Horatian And Juvenalian Satire Analysis

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Satire: Purpose and Methods Satire is well defined by author and historian Barbara Tuchman as “. . . a wrapping of exaggeration around a core of reality,” (AZ quotes). The use of Satire in media has become prominent in our society and has been since its origin in ancient Rome. The overarching purpose of most satire, no matter how it is presented, has most always been to bring about social change by attacking or ridiculing specific groups of people. This purpose is attained using many different methods and techniques of satire. Horatian and Juvenalian satire are the most common methods of satire. Horatian satire works to bring about social change using witty humor. It gently ridicules certain attributes of people or things in such a way that …show more content…

Some of these techniques include exaggeration, incongruity, reversal, and parody. Exaggeration is making something larger than normal, or taking it beyond normal bounds to the point of ridiculousness. In satire, exaggeration is implemented to ridicule physical characteristics, decisions or failures of people, or to point out many other details of situations to make them look or sound outrageous. Incongruity is presenting things such as people, objects, or ideas that are out of place compared to their surroundings or situations. Using incongruity in satire can call to attention details that are being satirized and make them seem absurd. Reversal is presenting the opposite of the normal order, such as order of events or hierarchical order, which, when used in satire, can be used to highlight social injustices or other incongruent relationships. Finally, parody is an imitation of something. Parodies of popular culture such as music, movies and TV, and literature are the most common form of parody in satire in today’s society. There are of course other techniques, but these four appear most often in all kinds of …show more content…

One sample of Horatian satire is the comics of “Calvin and Hobbes” drawn by Bill Waterson. These comic strips gently mock the American people through the main character Calvin, who is portrayed as selfish and lazy (but also free), while the rest of the world is personified in Calvin’s father who is the opposite extreme (“Satire”). His antics are always greatly exaggerated, and many of his statements create a humorous incongruity because of the poignance of his words relative to his young age. Not all comics are meant to be humorous, however. Some political cartoons can be considered Juvenalian because they tackle serious issues and satirize the harsh realities surrounding politics. The most aggressive of these cartoons attempt the shock the audience with its vicious content so that a problem will be recognized and hopefully removed from the person or society as a whole

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