Satire is a type of discourse for face-to-face and written interaction, we associate it with written discourse in this paper. This is because satire is meta-discourse, that is, discourse about discourse. Satire aims to ridicule, to prick pretensions, to expose hypocrisy, to point fingers at corruptive practices. Hence, the purpose of satire is to expose folly, lies and moral or political corruption. The targets of satire are often governments, politicians, the military or the church, the upper or middle classes, the class system or the conventions of social life. In most satires, the satirist has succeeded in keeping the target in focus and in the foreground. The character of the satirist is established to be that of a “bluff-hater, cheat-hater, liar-hater, vanity-hater, but also that of a truth-lover, beauty-lover, simplicity-lover” (Elliott, 1960: 273). Description of the malaises the satirist attacks is clear- cut in the following excerpt: |
