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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
Act 2
Explanation and Analysis—Glass Bead Civilization:
The stage directions at the beginning of Act 2 contain a satirical segment, intended to critique English notions of superior civilization and culture. The passage compares the royal palace in Alexandria to the English architecture and interior decoration of Shaw's time, which he represents to the audience as "Tottenham Court Road" civilization:
[The palace is] handsome, wholesome, simple, and cool, or, as a rich English manufacturer would express it, poor, bare, ridiculous and unhomely. For Tottenham Court Road civilization is to this Egyptian civilization as glass bead and tattoo civilization is to Tottenham Court Road.
Though clearly intended to bring British audience members down a peg and prompt discussion by placing Egyptian architectural simplicity on a pedestal, this passage has the (perhaps unintended) additional effect of degrading indigenous cultures and other civilizations that the British would have considered primitive or underdeveloped. Shaw attempts to humble Britain through the use of satire; unfortunately, this comment about "glass bead and tattoo" civilizations undermines his argument. In truth, no satire can be perfectly constructed, and all satirists are capable of falling prey to the very traditions and cultural attitudes they criticize. Shaw is no exception, himself expressing uncritically in this passage the very sentiments he endeavors to reproach throughout Caesar and Cleopatra.
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Act 4
Explanation and Analysis—Cleopatra's Children:
In the following passage from Act 4, Ftatateeta uses simile and satire to explain to Pothinus how Cleopatra's relationship to the Egyptian people has changed over the course of her relationship with Caesar:
FTATATEETA: Enough of your gods! Caesar's gods are still powerful here. It is no use you coming to Cleopatra: you are only an Egyptian. She will not listen to any of her own race: she treats us all as children.
According to Ftatateeta, Cleopatra views Egyptians as children, preferring Caesar's advice to her own Egyptian advisors' counsel. Crucially, this shift in Cleopatra's character is a consequence of her relationship with Caesar, who is, in spite of his merciful and humanitarian nature, an imperialist and a tool of the Roman Empire. Cleopatra sees her people as children because she has adopted this colonial mindset.
Cleopatra's shift in attitude contributes to the play's satirical edge, drawing subtle connections between the colonial sentiments she expresses and those developed as propaganda by the British Empire. Frequently, colonial powers like Britain would use infantalizing rhetoric to justify their colonization of certain regions, claiming that the people indigenous to those areas wanted or even needed to be controlled for their own well-being. As a citizen of the British Empire, Shaw was highly critical of such paternalistic, condescending attitudes, and this negative turn in Cleopatra's character development supports Shaw's project of satirizing British colonialism.
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