Satire, Understatement, and Archetype Notes

1. Satire, Understatement, and Archetype Notes April 3/4

2. Satire Review • Is used to expose and criticize foolishness and corruption of an individual or a society by using humor, irony, exaggeration or ridicule • It intends to improve humanity by criticizing. • A writer may point a satire toward a person, a country or even the entire world. • It usually makes things seem ridiculous.

3. Satire • How is The Crucible a satire?

4. Understatement • An understatement is… • Portraying something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is. • Making the situation seem less serious than it is.

5. Understatement Examples • EXAMPLES: • To say “it rained a bit more than usual” while describing an area being flooded after a heavy rain fall. • To say “it is a bit cold today” when temperature is 5 degrees below the melting point. • Understatements in history - http://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/greatest-understatements-of-all-time

6. Is this an example of understatement? • You might say Albert Einstein had a good head for numbers. • A chef prepares a wonderful dinner and you proclaim, “the food was tolerable.”

7. What is an archetype? • An original model after which other things are similarly patterned • A character typeor a representation of a recurring idea • Evokes strong associations to the reader.

8. Types of Archetypes • The Tragic Hero • The Sullied Hero • The Romantic Hero • The Temptress • The Devil Figure • The Scapegoat

9. The Tragic Hero • The tragic hero is the protagonist of a tragedy. • Characteristics of a tragic hero: • Noble Stature: Must be in some leadership position so that they can “fall”. • Tragic Flaw: They must “fall” due to some flaw in their own personality. • Free Choice: The tragic hero falls because he chooses one course of action over another.

10. Characteristics of a tragic hero • The Punishment Exceeds the Crime: the audience must not be left feeling that the tragic hero got what he deserved. Part of what makes the action "tragic" is to witness the injustice of what has occurred to the tragic hero. • Hero has Increased Awareness: it is crucial that the tragic hero come to some sort of an understanding of what went wrong or of what was really going on before he comes to his end.

11. Examples • Rick Grimes – The Walking Dead • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh33XbqegJI

12. The Sullied Hero • The sullied hero is initially not someone we, as an audience, look up to—someone who because of a flaw is considered inferior in some way. • It is this fallibility that makes us identify with him/her

13. The Romantic Hero • Characteristics: • Brooding, dark, dreamy • At odds with society • Not interested in authority or conformity • Indulges-wallows in his/her own feelings, uniqueness, and intuition • Self-Centered. • A character of extremes • Can be obsessive (with love or something else)

14. Cont’d • Quest for beauty of perfection • Becomes consumed with the desire of the unattainable. • Longs for something more • The past • The impossible • Example

15. The Temptress • Characterized by sensuous beauty, this woman is one to whom the protagonist is physically attracted and who ultimately brings about his downfall. May appear as a witch or vampire

16. The Devil Figure • This character is evil incarnate. • Sometimes offers worldly goods, fame, or knowledge to the hero in exchange for possession of the soul

17. Devil Figure characteristics • Associated with dark and gloomy imagery • Outcast

18. The Scapegoat • An animal, or more usually a human, whose death in a public ceremony expiates some taint or sin of a community. They are often more powerful in death than in life. • A character that takes the blame of everything bad that happens