Sarcasm

Sarcasm Definition and its Purpose

You're probably familiar with sarcasm—it's very common in everyday life. This is the definition of sarcasm as applies to literature:

Purpose of Sarcasm

People use sarcasm for many different purposes. One main purpose of sarcasm is to express feelings of frustration, judgment, and contempt. Instead of people just saying that they are annoyed or angry, sarcasm allows speakers to emphasize how upset they are about a topic or situation.

Since it allows for a rich expression of emotion, writers use sarcasm to create multidimensional, emotional characters. The variety of types and tones of sarcasm allows for dynamic, engaging dialogue that helps readers understand characters on an in-depth level.

Writers also use sarcasm to add humor to their writing. For instance, in Gulliver’s Travels (1726), Jonathan Swift uses sarcasm to make his readers laugh. The character of Gulliver speaks about the Emperor and says:

Fig. 1 - Gulliver uses sarcasm to mock the king of Lilliput.

Here Gulliver is using sarcasm to make fun of how short the king is. This type of sarcasm is meant to entertain the reader and understand Gulliver's initial thoughts about the king. As Gulliver makes fun of the king's height, he belittles him and expresses his feelings that he is not physically powerful. This statement is humorous because although the king is small, Gulliver notes that his height "strikes awe" among the Lilliputians he rules over, who are also extremely short. This observation helps the reader understand the differences between Lilliputian society and human society.

Types of Sarcasm

The types of sarcasm include: self-deprecating, brooding, deadpan, polite, obnoxious, raging, and manic.

Self-Deprecating Sarcasm

Self-deprecating sarcasm is a type of sarcasm in which a person makes fun of themselves. For example, if someone is struggling in math class and says: "Wow, I'm really great at math!" they are using self-deprecating sarcasm.

Brooding Sarcasm

Brooding sarcasm is a type of sarcasm in which a speaker expresses pity for themselves and their situation. For example, if someone has to take an extra shift at work and says: "Awesome! It's not like I already work all day every day!" they are using brooding sarcasm.

Deadpan Sarcasm

Deadpan sarcasm is a type of sarcasm in which the speaker comes across as completely serious. The word "deadpan" is an adjective that means expressionless. People who use deadpan sarcasm are thus making sarcastic statements without any emotion. This delivery can often make it difficult for others to realize a speaker is using sarcasm. For example, if someone says, "I really want to go to that party" with a deadpan tone, it might be difficult to tell if he really wants to go or not.

Polite Sarcasm

Polite sarcasm is a type of sarcasm in which the speaker appears to be being nice but is actually insincere. For example, if someone tells another person "You look really nice today!" but does not mean it, they are using polite sarcasm.

Obnoxious Sarcasm

Obnoxious sarcasm occurs when a speaker uses sarcasm to obviously and directly offend others. For instance, imagine a person invites their friend to a party, and the friend replies, "Sure, I would love to come and sit in your dark, dreary basement all night." The friend would be using obnoxious sarcasm to offend their friend.

Raging Sarcasm

Raging sarcasm is a device in which the speaker uses sarcasm to express anger. Speakers who use this type of sarcasm often use a lot of exaggeration and may appear violent. For example, imagine a woman asks her husband to do laundry and he replies by yelling: "What a fantastic idea! Why don't I just scrub all the floors too? I'm already the maid around here!" This man would be using raging sarcasm to express how upset he is at his wife's request.

Manic Sarcasm

Manic sarcasm is a type of sarcasm in which the speaker’s tone is so unnatural that they appear to be in a manic mental state. For example, if a person is clearly stressed out but says, "I'm so fine right now! Everything is absolutely perfect!" he is using manic sarcasm.

Sarcasm Examples

Sarcasm in Literature

Writers use sarcasm a lot in literature to provide insight into characters’ perspectives, develop character relationships, and create humor. For example, in William Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice (1600) the character Portia discusses her suitor Monsieur Le Bon and says:

By saying “let him pass for a man” Portia suggests that Monsieur Le Bon doesn't embody typical manly qualities. Portia has many suitors and she looks down on Monsieur Le Bon because he is full of himself and has an unoriginal personality. This sarcastic comment helps Portia express her feelings of disdain for Monsieur Le Bon and helps the reader understand how Portia values individuality in a man. She is using sarcasm because she is saying one thing but suggesting something else to mock a person. This use of sarcasm helps the audience understand how she looks down on Monsieur Le Bon.

Another famous example of sarcasm in literature occurs in William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet (1603). The main character Hamlet is upset that his mother has an affair with his uncle. He describes the situation by saying:

Here Hamlet is ridiculing his mother for getting married right after his father died. He says that she remarried so quickly that she could use the food from his father’s funeral to feed the guests at the wedding. She did not do this of course, and he knows this, but by saying she did this he is using sarcasm to mock her actions. In using sarcasm, Shakespeare shows how judgmental Hamlet is of his mother. The sarcasm creates a bitter tone that reflects the tension his mother’s new marriage has created in their relationship. This tension is important to understand because it makes Hamlet conflicted about hurting his mother to avenge his father.

There is even sarcasm in the Bible. In the book of Exodus, Moses has taken people out of Egypt and into the desert to save them. After a while the people are upset and they ask Moses:

The people know this was not the reason Moses took them, but they are upset and are expressing their frustration through sarcasm.

Sarcasm Punctuation

Sometimes it can be difficult to determine if a phrase is sarcastic or not, especially when reading literature, as readers cannot hear the tone of voice. Writers have thus historically represented sarcasm with different symbols and approaches. For instance, in the late medieval age, English printer Henry Denham created a symbol called a percontation point that appears similar to a backward question mark.² The percontation point was first used in the 1580s as a way to differentiate interrogatory questions, or questions where answers were actually expected, from rhetorical questions.

The percontation point didn't catch on and ultimately died out after less than a century. In its short time, however, it was an innovative way to represent sarcasm on the page, allowing the reader to differentiate when the author was actually asking a question and when they were using sarcasm for dramatic effect.

Fig. 3 - Percontation Points were an early attempt to make sarcasm clear on a page.

Writers today tend to use quotation marks to show that they are using a word in a way that it is not typically used. For instance, an author might write:

In this sentence, the use of quotation marks around the word friends suggests to the reader that Joe and Mary are not genuine friends and that the writer is being sarcastic.

Difference Between Irony and Sarcasm

It is easy to confuse sarcasm with irony, but the important distinction between the two has to do with the mocking tone of sarcasm.

Sarcasm is a type of verbal irony in which a speaker says something other than what he means to mock or ridicule. When people use sarcasm they tend to intentionally use a bitter tone that distinguishes the comment from general verbal irony. For example, in The Cather in the Rye, when Holden leaves his boarding school and yells, "sleep tight, ya morons!" he does not really hope that the other students sleep tight. Instead, this line is a means of expressing his frustration that he is so different from them and is lonely. He is saying the opposite of what he means, but since it is in a judgmental way with a bitter tone, it is sarcasm, not irony.

People use verbal irony to emphasize feelings too, but not necessarily with a bitter tone or the intention to mock others. For instance, William Golding’s book The Lord of the Flies (1954) is about a group of young boys who are stuck on an island together. One of the boys, Piggy, says they are “acting like a crowd of kids!" This is an example of verbal irony because they are in fact a crowd of kids.