The Use Of Satire In The Poem, By Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift is a satirist and uses various forms of satire to do so. This poem is a satire because of the literary devices present and the use of different satirical aspects in the poem. The poem can be interpreted as a satire because of the use of irony, hyperbole, and humor to make a point. To start, the poem uses irony very heavily. In the poem, Jonathan Swift uses situational irony. On lines 5-8 it reads, “Strephon, who found the room was void…Stole in, and took a strict Survey, Of all the Litter as it lay.” This is situational irony because you would expect that a lady’s dressing room would be free of clutter, yet Celia’s room had objects lying all around it. The quote shows that it is a satire because the poem jokingly makes fun of

In the poem, on lines 1-2 and 115-119, it reads “Five Hours, (and who can do it less in?) By haughty Celia spent in Dressing;…Thus finishing his grand Survey, Disgusted Strephon stole away Repeating in his amorous Fits, Oh! Celia, Celia, Celia shits!” In these lines humor is used to showcase a certain point, how women seemingly take an eternity to get ready. Humor is used to make the audience laugh whilst also being there to show that the point is true as well. When Strephon is having a fit when figuring out that Celia actually uses the bathroom, humor is also used. It is telling the reader about how women really are but does not blatantly speak it. By sending messages to the reader using humor makes this poem a satire. Overall, Swift uses humor to poke fun at issues that both males and females face in order to enlighten the reader. The messages relate to real life because in real life males often remark about the time that women spend in the bathroom. The other message also relates to real life because in the world, men are usually ignorant when it comes to women and believe that what they first perceive is the correct notion of females. Swift uses humor to tell males about the true aspects of how women really are. To conclude, “The Lady’s Dressing Room” is a satire because of the use of literary devices and humor that is prevalent throughout the novel. By the use of both literary devices and humor, Jonathan Swift was able to make a point and proving certain behaviors of men and women to be true. Swift allows the readers to see truth in his statement by eliciting a positive response through humor. Instead of feeling offence, Swift allowed the audience to be able to think critically about the subject in the poem and showed them the true nature of both males and