What does satire mean in drama

Eventually, more specific kinds of satire became associated with the works of three different Roman authors, whose names are still invoked to describe the varieties of satire they established. Horatian satire tends to be good-natured and light-hearted, looking to raise laughter to encourage moral improvement. Juvenalian satire tends to be more bitter and dark, expressing anger and outrage at the state of the world.

A famous example of Juvenalian satire is by another eighteenth-century writer, Jonathan Swift. A Modest Proposal is a prose pamphlet that initially appears to be a serious, well-intentioned attempt to suggest a solution to what was a major problem at the time: the impoverished state of Ireland, due in no small part to absentee English landlords who owned a lot of Irish land but re-invested very little of their profits back into the Irish economy.

A Modest Proposal is thus an angry denunciation, not just of the rapaciousness of the English landlords and their lack of care for their Irish tenants, but also of the kind of bureaucratic mindset that becomes so enamored with its own problem-solving that it forgets that real humans will be affected by its plans.

The punch is made even more powerful when the topic of much satire are individuals in society well known to the audience. Someone or something usually has to be the butt of most comedy in order for it to be humorous, so effective satire takes full advantage of this and really makes a mockery of particular people and events. Satire can therefore be viewed as either offensive to some, or quite harmless to others.

These are usually physical traits or qualities. Comedians intent on making society aware that certain people have peculiar physical characteristics, ridicule public figures every day. The more famous the person, the funnier the satire may be. Satire is closely linked to parody and can often discredit an individual of their public worth or value.

This is where political satire is of such importance. Although satire is usually meant to be humorous, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit as a weapon and as a tool to draw attention to both particular and wider issues in society. Satire is nowadays found in many artistic forms of expression, including literature, plays, commentary, television shows, and media such as lyrics. Dallas Baptist University Excellent explanation of the characteristics of the various types of satire.

Les Bizarrables Satirical song lyrics based on those from the musical Les Miserables. This page uses Creative Commons Licensed excerpt s from Wikipedia. In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary.

Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation.

The performance can be live or via media; the performer can be present or absent. However, there are differences between them—particularly in their intentions. Parody intends to mimic something familiar to an audience as a means of amusement or invoking humor.

Parody primarily relies on audience recognition of what is being mimicked in order to understand the ridicule of the subject. The motive of parody is to generate laughs rather than any deeper understanding.

The focus of satire is a larger scope. Satire relies on audience recognition of a systemic problem underlying the ridicule and humor. Therefore, though satire does intend to be humorous, the motive is a greater common understanding of humanity and society rather than generating laughter. This is effective for readers in that satire can create a critical lens through literature with which to look at human behavior, political structures, social institutions, and even cultural traditions.

Otherwise, the satirical meaning is lost and ineffective.