Satire is Used in the Portraits, Gin Lane, by William Hogarth and Untitled by Paul Kuczynsk

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What is satire? According to oxforddictionaries.com, satire is “The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.” This literary device is portrayed heavily in both the illustrations “Gin Lane” by William Hogarth and in “Untitled” by Paul Kuczynski. “Gin Lane” is basically an illustration by William Hogarth that depicts life in the gin shops and shows the negative effects the drink had on the people of London. It shines a light on the horrible circumstances London was under when gin was introduced to its people. “Unititled” is an illustration by Paul Kuczynski that represents how our current society experiences life through Faebook and use it to see what is going on in the real world. Instead of going outside and experiencing life for themselves, people hide behind social media and use it as a buffer. Satire is present in both of these illustrations, multiple times and help reinforce their themes and messages. Although these works of art are vastly different, they have some similarities.
In “Gin Lane” by William Hogarth, satire can be seen everywhere throughout the entire portrait. The artist uses different types of satire in this piece of art to reinforce the themes of misery, poverty, ruin and neglect. For example, in the portrait, the first thing that catches one's eye is a woman sitting on the stairs that looks disheveled and diseased. She is so focused on taking the tobacco that is in her hands, she does not notice her child falling off the railing beside her. Next to her sits a desperate child sharing a bone with a dog. In front of the woman sits a half naked man dying of starvation from ...

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...al media interaction is overtaking physical interaction. Hogarth’s illustration contains multiple themes such as misery, poverty, ruin and neglect, while Kuczynski’s contains only one, isolation. The style of drawing in Hogarth’s artwork was more detailed and had multiple scenes in one picture while Kuczynski’s artwork is more simplistic and contains only one scene. Regardless of all their differences, both works of art share one thing in common, the artists used satire to get their message across.
Satire is a commonly used literary device and it can be seen multiple times in both the illustrations “Gin Lane” by William Hogarth and in “Untitled” by Paul Kuczynski. Whether it be the downfall of London after the introduction of gin or the overtaking of physical interaction by social media, he use of satire in these art pieces help portray their different messages.

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