Evaluate Addison as a social satirist.
[NU-‘12,‘16,‘18]
Ans. Satire is a literary
device that is used to ridicule the vice and vanity of a society with a view to
correcting them. Joseph Addison refers to him as a spectator in his essays and
appears as a judicious critic of manners of morals of the society. He also tries
to satirise the vanity of the society to reduce them. That is why he is known
as a social satirist.
In ‘The Spectator’s Account of Himself’,
we find the desire of a mother. Addison’s satire is on being appeared in public
which was his greatest pain. There is also a silent knock against to defend any
political party between Tory and Whigs with violence and always he tries to
remain neutral but cannot.
In ‘Sir Roger at the Church’,
Addison satirises the follies and vices of the society in a good and humoured
way. There is a hint of country people’s degeneration. He states that unless
Sunday clears away the nasty habits of whole week and refreshes their minds,
they would soon turns in savages and barbarians. He uses his power to satirise
through the character of Sir Roger in a humoured way. For example, he says that
Sir Roger allowed nobody to sleep in it besides himself. He also satirises the
behaviour of Sir Roger creating greater disturbance shouting to one not to
disturb in the congregation. At the other times, Sir Roger would lengthen out a
prayer and continue to sing even when others have stopped or repeat “Amen”
three or four times instead of speaking only once. He also satirises the vices
of Sir Roger apparently as sleeping in the church during sermons is a
humiliation to the Christianity.
In ‘Death of Sir Roger’, Addison
appears with a slightly satirical tone. Before the imitative letter in the
essay, we find a knock against the diversion of political parties in the line
where the letter (a mourning letter on the death of Sir Roger) comes from his
enemy and antagonist who is a Whig, justice of peace. In this essay, we also
find a tone of satire evaluating the comment of the butler about charitable
quality of Sir Roger.
In fine, we may say, as a spectator, Addison looks
at the world with eyes of a mature person who is always hopeful of betterment.
Therefore, he is marked as a great satirist of his age as he wanted to correct
his society through his mild satire.
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Written & Edited By
SHUVASHISH
MALLICK
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BIBLIOGRAPHY – Textbook (FBC), A Study Guide (FBC)
& Handnote Series (Lecture).
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