Satire in the Eighteenth Century
New ideas, original thoughts, and fresh interpretations characterized the spirit of the eighteenth century. Science was flourishing, and therefore it brought new discoveries that challenged the traditional dominating force of religion. Influential figures of the age, such as Voltaire, Jonathan Swift, and William Hogarth, strove to assure human betterment and advance human thinking through truth and humorous criticism. They employed the use of satire in order to accomplish their common goal.
According to A Handbook of Literary Terms, satire is defined as "a work or manner that blends a censorious attitude with humor or wit for improving human institutions or humanity" (Harmon and Holman 461). The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics further asserts that satire is "both a mode of discourse or vision that asserts polemical or critical outlook, and also a specific literary genre, embodying that mode in either prose or verse" (Preminger and Brogan 1114). In essence, satire emerges as a device to successfully diagnose human faults and offer a cure for society.
Satire often includes abuse, sarcasm, irony, mockery, exaggeration, and understatements. Arguably Voltaire's most famous work, Candide presents a string of characters laced in exaggeration. For example, the Baron's lady was not only a large presence, but she weighed a striking three hundred and fifty pounds. Furthermore, the Baron's castle was considered a monument of prestige, "for his house had a door and several windows and his hall was actually draped in tapestry" (Voltaire 19). It is apparent that the use of the hyperbole, among other elements, played a crucial role in the potency of satir...
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...rs and improves judgment: he that rectifies the public taste is a public benefactor" (Preminger and Brogan 1115). The eighteenth century was a time of transformation, in which society was in constant evolution. The progress of the age was delivered to the common person's doorstep through literature and art and reached the common person's understanding through satire. Hence, satire was both a furious weapon and a common medium that was utilized by the thinkers of the eighteenth century to promote the Enlightenment.
Works Cited
"Art of William Hogarth". 7 July 2000.
Harmon, William and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook of Literary Terms. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1992.
Preminger, Alex and T.V.F. Brogan, ed. The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1993.
"Swift Biography". 8 July 2000.
Use of Satire to Target Religion, Military, and Optimism in Voltaire's Candide. In his work, Candide, Voltaire uses satire as a means of conveying his opinions about many aspects of European society in the eighteenth century. Voltaire successfully criticizes religion, the military, and the philosophy of optimism. Religious leaders are the targets of satire throughout Candide.
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During Russia’s transition to communism in the early 20th century, conflict and unease permeated every part of life. Nothing was stable and very little of what the Bolsheviks had fought for had come to fruition by the time the USSR disbanded in 1991. The “classless society”, which was to work together for the prosperity of everyone, never became a reality. In the end, the majority of Russia’s 20th century was an utter failure on a grand scale. However, there were many amazing products of the system do to the great importance of education in Russian culture. Priceless novels were written, timeless movies were made, and great scientific endeavors were realized despite the rigid control placed upon Russian persons by the government. In fact, some of the most memorable written works of the time were written protests to the creativity-stifling situation many writers found themselves in. Because of the danger to their lives should the wrong people be upset by their writings, Yevgeny Zamyatin and Mikhail Bulgakov wrote their most popular, Soviet-life condemning novels under the guise of satire. Even though they’re satirizing the same subject, in both We and The Master and Margarita respectively, they take very different paths to do so.
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The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in European history. The plague first arrived in Sicily, at the port of Messina, on twelve trading ships. (History) Welcoming citizens had no clue of the terror that would soon be unleashed upon their lands. Every sailor aboard each ship was either dying or dead from the vicious disease, and the living were desperate for a helping hand. Unfortunately, the people they saw as their savior were not so generous. Authorities ordered the ships to leave at once, not realizing that it was already too late. As the plague wreaked havoc across Europe, it destroyed everything in its path. People started to lose faith in God and began to wonder why he would let such a horrendous event carry on. Others thought of it as some type of punishment for all of man’s sins, and these individuals had their own way of reaching out for redemption. Europe began to crumble before their very eyes. Eventually, the Black Death led to the fall of Feudalism and serfdom. There was no organization left in society, no power or control. It just didn’t exist anymore. The virulent pestilence took innocent lives, day, after day, with no remorse.
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Considered one of the worst natural disasters in world history, the Black Death came through Europe in 1347 A.D. It ravaged cities and town, causing a death to the masses, and no one was considered safe. The Plague is any epidemic scourge or calamity for which remedies are difficult to find, and according to the encyclopedia, plague is a common term for a disease of rodents that occasionally cause severe human infection. Named for the black spots that appeared on the victims’ skin, the original disease originated from Oriental Rat Fleas and black rats. It first infected Mongol armies and traders in Asia, and then began moving west with them as they traveled. There was no natural immunity to the disease, and standards of public health and personal hygiene were nearly nonexistent. It is believed that if people had not fled to nearby cities in hopes of escaping the plague, it might not have ever spread like it did. In the end, it passed through Italy, France, England, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Finland, and even up to the island of Greenland. City dwellers were hit the hardest due to the fact of crowded streets and the lack of sanitation. Up until the mid-15th century, recurrent epidemics prevented the recovery of Europe’s population to pre-plague levels. The Black Death was an important turning point for the history of Europe. This time was “the beginning of the end of the medieval period and the start of a social transformation of the continent.” The social and economic impacts of the plague were so huge, economics, politics and the European society would never be the same again.
Bubonic plague is a bacterial infection caused by Yersinia pestis. This infection was named after Alexandre Yersin, a bacteriologist and physician who first discovered that this bacterium was the cause of the bubonic plague. Bubonic plague is known by different names such as Black Death and Black Plague. Black Death and Black Plague seemed to have been the perfect names at the moment because black symbolizes pain, misery, and death. The appearance of a black dot in the underarm area also influenced the naming of this disease. Skin tissues would become damaged causing a black discoloration of the skin. This infection was also known as the Great Plague. In earlier times, it was also called “The Great Mortality” because numerous people succumbed
The Black Death was an incredible event that effected everyone on a physical level, emotional level, or both. The Black Death was more terrible, and killed more people than any war in history. The plague was so horrible and terrifying that people said it made all other disasters in the Middle Ages seem like a walk in the park when compared it to the Black Death.
The Black Plague, perhaps one of the worst epidemics in history, swept its evil across Europe in the middle of the 14th century, killing an estimated 20 million people. This major population shift, along with other disasters occurring at the time, such as famine and an already existing economic recession, plunged Europe into a dark period of complete turmoil. Anarchy, psychological breakdowns, and the dissipation of church power were some of the results. As time passed, however, society managed to find new ground and began its long path of recovery. The plague, as catastrophic as it was to medieval Europe, had just as many positive effects that came with this recovery as it did negative effects prior. An end to feudalism, increased wages and innovation, the idea of separation of church and state, and an attention to hygiene and medicine are only some of the positive things that came after the plague. It could also be argued that the plague had a significant impact on the start of the Renaissance.
The new form was not limited to literature alone, William Hogarth expanded Satire to include art as well. His series of paintings, A Rake's Progress, narrate the life of a young man in eighteenth century London. Hogarth's paintings also illustrate that anything can be the object of satire, as he made fun of every aspect of life, not simply the institutions of religion, science, and politics. Although not all Satire dealt with religion, science and politics, the most notable satirist of the time, Voltaire confined his writings to these subjects. His style, which has been widely used in our time, is to portray a member of the society he is satirizing as foolish and hypocritical. In one of his more famous works, Candide, Voltaire repeatedly mocks the supposedly all-knowing philosophers with the character of Dr. Pangloss, professor of "metaphysicotheologicocosmolo-nigology" (Lamm 175). Voltaire portrays this man of science as very misguided, not the brilliant thinker one would expect. Evidence of this is seen in the Dr.'s proudest accomplishment, "he proved admirably that there is no effect without a cause (Lamm 175).
Allison, Barrows, Blake, et al. eds. The Norton Anthology Of Poetry . 3rd Shorter ed. New York: Norton, 1983. 211.
Although the Renaissance consisted of discovering new and exciting topics, a major outbreak had occurred. This outbreak was known as the Bubonic Plague or the “Black Death” which had arrived in Europe in 1348 (Woodville). The Bubonic Plague impacted Europe and Europeans negatively economically, politically, and socially.
In Candide, Voltaire sought to point out the fallacy of Gottfried Leibniz's theory of optimism and the hardships brought on by the resulting inaction toward the evils of the world. Voltaire's use of satire, and its techniques of exaggeration and contrast highlight the evil and brutality of war and the world in general when men are meekly accepting of their fate.
The Black death was one of the most devastating plagues that the world has ever seen but it led to how life is today. Jews were blamed for outbreak of pandemic, there were new styles of presentation in art, and there were also changing relationship between people and Catholic Church.The three important effects of the Black Death on Western Europe were the changing relationships between people and the church, People began to express their faith and opinions through artwork, and that Jews were blamed for the outbreak of the disease and were targeted by Europeans.Although the Black Death took millions of lives, it was a very important event in some cases and led life to how it is today and without out it we wouldn’t be what we are now.