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Personification
Definition of Satire
Satire is the use of humor, irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to criticize something or someone. Public figures, such as politicians, are often the subject of satire, but satirists can take... read full definition
Satire is the use of humor, irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to criticize something or someone. Public figures, such as politicians, are often the subject of... read full definition
Satire is the use of humor, irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to criticize something or someone. Public figures, such as politicians... read full definition
Act 2
Explanation and Analysis—The Glory of War:
In Arms and the Man, Shaw uses comedy as a tool to satirize the politics and technology of war, calling attention to the inanity of this frequently unquestioned tradition. Shaw satirizes the military institutions of his time on multiple operational levels, ranging from the dehumanization experienced by individual soldiers to the problem of foreign intervention in local conflict. The latter topic is often where Shaw's satirical goals benefit greatly from a more comedic tonality. Take, for instance, the following excerpt from Act 2:
PETKOFF: [Chuckling] We shouldn't have been able to begin fighting if these foreigners hadn't shewn us how to do it: we knew nothing about it; and neither did the Servians. Egad, there’d have been no war without them!
RAINA: Are there many Swiss officers in the Servian Army?
PETKOFF: No—all Austrians, just as our officers were all Russians.
