Orwell directs his satirical attack through irony. Just before his death, Old Major warns the animals against mankind “All men are enemies... we must not come to resemble him... all animals are equal.” However, as the novel progresses, we see the gradual change, which takes place in the pigs. At first, the pigs reserved the apples and milk for themselves, under the justification “of keeping the pigs in good health”. The pigs begin to develop more humanistic qualities, such as living in the farmhouse, sleeping in beds and eventually carrying whips and walking on two legs. This is extremely ironic; as it conflicts with the original laws, set by Old Major, one of which being “we must not come to resemble him (mankind)”. The irony reaches its peak towards the end of the novel, where Old Major’s doctrines are completely reversed. All of the seven commandments were breached, and subsequently altered one by one.
Orwell inserts the concept of totalitarianism into his novel, through the use of satire. Totalitarianism is a form of government, where one party takes uncontested control over every quality of life, from economic and politics to ideas and beliefs. In Animal Farm, Mr Jones, and the pigs are depicted as totalitarians, however with different justifications. Mr Jones believes that humans’ dominance over animals is the natural order, and thus runs the farm accordingly. The pigs run the farm with the claim that they are fighting for animals against humans. Orwell’s principle point is that the justifications of the totalitarianism don’t matter, since every type is founded on oppression of the individual and the lower class.
A modest proposal written by the prolific pamphleteer, Jonathan Swift is also a satire even more biting than the novel Animal Farm. Unlike Orwell’s animal fable, Swift adopts a completely different medium, to mirror the flaws of society, using an economist’s pamphlet to ridicule the oppression and exploitation of the Catholic Irish peasants by the English Protestants. In a response to the flaws of society, Swift promoted the idea of fattening Irish babies to sell on the meat market, much like piglets, “A young health child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing and wholesome food.” This odious comparison (of babies for food) certainly meant to horrify and disgust the readers. It becomes indubitably clear that this cannibalistic commercial venture is anything but “modest”, introducing an understatement of epic proportions.
In a fashion similar to the exploitation of the common animals by the unscrupulous leaders of Animal Farm, Swift alludes to the victimization of the Irish proletariats by the English landowners through absurdist logic and black humour in “This food will be very proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of the parents, seem to have the best title to children.” As such, through the effective use of sarcastic comparisons and ironic exaggerations in his shocking proposal where he ultimately professes, “I have no children by which I can propose to get a single penny”, Swift asserts his ability to expose the flaws of society in order to evoke change.
The creators of Blackadder use satire to poke fun at the men in command during wartime. The film series ‘Blackadder goes forth; explores the ideas of justice and injustice together with equality and inequality. Ben Elton uses skits that are set on the Western Front during the First World War to reflect upon the conditions of soldiers and officers during battle, as well as the futility of war. This can be extended to all notions of hierarchy, during the 1st world war, where the aristocracies were invariably in command. The great discrepancy between the soldier’s living standards and those of their most senior officers provide insights into a hierarchical society, which uses the underclass essentially, to fight its battles. The central irony pivots on the idea that they were totally inept and that this ineptitude led to the death and wounding of probably millions of soldiers, resulting in lives being undervalued.
In the final episode of the series, “Goodbye,” Field Marshall Haig is playing with toy soldiers. This is satirizing the general’s perspective of warfare, and apart from it being hilarious, it just proves what the generals were like. They thought it was a game, shown as Haig knocks over a handful of plastic soldiers in his model battlefield. Blackadder satirizes the advancement and progress of the army at war. “We’ve advanced as far as an asthmatic and with heavy shopping.” Apart from the humorous comparison, it satarises how far the army has progressed with such stupid and out of date tactics, as well as childish generals. This relates highly to World War One, where the army progressed about a few inches a year, as the generals didn’t know what to do.
Thus, in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal and Ben Elton’s Blackadder, the shortcomings of mankind are reflected in an distorted mirror of society, one that is later polished clean to reveal a much more offensive reality. Ultimately, each author conveys the ability of satire to inspire and evoke change.
