Theme Of Laughter In Candide

Gulliver’s Travels uses humor, irony and exaggerations to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or their behaviors in the society which needs to be corrected. The novel Gulliver’s travels is a satire and a fantasy and it can additionally represent comedy, travelogue and science fiction as well. Gulliver’s Travels can represent the genre of comedy other than satire and a fantasy novel. This novel contains ridiculous situations which satirize mankind such as politicians, scientist and Englishmen in general who are fit to be laughed on. After Gulliver reaches the island of Lilliput he finds out that the emperor elects his high court officials by examining their skills with ribbon where they have to jump and dance on it.

Geoffrey Chaucer pushed boundaries and told stories he knew his audience would want to hear. “The Miller’s Tale” as well as “The Reeve’s Tale” has crocodilian humor. Chaucer used bawdy and vulgar scenarios to generate laughter for the audience. His sardonic sense of humor made stories seem larger than life (Brewer, Derek). Both tales feature an elaborate plan for sexual gratification and have components of irony.

During the year 1850, author Nathaniel Hawthorne published The Scarlet Letter, which expounds upon those people that lived in a puritanical society, yet willingly disobeyed their morals. Hawthorne depicted this real life situation through a secret affair between Reverend Dimmesdale and a married woman, Hester Prynne. Both characters chose to fulfill their lustful desires over remaining faithful to their religion, which led them to undergo life-altering personality changes. Through the creation of Dimmesdale and Hester, Nathaniel Hawthorne was able to use The Scarlet Letter to explicate the people who daringly rebelled against their religious probity and, as a result, drastically altered their lives and personalities. Reverend Dimmesdale, one of the main characters and one of the most notable priests in The Scarlet Letter, suffered from devastating life and personality changes because of his decision to rebel against one of the most prominent Puritan morals regarding faithful relationships.

The audience knew the plan for Beatrice and Benedick, but their own confidence in their wit betrayed them. Also, their witty comments to each other make for highly entertaining moments. Claudio allows other people to fool him into believing untrue things, which leads to dramatic altercations with numerous characters. Dogberry’s unwittiness leads to a coincidence that saves the whole play and creates an ironic feeling that the least intelligent character discovered the evil plot. “The wit of Shakespeare’s play informs the words spoken by the characters, places the characters themselves as truly witty and intelligent, inappropriately facetious, or ingeniously witless, suggests the lines of action these characters will

In the novel Life of Pi, by Martel Yann, he uses a juxtaposition to show Pi’s ambivalence: “It’s not right that gentleness meet horror. Better that you had died right away" (139). Here the contrast is between “gentleness” and horror”. These two words show Pi’s ambivalent feelings. He thinks the Orange is a great mother but he does not hope that she comes to his lifeboat because she will arouse a massacre.

The family's treacherous journey to Jefferson is filled with danger and excitement, yet Faulkner gives many doses of humor throughout the novel. The characters employ themselves in outrageous acts of irony, from Addie's rejection of her most devoted son, to Anse's concern with his false teeth instead of Addie's death, to Vardaman's calling his mother a fish. This irony would not have been evident if it were not for Faulkner's use of multiple narrators. Faulkner was enchanted by Freudian theories of psychology when he wrote this novel, and recounting the story through various perspectives allows the reader to understand each character's reaction. This enhanced the dark humor throughout the novel because the reader can see into each family member's thoughts on her death.

Reverend Dimmesdale suffers a greater punishment than Hester by experiencing recurring guilt, physical harm, and Chillingworth’s obsessive need to achieve revenge. As a devout Puritan minister, Dimmesdale preaches against sin. Yet, Dimmesdale contradicts his preaching and has an affair with Hester, a married woman. The novel begins with Hester standing on a scaffold for public shaming. The Puritans use Hester as an example of what will happen if one commits adultery.

The reader is left confused about the God present who is undoubtedly contradictory with his actions. Lot’s Wife, who was traditionally cast as the immoral, infamous and anonymous, is instead seen as just a human; one filled with both faults and virtues. This raises questions on the morality of God himself. Who is to say that the inherent humanity in the speaker is deserving of punishment? Therefore, we see Szymborska fighting two existential questions: the one of morality and the one of divinity.

However, to Dante, Pope Boniface VIII was one of the most corrupt and fraudulent because he led a false perception of wanting to make peace. This false perception undermines the church and all of its followers, causing him to eventually join Pope Nicholas III in his misery, following the theme of how the abuse of power, particularly in the church and politics, is despicable towards

Away with you, you miserable wretch! And don't you come near me ever again" (Voltaire, 8). After this occurs, Candide is helped by an Anabaptist named James. The kindness of this man shows Voltaire's disapproval of religious prejudice, considering at this time Anabaptists were extremely unpopular and often persecuted. Throughout the novel, popular religions are criticized and shown to be highly immoral continuously through characters such as the Inquisitor, Don Issacar, and Pope Urban X. Voltaire imprints these ideas in the minds of the oppressed by having lower class characters as well-liked characters in order to relate with the reader and by making Dr.

England conversely placed the principle amount of blame on women compared to men. Higher church officials held a negative view towards concubines, as one stated that " I speak to you, o charmers of the clergy, appetizing flesh of the devil, that castaway from paradise, you, poison of the minds, death of souls, venom of wind and of eating, companions of the very stuff of sin, the cause of our ruin." In this account, women were equated with being spawns of the devil sent to soil the souls of priests. In England, however, this viewpoint distorts even further to women in general. It was thought that " The polluting, sexual presence of women 'defiled the lips and hands ' of priests and, therefore, the sacraments."

Other techniques that were used include hyperboles such as when the unknown hitchhiker also stated “If I opened my mouth it would spill out like a torrent of acid” (Page 24). The story also used the techniques of imagery where the hitchhiker described what their sister looked like “then the memory of Melanie’s grey face with the bruises around her neck and the dried blood in her hair jumped up to haunt me”. (Page 23) The writer, Sherryl Clark also used hook as she kept the reader guessing. Overall the story is very engaging to its readers, especially for those who don’t like long stories. Fresh Bait was one of the best stories that was read out of all of the Top Stories 2.

Harrison Davis Mr. Fanara ACP 23 September 2015 Too “Close to the Bone” Summary Roberta Seid, in her article "Too ‘Close to the Bone’": The Historical Context for Women’s Obsession with Slenderness”, examines the positives and negatives of society outlook on obesity. Seids main argument in this article is that societies current perspective on body types are incorrect. Seid argues that the so called “religious” pursuit of having a slender and thin body is becoming way too extreme. She presents the pros and cons on this thin lifestyle. She shows this by using the example that one can gain social acceptance for being thin but the cost of getting to that slender comes at too high of a cost.

It also shocks the readers that the opponent of her crime is a reverend. The fact that Hester commits a sin with a reverend maximizes the effect of the sin. On the other hand, Reverend Dimmesdale is an unmarried man. Also, he is a reverend who should hold all the followers of God and speak for them. It is a great sin that he has a sexual relationship with a married woman.

Benvolio: Out of her favor. (1.1.163-166) In the play, Romeo was experiencing a one sided love, and to protect his heart, Benvolio told Romeo to look for a new companion. Though this may be a heartfelt and sad scene, Shakespeare used the pun to inject humor. Throughout the play Romeo and Juliet, humor plays a huge role in entertaining the audience and bringing comedy to otherwise tragic scenes. Although many main characters die, the use of word play turns these heavy moments into