What is sarcasm?

What is sarcasm?

Sarcasm (Greek σαρκασμός, from σαρκάζω, literally “tear [meat]”) is a type of satirical denunciation, stinging mockery, the highest degree of irony, based not only on the increased contrast of the implied and expressed, but also on the immediate intentional exposure of the implied.

Sarcasm is a tough mockery that can open with a positive judgment, but in general it always contains a negative connotation and indicates a lack of a person, object or phenomenon, that is, of what is happening.

Like satire, sarcasm encompasses the struggle against the hostile manifestations of reality through its mockery. Ruthlessness, sharpness of exposure - a distinctive feature of sarcasm. Unlike irony, the highest degree of indignation, hatred, finds expression in sarcasm. Sarcasm is never a characteristic trick of a comedian, who, revealing the funny in reality, always portrays her with a certain amount of sympathy and sympathy.

The comic element in a sarcastic denunciation can be quite negligible. In sarcasm, indignation is expressed quite openly. With such sarcasm, for example, M. Yu. Lermontov speaks about his generation: “we are rich, barely from the cradle, with the mistakes of our fathers and their late intelligence ...”, and concludes our “Duma” with a caustic comparison of the attitude of future generations to it with “bitter ridicule of a deceived son over a squandering father. "

Due to its immediate impact, sarcasm is a form of exposure, equally inherent in journalism, polemics, oratory, and fiction. That is why sarcasm is especially widely used in conditions of acute political struggle. The developed political life of Greece and Rome gave rise to high patterns of sarcasm in Demosthenes, Cicero and Juvenal.

The creativity of the great fighters of the young bourgeoisie against feudalism was permeated with deep sarcasm. F. Rabelais, a humanist who fought against the constraint of consciousness by theology and scholastic science, directs arrows of sarcasm against scholastic scholars, producing mocking “sorbonates”, “sorbonides” from the word “Sorbonne”, etc. M. -F. Voltaire made extensive use of sarcasm to expose the church and its ministers in his pamphlets, and especially in the Orleans Virgin.

In Voltaire's pamphlets, the church’s sarcasm rose to the path of indignation in the often repeated ending: “Ecrasez l’infâme” (“Crush the reptile”). Extremely diverse are the sarcasms of J. Swift in his exposure of various aspects of the social life of modern England

Sarcasm is the ability to show oneself smart and others stupid.

sarcasm is not just a caustic mockery, it is the ability to construct a proposal in such a way as not to openly declare its neglect. that is, sarcasm is a “veiled” mockery. . This is the ability to tell people the bitter truth in person, passing it off as a subtle joke.

Sarcasm does not cause violent joys and fun, like ordinary humor. This is akin to black PR. Indeed, almost any judgment can be used for a sarcastic answer.