Chelleee Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 can someone please define satire for me? i understand that it is when authors use irony or sarcasm to criticise but my primary question is: does it have to involve ridicule or mockery to be considered satire? eg. the works i'm focusing on are scarlet letter and heart of darkness if you know the books can you also comment on whether satire exists in either/both of the books and why? i'm trying to distinguish if satire, paradox or just pure irony is present in these novels so any form of feedback would be great! thanks heaps! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinuxBeta Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 I'm going to try to take a shot at this. While there is irony involved in satire, satire does use ridicule or criticism in some humorous way. It usually involves poking fun at a particular person or societal value with the purpose of evoking reader judgment. For more in depth definitions of satire, go into google and type "define: satire" (without the quotes, make sure you use the colon). It should give you a page such as this A paradox is quite different from both irony and satire, and can even be differentiated from an oxymoron and ironic juxtaposition. A paradox is a statement that contradicts itself, such as "War is peace." or "Freedom is slavery." Irony...is hard to define...but it's rather obvious that it's there. When there are two contrasting elements present, you usually have irony (or at least some sort of ironic tone) , regardless whether you have a paradox, an oxymoron or ironic juxtaposition. Hope this helps! I can go further in depth if you need more clarification. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelleee Posted March 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 (edited) yay! thanks for replying :Db thanks heaps for the clarification (you hit the bullseye ) and i've decided i'll just list it as irony since it lacks the humor and ridicule for satire and as for paradox, it doesn't really exist in either novel so close to finishing writing this iop! thanks again!! Edited March 7, 2009 by Chelleee Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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