Satire Restoration Power Point

Impact of Satire

• What is satire?• Satire is a unique style of writing that uses humor,

irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to criticize and expose people for their incompetence and or stupidity especially in the areas of politics and other hot topics in a culture. This genre of literature is used to shame people, businesses, government, and society as a whole into doing something they should do or to stop doing what they should not do. One consistent characteristic of satire is irony or sarcasm..

Impact of Satire (cont.)

How did Satire affect the Restoration period?• The goal is to point out the flaws of the subject at hand

in such a way as to embarrass and provoke change. • Because there was so much corruption during the

Restoration Era, much of the literature of this time was used to point out the flaws of English society of this time. In fact, this time period has been coined the Age of Satire. One of the most famous authors of this time was Jonathan Swift. He was famous for his trivial literature such as Gulliver’s Travels,

Impact of Satire (cont.)

• What events triggered Satirical writing?• One of the most famous works of satire in English is

Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal.” Swift recommends eating Ireland’s urban poor children to prevent them from being a social strain. The full title of the article, which was published anonymously, gives a hint at its satirical nature: “A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland From Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick.”

Impact of Satire (cont.)

• Swift, of course, didn’t wish that any children be eaten; he was parodying other political solutions to save people from poverty, mimicking the language of other political authors while presenting an absurd suggestion. He wanted to totally shock and disgust the reader to make a bold statement concerning the desperate conditions in Ireland.

Impact of Satire (cont.)

• Why is Satire so important during this period?• From the roots of dissatisfaction grows the stem

of satirical literature and certainly the people of the Restoration Era had reason to feel grudgingly toward their government and their overall leadership. As Charles the II was restored to the throne of England, the public reacted to this change and the literature that swelled from the public disgust and outrage followed suit.

Impact of Satire (cont.)

• What other pieces of literature demonstrate the power of satire?

• Gulliver's Travels was the work of a writer who had been using satire as his medium for over a quarter of a century. Swift, in fact, created the whole of Gulliver's Travels in order to give the public a new moral lens. Through this lens, Swift hoped to "vex" his readers by offering them new insights into the game of politics and into the social follies of humans.