Satire in Tartuffe, Candide and a Modest Proposal
Generally speaking, satire is a literary form or work which exploits human vices, such as greed, avarice and jealousy, in order to ridicule. Some of the literary devices used to accomplish satire include wit, irony and sarcasm which exposes or discredits human foibles. Satire is usually directed at individuals or institutions with political or social leanings and serves, at times, as pure entertainment for the reading public. It also is used to illuminate certain conditions or situations that exhibit unjust or discriminatory traits. Three writers stand out as exemplary proponents of satire-Francois de Voltaire (1694-1778), author of Candide, Jean Baptiste Moliere (1622-1673), author of Tartuffe, and Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), author of the satiric piece A Modest Proposal. Thus, the ideals expressed by these authors in the above works focus on the human condition as it relates to man and his environment and serves as attacks filled with irony and metaphor. As one of the greatest writers of the so-called "Age of Enlightenment," Voltaire uses satire in a scathingly brilliant way, especially regarding Candide, the main character in the novel. Permeated by the human condition, Candide is a young man full of great optimism and se
Therefore, Moliere is satirizing the character of Orgon via his religious piety and self-righteousness; in essence, he is the ultimate hypocrite who preaches one way of living but practices another. In the mind of Moliere, Orgon has no redeeming human values or ideals yet he uses Orgon as a satirical example on how malicious and evil a person can be while espousing fake moral values in order to elevate himself in society and in the eyes of his family and friends. Swift begins his "Proposal" by pointing out that his solution to the problem involves not just the charity of the children but also everyone that lives within Ireland and then explains some of his other schemes which he inevitably drops, due to not being fully able to end the over-population of children born to mostly poor folks and beggars. Swift also mentions that his scheme will help to alleviate abortions and the practice of mothers murdering their own children in order to thin out the herd. Of course, Swift's answer to the over-population of children in Ireland is to serve them up as food in a number of ways. He then proposes several recipes that one could use to best serve children as some kind of human delicacy for the dinner table. Lastly, Swift provides some advantages of this scheme, such as decreasing the number of Catholics in Ireland, increasing the overall wealth of the nation and inducing people
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 932
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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