Research Paper on Satire

In Leucippe and Clitophon and The Satyricon, Achilles Tatius and Petronius'(respectively) successfully satirize the pompous-acting people (specifically, rhetoricians) of ancient novels by satirizing the ridiculously hilarious speeches of rhetoricians, as well as the hypocrisy of these rhetoricians' lifestyles. Petronius ridicules these people throughout his novel, stabbing at their often melodramatic rhetoric and the extravagant, overly-exuberant, and hypocritical lives they lead. In fact, Petronius' entire novel is a satire - of not only pompous people, but of many other aspects of ancient society.

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Tatius' novel, on the other hand, has similar instances of cheesy rhetoric and hypocritical attitudes, but we cannot say for certain whether these instances were meant to be funny, being that Leucippe and Clitophon itself is not (necessarily) a satire. Nonetheless, it is necessary to explore the novels in question in order to ascertain how this satire is accomplished, and why. To understand how rhetoricians are satirized in these novels, one must understand the conventions in ancient society to which rhetoricians adhered. Rhetoricians were men which delivered orations on politics, philosophy, etcetera, depending upon their area of expertise. These were men who were trained to be eloquent speakers.

Sometimes, however, these speeches come off as heavy-handed, pompous, self-important, and even melodramatic - as evidenced in many ancient novels such as Daphnis and Chloe by Longis, and even Leucippe and Clitophon. In addition, rhetoricians spoke against what they felt were society's shortcomings - specifically, the vaunted actions and attitudes of the upper-class, as well as those in power.

These speeches come off as hypocritical, however - the actions and attitudes of these same rhetoricians were every bit as pompous and arrogant as the men they were speaking against. Understanding the conventions of ancient society being satirized leads one to consider why exactly Tatius and Petronius would have wanted to satirize them. First, Tatius' novel is not a satire; however, parts of the novel have seemingly satirical content, such as the dueling lamentations . Whether or not this is a truly satirical moment cannot be said with complete certainty; an ancient reader may well have seen it as completely serious and earnest. A modern reader with an knowledge of ancient novels could possibly find these moments humorous, but perhaps not.

Petronius' novel is definitely a satire, through and through - but once again, just how humorous the satire seems is dependent on many variables (is it an ancient or modern reader involved; what is the modern reader's knowledge of ancient novels, and perhaps even ancient society). So, one cannot say for certain why Tatius and Petronius thought it necessary to satirize rhetoricians (perhaps Tatius wasn't after all); all one can really know is how this is done.

Perhaps the answer is as simple as the two authors feeling it was necessary to awaken people to the truth about the ridiculousness of the rhetoricians themselves - whatever the answer, it is something I myself cannot ascertain, not knowing much about the authors themselves. Whether one knows why the authors chose to satire rhetoricians or not isn't necessary to see exactly how this satire is accomplished. As stated previously, Leucippe and Clitophon is not a true satire, but there are instances of comical nonsense (but not much in the way of examples of hypocrisy); for instance, Clinias gives his cousin Clitophon a long, pompous expose on love, marriage, and women that may have been intended to be serious, but comes off as completely ridiculous.

Another ridiculous speech comes from Clitophon, regarding his lover Leucippe's tears . Petronius' Satyricon, however, is satirical throughout, and intentionally; therefore, examples of satire come in great abundance. One such example is in the very beginning of the novel, where Encolpius rants on about the teaching of rhetoric . Reading on from this moment, one sees Encolpius and others like him indulging in lavish extravagances that should negate everything he railed against earlier - Trimalchio's dinner party - yet here he is, with others like himself, living a lie.

Going to such lengths to present something as trivial as dinner gifts in such a grandiose manner , or taking great care in designing one's own tomb - if one thinks of such things in a negative fashion (when and if it is done by the elite of society), yet does such things anyway, then that individual is a hypocrite. Knowing how Tatius and Petronius' satire is achieved is well and good, but one must understand what is so funny in the first place.

Therefore, one must consider the effect this satire had on ancient readers, as well as the effect on modern readers - specifically, those readers familiar with ancient novels. Ancient readers lived in the world being satirized, so for them the satirization would have been much more profound. Rhetoricians were a part of everyday life; therefore, ancient Greeks and Romans would have looked at rhetorical passages differently than a modern reader.

To them, the "pompousness" of people such as Clitophon and Encolpius may not have seemed pompous at all - Leucippe and Clitophon is one example of a novel with characters that seem pompous to modern readers, yet may have been viewed by ancient readers as serious and earnest representations. The Satyricon, however, was written with comic entertainment in mind; a modern reader familiar with ancient novels and society may find it to be quite humorous, and hopefully an ancient reader would have found it hilarious. However, any other reader unfamiliar with the conventions satirized by these novels would be lost, and would most likely find nothing to laugh about. To conclude, one must look at all the elements that have been examined - the why of Tatius and Petronius' satire, the how, and the effect of this satire on ancient and modern readers.

One must then decide whether these elements amount to a successful satirization. I may be going out on a limb, but I would venture a guess: I'd say the answer lies in whether or not one finds the satire to be funny. The answer is as simple as that - if one finds Leucippe and Clitophon and The Satyricon to be hilarious (regardless of whether the former is meant to be or not), then I would say that Tatius and Petronius' jobs are accomplished. I myself laughed out loud at both books; so, in my humble opinion, not only have Tatius and Petronius done their jobs, but they have done their jobs well.

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