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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 4, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—Satirizing the Nobility:
Autolycus, the Shepherd, and the Shepherd's Son are all part of a lower social class than the central cast of characters, who are members of the Sicilian and Bohemian courts. However, by donning and shedding the attire and mannerisms of the nobility, these characters satirize contemporary social hierarchies.
In Act 4, Scene 4, Autolycus convinces the Shepherd and Shepherd's Son with ease that he is a noble:
Whether it like me or no, I am a courtier. Seest thou not the air of the court in these enfoldings? Hath not my gait in it the measure of the court? Receives not thy nose court odor from me? Reflect I not on thy baseness court contempt? Think’st thou, for that I insinuate and toze from thee thy business, I am therefore no courtier? I am courtier cap-a-pie; and one that will either push on or pluck back thy business there.
Related Themes:
