Satire

Pride and Prejudice 

When thinking of the word "satire", I assumed something difficult. That a satire novel would be difficult to comprehend or just boring to read. As you, people know from previous blog posts, I am not a reader. I read more so by force than by choice. UNLESS... If there were a book that everyone is gossiping about, I would most likely read it and join in on the gossip. 

A satire novel is "the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc. 2. a literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule", quoted from an online dictionary website. A satire novel consist of humor that intervenes with the meaning of the work as a whole but still is considered a literary merit. Humor that criticizes humanity. The satire novel I chose was Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. You might be thinking, "Where have I heard that title from?" which is okay because there is a movie coming out called, "Pride+Prejudice+Zombies". 

Pride and Prejudice is split up into 3 volumes with sub-chapters incorporated in it. The first chapter is an overview of what to expect in later chapters. There is a mother named Mrs.Bennet who is desperate to have her five unmarried daughters named Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia married. There is a wealthy man in their town, Charles Bingley. The girls father, Mr.Bennet made plans with Mr.Bingley and ended up having the family invited to their ball. At this ball, Jane gets familiar with Charles and ends up dancing with him. After this dance, Charles ends up becoming interested in Jane. However, events occur from the night of the ball up until the point where a man named Mr.Darcy starts becoming interested in Jane’s sister Elizabeth. Thus far, two out of the five girls have men interested in them. For a lack of a better meaning, “they have the juice.” (Only teenagers would understand that phrase) Fast forwarding to the end…

Summarizing the entire novel is boring to read so…

Jane- Potential couple with Darcy but that does not happen. She has love for Bingley, the man she was dancing with at the ball.

Elizabeth- Was proposed to by a man named Darcy but she turned him down.

Mary- Single

Kitty (Catherine)- Single 

Lydia- Youngest sister and practically elopes with a man named Mr.Wickman.

Pride and Prejudice is a love story between two young adults who potentially let their pride and get in the way of that, hence the title. In the beginning, I thought it would be a novel about fixed marriage which is so forced. There would not be any love behind a planned marriage. Overall, I thought the novel brought up a lot of interesting themes. It's not everyday where you read a text and learn something from it. Brings me back to grade school where after every book I read I’d have to figure the moral of it. Good times. 

Jane Austen uses characters to express her humor through them, making them satirical characters. The satire in this novel is the attitudes the characters possess. Some characters being Mr.Collins, Catherine, and Mr.Wickham. The author believed that marriage should not occur on forced feelings, pressures to marry from parents, or due to someone's wealth or social status and for this purpose she satirizes the society, like I mentioned before through different characters in her novel. There were characters that were judged due to their wealth in the society and because of that, women were easily attracted to them. 

Let's Play the Blame Game

The blame game is a risky game to play, especially when it is based off a play with very few characters. Already it is easy to figure out who did what. The play Othello was a train reaction of events. It starts off with two people having a conversation and that conversation traveling all throughout Cyprus. It was as if it were 2009 and I was in elementary school, all the kids in the schoolyard circled around gossiping about cute boys. Meghan would whisper to her friend Brandy that she heard that Amanda likes John. Childish right? Which is the jist to the immature characteristics of Iago. Iago sat around gossiping to Roderigo about his emotions towards Othello.

The blame game started off with Rodgerigo and Iago upset about the elopement with Othello and Desdemona. Iago being a fit contestant for the blame game. It all started with his jealousy for the Moor and his greed for power. Iago upset that he did not know and Rodgerigo upset because he was not the one marrying Desdemona. Iago also being upset that he isn’t Othello’s lieutenant. Which led him to spur up lies based on how he felt instead of what was smart. From Act 1 Scene 1, Iago’s deceiving mastermind thought of a bizarre way to take Othello down without potentially being caught. 

Fastforwarding to Act 5 Scene 2, when the climax hit its peak. Iago was able to easily convince Desdemona of her infidelity with Cassio. Any husband would be corrupt with the news but, Othello’s reaction is what wowed the audience. Killing Desdemona was Othello’s way of saying he can only trust what information is being fed to him rather than what he witnessed. By now, one would think that Othello is one to blame for her death. He should not have listened to Iago but, rather listened to Desdemona when she was telling the truth. Plot twist, Iago is to blame for every event that took place that led to the death of Desdemona. If he put his pride aside and expressed his feelings towards Othello, none of this would have happened. He told Brabantio about the elopement, he convinced Rodgerigo to pay him for planning his scheme, he got Cassio out of Othello’s service, and had Othello believing Desdemona cheated on him. The only thing that Othello can be blamed for is the death of Desdemona. In the end, it all seemed like it was a game of who is the best gossiper in Cyprus. 

Like the best rapper in the game said, “Let’s play the blame game, I love you more.” 

-Kanye West