Arthur Miller happened to be one of the victims of this flawed system, and as a result he wrote the Crucible. In the Crucible, Arthur Miller uses Juvenalian satire to criticize the random unsupported accusations McCarthyism makes through the Salem Witch Trials. In Act 4, *No spoilers* "I have come to counsel Christians they should believe themselves", which means that his Hale's purpose is to save certain characters from the Devil, but this leads many of them to be killed, which is already breaking one of the ten commandments. Hale then returns to being them God, but because they are already holy he is getting them he is getting them to lie about things they did not do. Miller shows how Hale, like McCarthy, uses unsupported evidence to convict people of disloyalty to the U.S through the Crucible. This satire is very clear and direct criticism, which is much more serious compared to the other type of satire, Horatian.
Horatian satire is also way of ridiculing the intended opponent or subject, but the difference between this and Juvenalian satire is that it uses comedy or wit and a little ridicule to make the audience laugh. The implications of satire in society are immense. From the political cartoons you see on the internet, to the SNL skits you watch on television. Many things you may not think of revolve around satire. Anyway, the implication of Horatian satire I included is in the SNL skit. This ridicules teens about their addiction to social media, but exemplifies it in an over the top example in a comedic fashion.
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| Horatian Satire- Ridicules the government with comedy. |
I liked how you used McCarthyism and SNL as examples in your writing. The image was also pretty lit too. I would suggest that you tie in the overall meaning to something more broad, though, such as change over time or a comparison with a similar system today. This would improve the writing by a decent amount.
ReplyDeleteI see that you brought in both concepts of satire, do you think that The Crucible could be just as effective if it were written in Horatian satire instead? Miller could possibly play up the humor of Rev. Hale's conviction of minute details that someone is in contact with the devil. Although it would be hard to carry comedy throughout an entire play instead of a short skit.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the Crucible wouldn't be as effective with Horatian satire. I think it wouldn't be because such a problematic topic, one that will make you lose your job, must be dealt with straight-forward criticism. Also, using jokes to make fun of the topic could bring some anger to the victims because they essentially lost their lives, and to only go to the extent of light ridicule would be somewhat insulting.
DeleteHey Evan,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post juxtaposing between Horatian and Juvenalian satire, and also synthesizing between SNL and McCarthyism. However, I was sort of confused when you were talking about Act 4 in The Crucible, so I would suggest that you make your analysis more clear. Overall, your ideas were interesting for me to think about.