist feels compelled to
expose those vices for the society's good and his own,​ in a way that will allow the ones attacked to
comprehend and remember the attack, and to see a direction they may take for correction. The satire must
be presented in a manner which will bring action, and in a world of complacent hypocrites, irony, with its
various means of presentation, is essential; the message cannot be delivered without it, if that message is
to have any tangible effect. In a two word abstract, the purpose of satire is the correction or deterrence of
vice, and its method is to attack hypocrisy through the ironic contrast between values and actions.

DISCUSSION & REFLECTION:

1. What is the purpose of satire? What is the formula for good satire?
The purpose of satire is to portray a hidden message as constructive social criticism to draw
attention to issues in society. The best way to formula a good satire is to have a combination of its
corrective intent and its literary method of execution.

2. How is the satirist a sort of artistic philanthropist?

Since a stirist is someone that wants and is bringing attention to social problems and ideas to draw
attention to issues in the world and somehow, bringing awareness to a problem is part of
promoting overall human welfare as an artistic philanthropist.

3. Review the methods of satire Harris lists. List their definitions/examples in the chart below and
then elaborate below on one of the methods. How is it utilized and what is its function in a piece
of satire?
9
 “The Purpose and Methods of Satire”: Methods Tracking

In the chart below, jot down a few basic details of each method of satire Harris discusses.

Method Definition, Details, and/or Example

Irony “As with a moral View design'd To cure the Vices of Mankind: His vein,
ironically grave, Expos'd the Fool, and lash'd the Knave.”
The meaning of using language that usually signifies the opposite typically
for humorous or emphatic effect.
This shows that according to the use of irony, the audience can assume many
ideas about the characters in the story while still entertaining the audience
with humor.

Exaggeration “Ask you what Provocation I have had? The strong Antipathy of Good to
Bad.”
A statement that represents something as better or worse than it really is.
The writer uses a lighter tone to portray a message using a more
lighter/heavier tone.

Distortion “​The Wit of Cheats, the Courage of a Whore”

The act of giving a misleading account or impression.
The writer misleads the audience by providing a strange statement with
contrasting courage which is normally with relation to heroes, is now in
relation to the word “whore”.

Understatement “To help who want, to forward who excel;”

The portrayal of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it
actually is.
The character that is speaking these words in the play downplay the help that
he is offering with simple words of understanding the opportunity that he is
offering.

Innuendo “​See, all our Nobles begging to be Slaves! See, all our Fools aspiring to be
Knaves”
A remark or hint, typically a suggestive or disparaging one that is denigrating
in nature.
This comments is used for degrading the audience that it is directed towards
by stating the words of contrasting nobles to slaves which are two very
different social classes.

Ambiguity “​I would indeed [manifest my disdain and abhorrence of vice in my writings]
with more restrictions, and less personally; it is more agreeable to my nature”
To be open to more than one possibility or interpretation.
Dr. Arbuthnot uses this sentence to led the audience away from the main idea
with an idea completely opposite.

10
 Pun “​Oh Joy! to know that now the future stands In such o'erreaching and all
grasping hands!”
A joke that explores the different possible meanings of a word that there are
words which sound alike but have different meanings.
According to the quote above, it conveys a double meaning is likely to be
employed in satire, since the idea of multiple meanings form the basis of
most satire.

Zeugma “​Whether the Nymph shall break ​Diana's​ Law, Or some frail ​China​ Jar
receive a Flaw”
A figure of speech in which a word applies to two others in different senses
This demonstrates the idea on how ​"modern" girls think losing one's honor
and soiling one's dress are disasters of exactly equal import.

“The list” “And now, unveil'd, the ​Toilet​ stands display'd, Each Silver Vase in mystic
Order laid. “
A list of items, people, or ideas generally similar, except for one or two
incongruous items, which the satirist is aggressing.
The main ideas in the example above is mainly similar but that have different
meanings which makes it confusing for the audience which represents the
agressing of the writer.

Similes & metaphors “I conceive therefore, as to the Business of being ​Profound,​ that it is with
Writers,​ as with ​Wells;​ ”
To compare two words or things together with the use of other
representations.
The use of as and the comparison to the two main ideas demonstrate how this
sentence is a simile.

Oxymoron “No silly perfect visions plague us now"

A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in
conjunction
The use of the words silly and perfect contradict the word plague which is
representing a more negative tone in the sentence.

Parable & allegory The parable of the fat man in the "Preface" to ​Tale of a Tub”
This work of art that can reveal a hidden meaning, usually of moral
importance and also can ​conduct a prolonged discussion on two levels of
meaning while at the same time inherently comparing and contrasting those
levels without further comment
Why is satire so crucial in society?
What other ways can people express an important message without satire?
Is using satire the best way to spread an important message?
What makes satire so alluring to catch the audience’s attention?

11