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Personification
Definition of Satire
Satire is the use of humor, irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to criticize something or someone. Public figures, such as politicians, are often the subject of satire, but satirists can take... read full definition
Satire is the use of humor, irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to criticize something or someone. Public figures, such as politicians, are often the subject of... read full definition
Satire is the use of humor, irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to criticize something or someone. Public figures, such as politicians... read full definition
Book 1, Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Casaubon:
With the character of Casaubon, Eliot is satirizing a certain type of wealthy and self-important intellectual with poor social skills. For example, the letter that he writes to Dorothea declaring his love for her is laughably awkward and stilted:
I have discerned in you an elevation of thought and a capability of devotedness, which I had hitherto not conceived to be compatible either with the early bloom of youth or with those graces of sex that may be said at once to win and to confer distinction when combined, as they notably are in you, with the mental qualities above indicated.
Casaubon’s letter is uncomfortably formal, as is clear in language like “hitherto,” “notably,” and “above indicated.” He does not know how to wax poetic about love as he cannot escape the confines of his scholarly mind.
In another satirical move, Eliot decides to render Casaubon’s lifework meaningless. He spends his days endlessly studying and writing his manuscript The Key to All Mythologies without realizing that, without learning German, he will never be able to build off of the scholarship to which he is supposedly making an important contribution. In fact, this fact about German is something Will explains to Dorothea, proving that he is a more self-aware and better fit for her than Casaubon.
Related Themes:
Book 1, Chapter 12
Explanation and Analysis—Rosamond:
Though Eliot is sympathetic to Rosamond at different points throughout the novel, she also portrays her character in a satirical light. Rosamond as a character is meant to satirize upper-class young women who attract and marry men strategically in order to maintain or increase their class position. This comes across in how the narrator describes Rosamond’s internal experience when first meeting her soon-to-be-husband Lydgate:
(Every nerve and muscle in Rosamond was adjusted to the consciousness that she was being looked at. She was by nature an actress of parts that entered into her physique: she even acted her own character, and so well, that she did not know it to be precisely her own.)
This passage shows the extreme ways in which Eliot depicts Rosamond’s character—she is so set on performing the role of a desirable woman that she does not even know "her own character." In this way, Rosamond is clearly a stand-in for young women who have learned to prioritize alluring men over all else.
The ultimate satirical move that Eliot makes is that Rosamond’s strategy ultimately fails her—she does successfully convince Lydgate to fall in love with her, but she also ends up having to sell her silverware when Lydgate goes into debt. Her commitment to marry Lydgate because of his social status backfires and she spends many miserable years as his wife.
Related Themes:
