To analyze satire, consider the message and tone, identify the type of satire, examine the author’s purpose and any solutions proposed. Start with an assessment of the subject matter before analyzing the satire used. Determine if the writer proposes a real solution, which is often rejected within the work.
When it comes to satire analysis, a reader should consider the satire’s intrinsic message and use that as a stepping stone for further analysis. Once this message has been determined, the reader should consider whether the satire is “light” and “playful” or “heavier” and uses a “dark” tone to express their point. This can help a reader identify the type of satire he is analyzing, which can then make it easier to draw parallels between it and other satirical works. The analysis of satire should then continue with an examination of the author’s true purpose or position on the subject and any solutions that may be presented by the author.
The analysis of satire should often begin with an overall assessment of the object found in the satire, in order to understand the underlying subject matter of a work. A reader may initially take the work at ‘face value’, ignoring the satire, to determine what is being discussed. In a work like Jonathon Swift’s A Modest Proposal, Swift proposes that poor Irish people should sell their children to well-to-do English people as meat in order to afford food. Ignoring the obvious and dark satire in this proposition, the subject can quickly be seen as the poor and food shortages.
Once this argument is determined, the reader should continue the analysis of the satire by looking at the satire actually used and the tone of that satire. In the example above, the satire is clearly the proposition that people sell their children in order to feed themselves. This is an inhuman and unthinkable act for all rational people, and therefore the satire in this example is clear. It is also satire with a dark and somewhat “vicious” tone.
The analysis of satire can continue by using this information to determine which type of satire a particular work belongs to. A Modest Proposal, for example, is generally considered to be a juvenile satire, which is often “dark” and cruel in tone, and intended to condemn some aspect of the subject. In contrast to this, some works may be Horace’s satire, which is often “lighter” in tone and meant to be more playful in its approach to satire. Satire analysis can determine what kind of satire a work uses, including Menippean satire which is more chaotic and universally derisive, in order to allow the reader to better understand the writer’s perspective.
All of this information can be used in satire analysis to help a reader understand the subject matter, the type of satire used to illustrate something on that subject, and how the writer views that subject. From there, a reader should try to determine if the writer is proposing a real solution, which is often included in a satire. This solution is often rejected within the work, as the satirical point of view is distorted in relation to the true perspective of the writer, and therefore the analysis of the work should take this solution out of the context of the satire.
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