Notesale: Turn your study into money

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GOOD SATIRE IS ALWAYS CRUEL
For satires to be good they need to fulfil the features of satire
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This however doesn’t make one satire better than the
other because they both have different aims and at the time had different
audiences
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A good satire should be morally didactic, if the satire was cruel it could be seen
as more effective as it will hit the audience harder and will make them want to
change
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Jonson exposes the character’s corruption and makes it
appear more sinister as the play progresses
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A shift in the play’s tone can
be seen when Sheridan characterises Corvinio as an abusive husband who
prostitutes his wife to fulfil his own greed, “show yourself obedient and a
wife”
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This teaches the audience to
not start down the path of such corruption and to correct their behaviour
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Sir Oliver calls the
school a “set of malicious, prating, prudent gossips… who murder characters to
kill time” The murder imagery used creates a darker tone but it is still not at
the level Volpone is
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This shows how sometimes for a satire to be good they have to be cruel in
order for them to meet the features of satire
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However they both go about it in different ways, ‘The School For
Scandal’ takes a more humorous approach whereas ‘Volpone’ is more biting
and cruel
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In ‘Volpone’, Jonson makes an
attack on lawyers; this is achieved through the transmigration of souls skit
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Of his silence he says “that obstreperous lawyer bereft
me”
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This could be
considered cruel because Jonson is suggesting lawyers are blasphemous and
conceited
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Another feature is that the satire promotes morality but doesn’t assume to
bring about perfection
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Through the character Mrs Candour he shows this, “People will talk there’s no
preventing it
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In ‘Volpone’ Jonson makes
satirical attacks on different members of society, he criticizes their morals but
doesn’t assume it will change society
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Puritans are
shown to be morally dubious though how Androgyno’s soul went from a mule
to a “precise, pure, illuminate brother”
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This could be seen as a
cruel comment by Jonson because Puritan would pride themselves on being
moral and Jonson is presenting them as the opposite
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They both have this feature in their
play and can be considered good satires
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A feature is that satire shouldn’t harm or damage in its ridicule but create the
shock of recognition
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In celebrating this, the audience are celebrating villainy
outdoing villainy
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He is able create this recognition because of how dark the play gets in places,
like Volpone’s attempted rape of Celia, “Yield, or I’ll force thee” the sinister
tone created forces the audience to re-evaluate how they view the character
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‘The School For Scandal’
doesn’t harm or damage in its ridicule
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Gossip is presented to be “the
cause of six marriages being broken off, and three sons being disinherited, and
four forced elopements” The listing and hyperbole used shows the
ridiculousness of how much gossip can do in that society
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The two plays manage follow this feature
of a good satire, each play does it differently, ‘Volpone’ through dark humour
and sinister tones whereas ‘The School For Scandal’ does it through humour
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A satire should be entertaining enough to get across the message, a cruel
satire might be too cruel to be entertaining
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Jonson through the theme of love and marriage
portrays an abusive relationship between Corvinio and Celia which isn’t
entertaining
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thee with as many stabs as thou
Amber Ferguson

wert gazed upon with goatish eyes” The violent imagery used makes the
relationship between Corvinio and Celia so sinister that it emphasises to the
audience how greedy and corrupt Corvinio is and how they should strive to be
different
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Sheridan makes an attack on older men
marrying younger women through the characters Lady Teazle and Sir Peter
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If you wanted authority
over me you should have adopted me and not married me” The use of witty
repartee creates a humorous tone and puts across the satirical message in an
entertaining way
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A satire should be intrinsically concerned with justice and virtue, both plays
touch on these elements but are not intrinsically concerned with them
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Sheridan presents Maria as virtuous through how
she refuses to take part in the gossip, “I confess madam, wit loses its respect
with me when I see it in company with malice
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This is one of the ways Sheridan shows she is the virtuous
character of the play
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‘Volpone’
deals with virtue in the character Celia, it also deals with justice when the
villains of Volpone are condemned
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She would
rather that Volpone would “flay my face, or poison it, with ointments” over
having an affair with Volpone
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The villains in Volpone are punished
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which shows justice is served in the play
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‘The School For Scandal’ fulfils this feature of satire to some
extent
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‘Volpone’ falls more under Juvenalian satire because of its personal tone and
the use of dark humour to criticize specific immoral and corrupt behaviour
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‘The School for Scandal’ falls under Horatian satire
because of its witty tone and the gentle ridicules it makes about human failings
and absurdities
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Amber Ferguson



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