The document discusses different types of satire and parody found in classic works of literature. It provides examples and analysis of how Cervantes' Don Quixote uses both satire and parody to comment on societal ideals of chivalry versus reality. While meant to parody chivalric romances, Don Quixote ultimately juxtaposes and judges modern standards against the ideals of chivalry. The document also examines how Swift's Gulliver's Travels satirizes political issues in England through the fictional land of Lilliput and its petty disputes and conquests.
2. Satire vs. Parody
The difference is the intention:
◦ Satire is stands for a social or political change. It
depicts an anger or frustration trying to make the
subject palatable.
◦ Parody is really meant for mocking and it may or
may not incite the society. Parody is just pure
entertainment and nothing else. It does not have
a direct influence on the society.
4. Overt Purpose behind
Don Quixote
Overt purpose--to parody the genre of
chivalric romance by showing what would
happen if anyone were insane enough to take
romantic, chivalric, courtly love conventions
seriously and to try to live by them in the
modern world (of ~1600)
5. What happens to that
purpose?
Cervantes thus juxtaposes concrete actuality
(world of 1600) to high ideal values (chivalry)
Chivalry is thus not exactly satirized or
parodied, simply judged against modern
standards--and modern standards are judged
against chivalry.
6. The ordinary modern world vs. Don Quixote
Ordinary World
World of reality
World of reason
Actions prompted by material
considerations
Don Quixote’s World
World of illusion
World of imagination
Actions prompted by high ideal
motives
7. Effect on reader of Don Quixote
We expect to laugh at Don Q and his mis-fitting into
the modern world; we gradually come to admire him
more than the sane folks surrounding him.
Don Quixote’s strength and the consistency of his
belief system (albeit a mad one) coupled to his high
ideals, make his world of illusion more attractive
than reality.
This compelling attraction of DQ’s madness is first
seen in in Sancho Panza, then in the reader
9. Satire
Poke fun at
◦ human institutions (e.g. Healthcare, government,
education, banking)
◦ Human weaknesses/vices (e.g. greed, lust, gluttony, spite)
Only meant to illuminate a societal issue, not
provide solutions to it
Makes us laugh, but also makes us think
10. A MODEST PROPOSAL
For preventing the
children of poor people
in Ireland, from being a
burden on their parents
or country, and for
making them beneficial
to the public.
Pg. 583
11.
12.
13. A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT
The emperor believed himself to be the
delight and terror of the universe, but it
appeared quite absurd to Gulliver who was
twelve times as tall as he.
In his account of the two parties in the
country, distinguished by the use of high and
low heels.
Religious disputes were laughed at in an
account of a problem which divided the
Lilliputians: “ Should eggs be broken at the
big end or the little end?”
The first part tells about his experience in Lilliput
14. Main Characters
Lilliputians
◦ Inhabit Lilliput
◦ Only 6 inches tall
◦ Prone to conspiracies and
jealousies
Emperor
◦ Ruler of the Lilliputians
◦ Despite small size, loves being in
control, exercising his power, and
his large palace
15. Gulliver Meets the Lilliputians
He finds that the population is split between
'Big Enders' and 'Little Enders‘
The Emperor who is keen to go to war with
Belfuscu and the defecting 'Big Enders‘
The Empress who originally likes Gulliver, but
is then offended when he urinates on
buildings to put out a fire
16. Satire in Voyage to Lilliput
Lilliput – England
Blefuscu – France
The Big-Endian/Little-Endian controversy satirizes
the futility of British quarrels over religion.
Gulliver sees the tiny Lilliputians as being vicious
and unscrupulous –Swift makes them literally small
to indicate the “small mindedness” of the British
parliament.
