Joseph Addison : Critique Of The Diarist, In The 1700's '

George Orwell once said, “freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear”, that, essentially, “speaking the truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act”. (“George Orwell”) Orwell’s words reveal his political views in the absolute truest form. His uninhibited writing style forced readers to not only to listen what he had to say, but to also recognize his writing as the truth. Although his veracity was supposed to be accepted without question, Orwell defined oppressive ideas of the government by exposing elements such as class division, and the failed attempts of the middle class to establish a meaningful union with the working class. Through his symbolic storytelling in

Shakespeare’s King Lear and Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus are two examples of early modern texts, one a tragedy and the other a morality play respectively, which deal with the theme of power at the crux of its narrative. Between both texts it is evident that different characters utilize their power or authority differently – some ‘unwisely’ whilst some ‘maliciously’. In either case, the use of power progresses the plays and drives the majority of main characters.

Effectively ushering change in society or pointing out faults that have existed and gone unnoticed can be a daunting task for any social commentator. Often, blandly protesting grievances or concerns can fall upon deaf ears and change can be slow or non-existent. However, Jonathan Swift in his pamphlet A Modest Proposal, uses clever, targeted, and ironic criticism to bring the social state of Ireland to the attention of indolent aristocrats. He accomplishes such criticism through satire, specifically Juvenalian satire. Swift’s A Modest Proposal stands as an example of the type of satire that plays upon the audience’s emotion by creating anger concerning the indifference of the voice created. He complements such criticism with sophisticated,

    During the eighteenth century there was an incredible upheaval of commercialization in London, England.  As a result, English society underwent significant, "changes in attitude and thought", in an attempt to obtain the dignity and splendor of royalty and the upper class (McKendrick,2).  As a result, English society held themselves in very high regards, feeling that they were the elite society of mankind.  In his novel, Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift satirizes this English society in many ways.  In the novel, Swift uses metaphors to reveal his disapproval of English society.  Through graphic representations of the body and it's functions, Swift reveals to the reader that grandeur is

Throughout the sixteenth century Satire was used as a method of both exposing and correcting vice. Isabella Whitney, the first known woman in England to publish a volume of poetry, wrote several satirical works. Throughout the duration of this course, although on the syllabus, satire was never discussed. Whitney used satire to write her two final poems “A Communication Which the Author had to London Before She Made Her Will” and “The Manner of Her Will, and What She Left to London and to All Those in It at Her Departing” which were published as the final two poems in her second volume, A Sweet Nosegay. They were written as a critique of modern London at the time. Although very little is known about the life of Isabella Whitney it is very possible to assume that her works, including these two, are autobiographical. These two works, regarding Isabella Whitney’s “last will and testament” to London should be included in L309 because of the different perspective that could be gained through; reading a work in which the speaker is portrayed by the poet, acquiring a female perspective, hearing the view of a member of the lower class, and the additional perspective it could add to the discussion regarding satire, or start the discussion in the case of this semester.

Mary Wollstonecraft’s epistolary essay “A Vindication of the Rights of Men” acts as a direct, scathing response to Edmund Burke’s opinionated piece regarding the French Revolution, “Reflections on the Revolution in France”. This essay will examine the use of satire as a mode in the opening sections of Wollstonecraft’s “Vindication”, as well as comparing her lexical choices to those of her addressee, Edmund Burke. The Oxford English Dictionary states that “satire” is “… [A] work of art which uses humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize prevailing immorality or foolishness, esp. [sic] as a form of social or political commentary.” Humour is too exaggerated to relate to Wollstonecraft’s work, but ridicule as a

Jonathan Swift, the writer of the satirical essay A Modest Proposal, grew up and lived in Ireland during times of famine and economic struggles (Conditions). Growing up with a single mother and no father, Swift knew what hard times and struggles were like (Jonathan Swift: Biography). His essay proposes an easy solution to the economic problems going on in Ireland for both the wealthy ruling classes and the poorer classes, although his intentions and the meaning behind his words are not what would be originally thought when initially reading the essay. Through his word choices and the description of specific events of his time, Swift uses satire to grab his audience’s attention and get his own personal ideas and opinions out about all the

The ruthlessness that harbors party attendees’ appeasement also transcends to the fear that the townspeople and partygoers have towards Anthony’s total control. The reader can find the Bixby’s portrayal of fear of Anthony in the absence of the details and in Anthony’s presentation. Indeed, nothing Bixby could come up with is as chilling to the reader as the details and images that will appear, summoned, from the depths of their imaginations. When Anthony “thought Dan Hollis into something like nothing anyone would have believed possible…thought the thing into a grave, deep, deep in the cornfield” (Bixby, 446) — the resemblance of a banishment to GULAG or Nazi concentration camp should be remarked (Spender, 219), but the reader is not sure of the specific implications, but one understands the terror by the partygoers’ response and Anthony’s purple gaze (implying an imperial or

Amid the late 17th century, Jonathan Swift’s pamphlet, A Modest Proposal, exploits the negligence of British government towards the Irish people. To illustrate the disregard of the government, he uses logical fallacies, metaphors, repetition and parallelism as well as humor, sarcasm and a satiric tone to highlight these negative attitudes. Not only does he applies these literary devices, he adopts Francis Bacon’s, The Four Idols, to exemplify the intention of the pamphlet. Adopting Bacon’s ideas of the corruption, illusions, and errors of people in society, Swift had the ability to demonstrate the government's disregard towards the people of Ireland. Bacon’s his ideas regarding society are proposed through four idols: “Idols of the Cave”,

Two novels use satire to criticize human weakness. In ‘Gulliver’s Travel’, Swift makes up a horse society Houyhnhnm and a brutal animal Yahoo. Gulliver has to admit that human beings are yahoos after a series comparison between human and yahoo. Vices of human beings are exposed by the Swift’s satiric

“A Satire against Reason and Mankind” is a poem written by John Wilmot the Second Earl of Rochester. Two things are argued against in this poem. First, mankind and its base nature that causes men to exploit each other for seemingly no reason. Second, mankind’s ability to reason which causes them to compare themselves to God. However, at the end of the poem Rochester offers a chance for himself to be proven wrong, but only if a just man can be found. This idea of a “just man” is not Rochester believing mankind can improve, but rather it is him supporting his own argument because he knows that this man does not exist. When this “just man” is described he directly contrasts with human nature and shines a light on man’s true baseness and shows

During the Age of Enlightenment, people began believing in and relying upon rational thought instead of religious dogma to explain the world. This newfound emphasis on rationality promoted a breadth of freedom in speech that was previously unknown, a fact which was utilized by philosophers such as John Locke, Rousseau, and Sir Isaac Newton. In addition, the Age of Enlightenment produced famous writers who didn’t agree with the irrational politics and old traditions of their respective countries, and instead relied upon wit and satire to expose the corruption and poor human condition existing around them. These Enlightenment writers use irony in their satires to get their interpretations regarding the human condition across.

Of course one doesn't need to be modern in order to recognize that Addison was clearly working through some personal issues with his essay at the moment. One can tell he

Joseph Addison was an esteemed writer, and founder of “The Spectator” magazine. Throughout his work Addison emphasized his reader to build strong responsible values. The essence of this responsibility is to be diligent, and continuous improve one’s virtues to improve the state of order. Responsibility is encouraged through the works of Joseph Addison’s in “Spare Time”, “Cato, a Tragedy”, “The Spectator”.

“Absalom and Achiophel”: the wondrous satirical poem written by John Dryden himself which features the many different ways of inviting humorous and satirical aspects of the Popish plot to light. George Villiers, the second duke of Buckingham, was no exception for Dryden. So much so that the footnotes of the couplets involving George even states that the section on George was “The least political of the satirical portraits in the poem” (Noggle, 2226). Claiming that George Villiers, in Dryden’s eyes, was not fit to be a leader in the Popish plot was an extreme understatement as he painted an overwhelmingly satirical image of how George was not only incapable of making an impact in the Popish plot, but is upright a fool to society. Dryden, in the process of painting this satirical imagery, also uses George as an example of showing consequentialism in action.