Irony, satire, humor in literature is We analyze the types of comic

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

First of all, it is necessary to define the comic. This is a special tool that allows you to reveal, eradicate the contradiction of life, and with ordinary laughter. Humor in literature can notice this discrepancy only at the verbal level, in plot moves (when the hero, for example, finds himself in some kind of funny situation) or in character (inadequate self-esteem of the character of himself, contrary to common sense).

Of course, laughter is different. Satire and humor in literature are two different concepts. If the first one suggests to laugh kindly at the heroes of a short story or a novel, then the second one prefers to harshly denounce characters and bad deeds. And far from the cheerful stories of Shukshin, early Chekhov - as well as from Swift's pamphlets - the grotesque with a phantasmagoric interweaving of the incompatible. This kind of laughter is no longer funny.

Humor in literature is…

This kind of comic is considered the most versatile. Unlike satire, he is kind, good-natured, although not devoid of a certain poignancy. Its main goal is to help the character get rid of his bad qualities. Humor in literature is a series of comic situations, ridiculous mistakes. However, the hero does not lose his attractiveness because of them, which is impossible in Dead Souls or the History of a City. The literature proves this. Sancho Panza is the epitome of such a character. He is far from perfect: he is a coward, always guided by his peasant prudence, which is why she does not allow him to offend himself.

The key feature of humor is that when you kindly laugh at someone, you do not notice how you begin to pay attention to your shortcomings, you try to correct them. The use of this kind of comic allows you to find the wise in the crazy, the sublime in the insignificant, and reveals the true nature in the wayward. No normal person can live without humor, even its gloomy variety is in place. As Remarque once said, we laugh and joke not at all because we are endowed with a sense of humor. But because without him we will be lost.

There are many works containing elements of humor in Russian literature. These are the stories of Gogol, and, to some extent, the plays of Ostrovsky, Chekhov. Soviet literature gave us Zoshchenko, Bulgakov, Shukshin and many others. In addition, there is humor in children's literature (the famous "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer").

Irony

Irony is distinguished by a special technique, when, in fact, the negative meaning of the statement is hidden behind its external positive side. At the same time, laughter is already taking on bitter colors. Compare the above examples of humor in literature and the use of irony in some of Nekrasov's poems. Yes, in"Calistrate" the comic effect is based on the opposition of the mother's promises that her child will live happily, and the real position of the peasant son in the then society.

In order to catch the irony, you must always consider the context. For example, Chichikov in "Dead Souls" calls the police chief a well-read person. It seems that there is nothing in this statement that allows one to doubt its erroneousness. However, the narrator continues: “We played whist with him (that is, the chief of police) all night.” Irony, as well as humor in literature, is the convergence of two planes, conditionally called as given and due. However, in the case of Dead Souls, this degree of discrediting the ridiculed object is higher. At the same time, such a division, made in theory, cannot always be followed in practice.

Satire

If humor in literature is the usual ridicule of an individual, then satire is aimed at aspects of public life that deserve criticism. The latter is usually achieved by caricaturing, exaggerating, depicting in an absurd way. To put it figuratively, satire executes this imperfect world, does everything to rebuild it with its ideal program. She does not at all seek to convey any lifelike character, he sharpens, exaggerates him, brings him to the point of absurdity.

A striking example of satire is Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. The “Griboedov’s house” deserved special ridicule, in which nothing was left of literature, and all the doors in such a “cultural”establishments are hung with signs “fish and dacha section.”

The specificity of satire explains why it is most often embodied in a novel form. It is the novel that allows you to cover as many spheres of reality as possible. At the same time, satire is always timely. Of course, if a satirist begins to denounce non-essential (or even non-existent) vices, then he himself risks becoming a laughingstock.

Sarcasm

From the Greek sarcasm is translated as “to torment”. This kind of comic is close to irony, but indignation is more open, denunciation is more obvious. For example, in "Duma" the poet sarcastically says that his contemporaries are rich from the cradle with "the mistakes of the fathers and their late mind." Sarcasm is actively used in pamphlets and other similar genres.

Grotesque

In the 15th century, Raphael and his students during archaeological excavations discovered bizarre drawings that became known as grotesque (from the word "grotto"). Its specificity is that the effect of the comic is based on the combination of the real and the fantastic, even the absurd. Let us recall the missing nose of Major Kovalev from Gogol's story or the mayor with a stuffed head in S altykov-Shchedrin's novel.