Examples Of Victorian Satire

Victorian Satire During the Victorian era from 1837-1901 there were a number of satirical newspapers and magazines in print. However, during this time the biggest examples of satire was seen in the theatrical works of Gilbert and Sullivan along with the literature of Mark Twain and to a lesser extent Charles Dickens which both addressed the issues of poverty and race that were plaguing society both English and American society at the time. The satire used by Dickens and Twain was quickly followed by the cynical black humour of Ambrose Bierce who wrote the Devil’s Dictionary and liked to mock mankind’s ability to reason.

Satire of the 20th Century In the twentieth century writers such as George Orwell and Aldous Huxley used satire to address

The only ones coming to mind from these period being Margaret Atwood and Anne Fitch, who in the seventeenth century wrote satire that dealt with misogyny, politics, education and marriage. With the feminist movement and women’s rights it is not so easy to understand why the feminine voice in satire is still so limited. While there are numerous satirical shows on television that are hosted by men such as Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, the Bill Maher Show, and News Hour with Jim Lehrer. The only satirical show starring a woman is Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. The only other women to make an impact on the field of satire was Tina Fey when she did a parody of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live in 2008 and Sarah Silverman who once had starred in the satirical Sarah Silverman Show. This disproportion in regards to male and female satirists does not only exist on TV, but also in comedy shows, cartoons and

(Provine). So while this would explain why there are more male stand-up comedians, it does not explain the lack of women in other satirical areas. In Humor’s Sexual Side by Willow Lawson she discusses the differences in female and male humour. Men are more likely to use humour as a way to initiate and settle aggressions, while women tend to use humor to bond. (Lawson). The types of jokes preferred by the sexes are also different as ascertained by the Laugh Lab project that was conducted at the University of Hertfordshire. The project found that women tended to find jokes based on word play funny, whereas men liked jokes that contained sexual innuendos and were more aggressive. They also seemed to like jokes that could be seen as derogatory to women and that criticized others. The conclusion that was reached by the project was that women are less likely to engage in satire because they would find it unfunny due to the fact that it is generally more aggressive and caustic then the humor that most women find