Satire VS Irony: The Differences PJAEE, 17 (7) (2020)

Satire VS Irony: The Differences

Dr. Prem Bahadur Khadka

Lecturer of English, Gurans Multiple Campus, Madhuwan- 8, Bardia, Nepal

Email: [email protected]

Dr. Prem Bahadur Khadka. Satire VS Irony: The Differences--Palarch’s Journal Of

Archaeology Of Egypt/Egyptology 17(7), 11012-11017. ISSN 1567-214x
Keywords: Irony, Satire, Sarcasm, Incongruity, Figures of Speech, Literary Terms.

Abstract:
Satire and Irony are the technological elements of literature. They have different
roots. They are used in different forms for various purposes. Different literary styles exist.
Everybody invokes various kinds of fun and enjoyment. Everyone has produced new kinds.
However, they have associations and are often called synonyms. In this article, we analyze
and draw conclusions on certain differences and similarities.Although satire can be viewed as
a narrative type or as means for and of representation, it is irony, in a rhetorical troupe which
acts by means of confrontation and incongruity, that can bring about the overthrow of
expectations and operate within a 'logic of discovery.'
In particular, satire, literary, literary and dramaturgical works, in which the human or
personal vice, insanity, violence, or defects are sometimes censored in order to encourage
social change through satire, derision, burlesque, irony, parody, caricature, etc.

Introduction:
Irony is the use of words in order to convey the opposite sense to its literal
meaning. It is a technique to suggest an intent or attitude contrary to what is
actually or obviously specified through the production of character or plot.
Irony is a way to arrange a work so as to allow its fullest expression of
inconsistent or complementary desires, behaviours, etc., in particular to imply
detachment from a topic, topic or emotion.3 Satire involves using irony,
sarcasm, ludicrousness, etc. It is a composition of literature of verse or prose,
which includes the shame, laughing, or mockery of the human folly and vice.
Satire is generally associated with irony, burlesqueness, caricature, parody,
etc. Satire references literary types of derision or foolishness. Satire is the
general concept, sometimes more than a weak individual, which implies moral
judgement and a corrective purpose: the satire of human simplicity and
bestiality. 4 Irony, sarcasm and satire reveal somewhat or somebody's ridicule.
The basic trait of irony is that a paradox exists implicitly between an event or
an expression and the meaning. The opposition of the literal and intended
sense of a declaration is stressed in the figure for expression. One thing is said,

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and the other means, as the comment says, "Good weather, isn't it? "For it's
rainy or gross. Ironic literature exploits, in addition to the rhetorical
figure, such devices as character development, situation, and plot to
stress the paradoxical nature of reality or the contrast between an ideal
and actual condition, set of circumstances, etc., frequently in such a way as to
stress the absurdity present in the contradiction between substance and form.
Irony differs from sarcasm in greater subtlety and wit. In sarcasm,
ridicule or mockery is used harshly, often crudely and contemptuously, for
destructive purposes. It can be used in an indirect way, and have the form of
irony, as in ―What a fine musician you turned out to be! ‖or it can be used in
the context of a direct sentence , ― You couldn't play one piece correctly if you
had two assistants.‖ The characteristic quality of sarcasm is mainly present in
the word spoken and manifested by a verbal inflexion. Satira and irony appear
as literary and rhetorical shapes in the arrangement or structure of language or
literary material.Satire typically includes using censorship or critical irony or
sarcasm, often targeted at individuals or organisations, traditional behaviour,
political circumstances, etc. 5.
Satra also uses other rhetorical devices such as sarcasm (which is characterised
by its bitter and caustic nature [Gibbs, 2007]) or, above all, irony. It is
regarded either as a genre or a style of writing (that is 'a tony or an attitude.'
[Real, 2005, p. 512]). Although irony is a difficult word to define, the most
common meaning, according to Colebrook (1944, p. 1), is to say anything
contrary to what is implied by several variants – dramatic, verbal, situational,
Socratic etc. Although she sees this as simplistic, almost pointless, the social
scientist who is usually discouraged from doing this form of thing instantly
causes problems.However, while satility (and sarcasm), irony as a rhetoric
trope which exerts its impact through juxtaposition and development of
incongruity can be considered as narrative types, means for, and for
representation, it is a potential analytical tool of social research which
overturns expectations and operates within a 'logic of discovery.' It's a
'metaphor of the opposites, a perception of something from the point of view
of its antithesis, "and the art of social science is the capacity to do so.Brown
says, indeed, that "The key instrument of sociological perception is the view of
paradoxes and inconsistencies and latent reversals in a more apparent
demonstration of action material" (p. 178); and continues, "[The] sociologist
must be taken for granted by the 'strange' reality so that it appears to a new and
previously inattentive light; he must be man crying 'Theater.'" "A fire in the
heart crowded" (p. 183).
Satire has a 'protein quality' (Knight 1992) which emulsifies other genres,
borrows from other types of ordered expressions in art or life 'through parasitic
and ironic inversion' (Stopp, cited at Knight 1992, p. 22). In order to sharpen
her assault Sacire puts on formal disguises shielding her identity, but her main
ingredient is wisdom:

When wit is put at the disposal of the satirical impulse,

then any stock device by which the literary satirist
reaches his end becomes possible: irony, burlesque,
innuendo, fable, imaginary journey, allegory – any
device of indirection that so fascinates and so confuses
the study of satire. (Elliott of Macedonia, 1954, p. 245)

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As Strong (1983, p. 346) sees, the problem is this: 'It does not match the
disciplinary norm in both its design and material, and many of the problems it
encounters may be attributed to its academic oddity.The nineteenth-century
economist Thorstein Veblen is another whose unorthodox prose style
offended the academy. Conroy (1968, p. 605) says that when Veblen‘s
most famous work, The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), was first
published, ‗it was frequently misread as a literary satire of the nouveaux riches
of the period‘ [original emphasis] which missed entirely the seriousness of his
social and economic criticism.

Satire in Literature:
The problem, as Strong (1983, p. 346) sees it, is this: 'With neither its style nor
its substance it is in compliance with the disciplinary rule and many of the
problems with its acceptance may have a trace of its academic oddity.' Conroy
(1968, p. 605) says that when the first publication of Veblen's most popular
work The Theory of the Leisure Class (1897), "it was too often misread as a
literary parody of the new riches of the time," which utterly ignored the gravity
of his socially and economic critique.
Strong irony and sarcasm – "the humour, irony is militant." – are widely used
in satirical discourses and writings, but parody, burlesque, exaggeration,
juxtaposition. This "militant" irony, or sarcasm, also claims to approve the
very things the satirist wants to target (or to at least embrace as natural). Satire
is now present in many artistic forms, including literature, plays, comments,
TV shows and lyrics. Satire, by using satire, irony, exaggeration or mockery, is
a tool used by the authors to reveal and condemn the insanity and corruption of
an person or society.It aims to better mankind by condemning its insanities and
insanities. A satire writer uses fictional character to reveal and criticise
wrongdoing by real people.
Satire is interconnected with irony. Irony is the contrast between what is said
and what is done and what is said. Writers therefore often use humour to point
to people's dishonesty and sadness and to ridicule them by ridiculing them.
The bulk of political cartoons we see every day are examples of satire in
journals and magazines. These cartoons condemn in a comical way such recent
behaviour by political figures. Some TV shows contain satire, such as the
Daily Show, the Colbert Report and The Larry Sanders Show. These
demonstrate that they are attacking what they believe are dumb social and
political beliefs.
Satire was a milder type of critique in the 19th century. She was always
mocked with etiquette and morality, but generally in a longer work, like a
news. Satire, however, is found in Lord Byron 's poetry, in William S. Gilbert's
librettoes, in Oscar Wilde and G's plays. B. Shaw, and W's fiction. Mr
Thackeray, Mr Charles Dickens, Mr Butler and many others. Amongst those
who came to the United States were Washington Irving, James Russell Lowell,
Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Mark Twain.
Although satire in the twentieth century continues to record Horatian or
Juvenile reactions towards the gigantic age of fear of a nuclear bomb and
pollution, racism, drugs, expected obsolescence and the abuse of power, critics
discern some changes in the source of that bomb. In certain situations, the
satirist is not the performer but the viewer. The so-called put-on, either a play

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or an artefact (Samuel Beckette's Breath, on which a breeze is heard on a

blackout stage), attempts to confuse the viewer by exhibiting the fraudulent as
a true work of art, thereby making a definition of art in its entirety doubtful.
Sinclair Lewis, James Thurber, Aldous Huxley, Evelyn Waugh and We are
more traditionally regarded as contemporary satirists. H. Auden, Roth, Philip,
and Heller, Joseph.

Irony in Literature:
The irony, in its broadest sense, is an incongruous rhetorical tool, literary
technique, or incident between fact (what it is) and appearance (what seems to
be). For the affirmation of a reality, verbal, dramatic and situational irony is
sometimes used. The ironic type of simile in a sarcasma and some lithographs
may underline one 's significance by using the language deliberately, which
declares the contrary to the truth and negates the contrary to the truth or
dramatically and clearly underlines the factual connexion.
Henry Watson Fowler says in King's English: "There must be an indication,
that the surface meaning or the basic meaning of what is said is not the same
irony — although several hundreds may be given and very few will be
accepted—." Also, Eric Partridge writes: "Irony is to state the opposite of what
is said by what is said in use.

Literature includes a variety of forms of irony. The verbal irony, dramatic

ionising and situational irony are three main styles.

1. Verbal Irony: That's the disparity between the words and the meanings; e.g.
sarcasm.
2. Dramatic Irony: This is the difference between what the individual feels true
and what we (the reader) are true. Sometimes when we read, we are able to
know more than a character knows. Since we know what the character doesn't,
we read about how when he or she discovers the truth about the situation the
character is going to respond.
3. Ironical situation: This is the most prevalent in literature. It's the difference
between what happens and what was planned (or what seems right). It is more
sensitive and successful than verbal or dramatic irony, as it arises from the
events and circumstances of a story.
Irony can occur when the reader knows things in the story that the characters
do not---for example, Audiences are aware of the fact that Viola is really a
woman dressed as a man in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, even though
there are no other characters. Sarcasm and satire are also elements of irony
within fiction that can be used. The satire, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, deals
with thoughts about how the military brass looks like and how it really works.
Itis very much steeped in irony.
Another source of irony is that it helps readers to view the contradictions that
have been pointed out by the author about individuals or culture. For example,
during Twelfth Night,the audience will witness the absurdities of decorum
within courtship rituals by the Elisabethan society and the way in which
gender norms complicate those rituals.

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Difference BetweenSatire and irony

Satire and irony are always loosely linked, but the two vary greatly. Satire uses
satire as a means of critique to achieve its objectives. Ironicness is one
technique in satire. Irony depends on what is said or seen and what is really
said. Simply put, there is little distinction between satire and irony, because
one, satire, uses the other irony frequently.
Although satire and irony are arguably intertwined, they are not exclusive.
Irony does not exist only in satire, but also in drama and comedy. Satire
frequently incorporates various other methods of rhetoric and comedy, such as
mockery, to achieve its goal. Satire is a satire parody. Even if sometimes it
uses obviously harsh tactics, its purpose is not to be cruel, but rather to point
out political , societal, personal or societal faults.Satire seeks either to promote
change or to raise awareness of these defects.
The beauty of literary works is primarily attributed to the many literary
masters' numerous styles of figurative expression. Irony is one of the most
common figurative speaking types. Their usage in today 's literature, including
the performing arts, is largely responsible. Since irony in satires is widely
used, many will also pair the two. The application of irony in satires is
definitely a critical and integral aspect. Two distinct literary terms are irony
and satire.
Satire is ironic to create funny critique, as the sitcom uses witchcraft to make
people laugh or the action film uses explosions to excite the viewer. There are
different forms of irony, but they are all based on limited, often deliberate
ignorance. Perhaps the easiest type of irony would be to use words in the
opposite way they are meant.
Irony is, as previously mentioned, a speech figure. It comes from the Greek
language
eirÅ•neìa‘ means hypocrisy and dissatisfaction. Irony is typically used to
illustrate a special reality as a literary technique. The use of language, which is
contrary to reality, is usual in this case. This way, the use of irony will reveal
certain facts that have been forgotten by the general public.

Satire, on the contrary, is a literary style or genre widely used in graphic arts.
Using irony and many other techniques such as humour and derision, a satire
exposes a certain dilemma or fact frequently found in culture in which
improvements have to be made. While these are the satire devices, it is done in
a comical way, using irony and playing words or pictures, making the
audience's heart warm. As such satires can be found in many artistic
propaganda forms, including plays, comments and even publishing cartoons.

Conclusion:
Satires and irony respectively are literary words widely used to describe
anything contradictory to the facts, for the sake of awareness and improvement
to be revealed to the general public in general. Irony is a speaking figure who
represents the opposite of the facts with a clever play of words and wit. Satire
is a literary form or genre widely utilised for the use or performance of graphic
arts. Irony is a spoken figure, thus it's just spoken and written forms. On the
other hand, since satire is a form of literature, it can be portrayed in a number
of methods, including literary pieces, remarks, performances and even
editorial pictures.

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1. Satires and irony are both literary terms used widely to represent something
that is contradictory to the facts, for the intent of understanding and
improvement to be revealed to the public.
2. Irony is a figure of speech which depicts the opposite of the truth through
the careful play of words and wit. Satire is a literary form or genre widely used
in the use or performance of graphic arts.
3. Irony is a speech figure, so it is restricted to written and spoken phrases.
Since satire, on the other hand, is a literary medium, it can be expressed in a
variety of methods, from literary works such as remarks, performances or even
illustrations that accompany the editorials.

References:
1. Giora, R. (1995).On irony and negation, Discourse Processes19.pp.256-
257.
2. Toplak, M., and A. Katz. (2000).On the uses of sarcastic irony, Journal of
Pragmatics. v.32 (10). pp.1467-1488.
3. Attardo, S. (1997).The semantic foundations of cognitive theories of
humor, HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research. v.10 (4).
pp.395-420.
4. Colston, H. (2000).―Dewey defeats Truman‖: Interpreting ironic
restatement, Journal of Language and Social Psychology. v.19 (1).
p.1563
5. Gibbs, R.W. (2007) On the Psycholinguistics of Sarcasm, in R.W. Gibbs
& H.L. Colston (Eds), Irony in Language and Thought, pp. 173-200.New
York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
6. Colebrook, C. (2004) Irony. London: Routledge.
7. Brown, R.H. (1985) Narrative, Literary Theory, and the Self in
Contemporary Society, Poetics Today, 6(4), 573-590.
8. Knight, C.A. (1992) Satire, Speech, and Genre, Comparative Literature,
44(1), 22-41.
9. Strong, P.M. (1983) The Importance of Being Erving: Erving Goffman,
1922-1982, Sociology of Health & Illness, 5(3), 345-355.
10. Robert C. ElliottProfessor of English Literature, University of California,
San Diego, at La Jolla, 1964–81. Author of The Power of Satire; The
Shape of Utopia.

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