Evaluate Addison as a social satirist. [NU-‘12,‘16,‘18]

 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).