Satire In David Ives Sure Thing

The use of Satire to ridicule characters in David Ives “Sure Thing”

Satire is used in literature to display humor or ridicule in a person’s vices or lack of knowledge (Merriam-Webster). It is sometimes used to make a mockery out of the story character(s). Most often you see satire used in today’s politics to bring down or discredit a candidate. Author David Ives, who is famous for comical plays and skits, used satire in most of his plays to emphasize the vices of its characters. One of Ives’ plays that is well known for using satire profusely is Sure Thing. This play that serves as the basis of satire between two strangers that share an initial meeting. Satire, therefore, is used to display three different tones, one of comedy, one of sarcasm,

Satire was originally designed to attack vice or folly (Griffin 4). Most of the early work that used satire had a great deal of ridicule and wit in the writing style. This was used to demonstrate the character in a way that was still morally correct. Horace used satirical elements in most of his work to “seeks to laugh men out of their follies” (Griffin 7). This means that the use of satire in many early works was used to criticize an individual until that individual saw the errors in their ways. “Sure Thing” used criticism intensively to mockingly answer the questions the other party asked. The initial exchange, followed by a bell sound whenever the question was answered with “Sure Thing” (Ives 3). The comical piece behind the bell made the satire displayed easier to deal with. As the pair continue the conversational exchange, the comedy was heightened as each person tried to answer with other’s questions as cynical as possible. The initial conversation started with Bill asking “Is this taken?” (Ives 3), followed by Betty replying “Yes it is” (Ives 3). This is an indication that Betty was ridiculing Bill and the bell sound after the exchange also indicates the satire as

The satire shown at the end of the play had the tone of intimacy that indicates that the characters were realizing the error in their personality. Bill and Betty begin to deepen the conversation that the two were having by asking more questions about each other. The first intimate satirical reference happened after Betty stated “Absolutely. I’ll bet you’re a Scorpio” (Ives 15). The snide comment about Bill was the last reference of satire in the play. From there Bill, who decided to turn the conversation around by becoming consciously aware of how is character was being portrayed by Betty and took the initiative to change the scope of the conversation to one that is serious. Betty stated she was headed to the movies and asked “Would you like to come along” (Ives 15). Instead of Bill replying to the immature tone he has used throughout the play, he instead replied “That’s sounds like fun. What’s playing (Ives 15)? The shift in tone from sarcastic to genuine is the satiric form found in eighteenth century satire literary works. In today’s society, many satiric forms are that of comic relief and heavy criticism. Ives was an author that utilized past and present forms to create his plays. From there, the conversation turned to more questions about each other to find out is the two shared other similarities. For example, Betty asked Bill “And do you like Brussels sprouts