Satire
Christy Brown
Leah Woodside
Definition
• In literary work holding up human vices and
follies to ridicule and scorn
Pronunciation
• \sat-ahyuhr\
• http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/satir
e
Literary References
• “‘As to her younger daughters, she could not take upon her
to say—she could not positively answer—but she did not
know of any prepossession;--her eldest daughter she must
just mention—she felt incumbent on her to hint, was likely
to be very soon engaged.’
Mr. Collins had only to change from Jane to
Elizabeth—and it was soon done—done while Mrs. Bennet
was stirring the fire. Elizabeth, equally next to Jane in birth
and beauty, succeeded her of course.
Mrs. Bennet treasured up the hint, and trusted that she
might soon have two daughters married; and the man
whom she could not bear to speak of the day before was
now high in her good graces.” (Pride and Prejudice, pg
72)
Literary Analysis
• The author’s purpose is to point out the ridiculousness
of marriage in England during the 18th century. Austen
does this through satire through Mrs. Bennet, who is so
obsessed with getting her daughters married that she
doesn’t stop to think about whether they will be happy,
who she is trying to get them married to, and will
instantly change her opinion of a person willing to
marry one of her daughters. Austen also demonstrates
satire through Mr. Collins, who will only do what
society dictates when searching for a wife, and transfers
his affection from Jane to
Elizabeth because Elizabeth is more convenient without
remorse or any negative feelings.
Literary Reference
• “There is likewise another great advantage
in my scheme, that it will prevent those
voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice
of women murdering their bastard children,
alas! too frequent among us! sacrificing the
poor innocent babes I doubt more to avoid
the expense than the shame, which would
move tears and pity in the most savage and
inhuman breast.” (“A Modest Proposal”)
Literary Analysis
• The author’s purpose is to show the great and
ridiculous measures people will go to save money.
Smith demonstrates this through satire by proposing
the idea of eating children to save money and decrease
the amount of people in poverty. Satire is especially
used when he states that eating children will reduce
the amount of abortions, and amount of “sacrificing
the poor innocent babes”, when in reality he is
proposing to sacrifice children anyway, and in a much
more horrific way.
Literary Reference
• “Every human being held it as an article of faith
that the farm would go bankrupt sooner or later,
and, above all, that the windmill would be a
failure. They would meet in the public-houses and
prove to one another by means of diagrams that
the windmill was bound to fall down, or that if it
did stand up, then that it would never work. And
yet, against their will, they had developed a certain
respect for the efficiency with which the animals
were managing their own affairs.” (Animal Farm).
Literary Analysis
• The author’s purpose is to show how when people
want something to happen they will convince
themselves in many ways that the desired event
will happen. Satire is used to show this in Animal
Farm when Orwell talks about how the
townspeople met and continually tried to prove to
themselves through login that the windmill would
be a failure. They did this because they were upset
about the success of the farm and wanted it to fail,
so they convinced themselves it would.
Work Cited
• Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1813.\
• Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York:
Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1946.
• Swift, Jonathan. “A Modest Proposal.” Great
Literature Online. 1997-2010
http://swift.classicauthor.net/ModestProposal/
(October 10, 2010).
• http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/satire